Shane Hoffman-Journalist Reporting Old School Style (3rd Feature)

In radio reporting you have to make a lot of calls. In this day and age it seems like everyone and their cousin directs you to a media representative to talk to you about whatever your story is on. They're supposed to be there to help you but sometimes they seem more like crafty politicians than allies, spinning your questions to fit in their answers and giving you robotic like soundbites filled with information you could have easily gotten off the web. It's a cat and mouse game really. Sometimes you feel like the cat. Most of the time you feel like the mouse.

These interactions can be frustrating, especially when you're on a strict deadline. Sometimes, you have to take risks and instead of calling you just have to go to the source old school style...unannounced.

This weeks story involved a elderly man from Columbias Paquin Towers, a low income housing complex filled with mostly disabled workers and the elderly. I had originally thought about calling their supervisor to ask for permission but I decided against that and instead just went there to get the story. No calls. Just courage combined with a journalists enduring passion to get the best angle on the story.

The man I talked with, David Dolones, was sitting at a table when I walked in sipping a cup of coffee. I asked him if he would be willing to answer a few questions and he said he didn't mind. What followed was one of the most powerful and real interviews I've ever conducted. The ONLY way I got it was by going there unannounced.

Sometimes in this business you have to take a risk in order to get the right source for your story. It may not always go your way, but no matter what it's experience that will hopefully add to your self confidence as a reporter. I'm still a student but I'm learning new things about the profession every week. And who knows? At this rate, I may start going old school more often.

Senior Citizens Struggle to Afford Basic Needs

As health care costs and living expenses continue to rise, senior citizens and those organizations attempting to help them are among the hardest hit.

66-year-old David Dollens lives at Paquin Towers in Columbia each day and knows firsthand the challenges seniors face every day.


Although Dollens claims to be the richest man in the building, he says with living prices on the rise, most tenants have to skip meals because they can’t afford to buy groceries.

“If I’m the richest one in this building you’ve got some poor devils in this building I aint kidding you.” Dollens says. “People in this building I don’t know a one of them that eats three meals a day. They don’t do it. They can’t afford it.”

The federal stimulus plan is designed to help seniors by making the cost of living more affordable. The plan includes an allowance for low income seniors and disabled veterans to receive a rebate check. Dollens says the plan amounts to virtually nothing in the long run for seniors.

“The little old stimulus check that they’re gonna get is supposed to be $250.” Dollens says. “That’s gonna be nothing.That’s totally, totally nothing.”

MU’s Adult Day Connection, a state licensed senior care clinic, is facing similar financial problems. Amy Byergo, director of Adult Day Connection, says the demand is increasing over the past few months for the centers services.


“Our utilities, our food, gas prices, all of those things are really affecting seniors on fixed incomes.” Byergo says. “They don’t have the ability to go out and look for new sources of income and so those rising costs are really affecting the seniors that we work with.”



Medicaid covers the center’s $71 daily fee however Medicare does not. While assistance scholarships are available through the United Way and the City of Columbia, Byergo says many seniors who need the centers assistance still cannot afford the fee.

“That’s one of the primary concerns when they come to us. What our daily fee is and can they afford it.” Byergo says. “And often times or the majority of times families cannot afford our daily fee.”

As the economy continues to worse more senior citizens worry about the future. Dollens says many tenants living at Paquin Towers can only afford Medicaid, which he says in many cases won’t completely cover burial costs.

“They cry because some of them don’t believe in cremation. Because they’re going to be cremated because that’s all they can afford.” Dollens says. “They need to change that, at least so people have enough to be buried.”

As seniors continue to face an uphill battle, organizations like the CMCA and the Adult Day Connection will continue to do their best to provide support. In the meantime, many seniors in mid-Missouri and in America will continue to face difficult choices, in a difficult economy.

Shane Hoffman-Editing Is a Pain But Radio Does Have Its Perks

Story telling is a process. I just keep telling myself that. Yet, even so, it was tough at me at times to see what my professor Kyle refers to as "my baby" get ripped to shreds in about eight different edits. I thought I had such great sentences, an intro, and a conclusion, yet all of them got changed. At first I was disappointed, even a little hurt, but now that I've been able to see the final script I can appreciate all of the edits. It's still a process that takes some getting use to and like last week with my story, I needed to be humbled and I'm a better man and journalist for it.

On the bright side of things I am thankful for being in radio because I snagged at least two interviews I know of in which the interviewee told me "I'm only doing this because it's not for TV." I guess people like hearing their voices on air better than seeing their faces on TV. Who would have thought?

Overall, I liked this feature a whole lot better than the last one and I am confident that as the semester progresses I'm going to improve my story telling ability and professionalism as a journalist.


Safety Net Programs Struggling To Meet Need


As food and utility prices continue to rise across the country, more people are turning to non-profit organizations to meet families’ basic needs.

Ebony Brooks is a Columbia resident who has come to the CMC in need of assistance.

“Today I’m trying to get assistance for my gas bill cause it’s very high,” Brooks says. “You have to make decisions on what’s important and like, you need gas you need lights you need water. So it’s hard to decide you know. You have to have food. You have to keep a roof over your head.”

Brooks’ concerns are resonating across the region. Thousands of people are coming to Mid-Missouri safety net programs, like CMCA. CMCA’s Energy Coordinator Melody Rodriguez says the demand for assistance has more than doubled in the last year. Rodriguez says her organization has spent nearly a million dollars on crisis assistance in the last four months.

“The increase for the demand, my fear is to run out of money and not be able to serve the community,” Rodriguez says. “As the economy worsens we predict more families will come to us for help.”

The CMCA receives some of its funding from the federal government, but other safety net programs like the Salvation Army, rely almost completely on donations.
The non-profit has served nearly 1,000 more people compared to this time last year.

Major K. Kendall Mathews, Columbia and Jefferson City’s Regional Coordinator for the Salvation Army, says the organization has already had to request additional resources to meet the higher need.

“We’ve increased our poundage at the food bank drastically because of the needs for food and the need to distribute food to people,” Mathews says. “That basic need is an essential need of life.”

Red Cross officials say the financial crisis has yet to hit the non-profit as hard as the CMCA or the Salvation Army, but that has not stopped the organization from preparing for the worst.

Mike Odneal, the Executive Director of the Mid-Missouri Red Cross, says if donations drop they’ll keep on going.

“Typically we will do whatever we can do regardless of the funds and the situation that we have,” Odneal says. “In fact nationally, when we’ve had national disasters, the Red Cross has even undertaken loans in order to provide the assistance that is needed across the country.”

The federal stimulus package recently signed by President Obama may relieve some of the pressure on these organizations by offering assistance to laid off workers.

If more people start benefiting from the stimulus, CMCA officials say safety net spending could shore up services to people like Ebony Brooks, who for now says she is happy she has someone she can depend on when her back’s against the wall.

Web Version for Wraps 1 and 2

New Grant Opens Doors to Language Research

The MU School of health professions is about to take a strong step forward in children language research thanks to a new grant. The school is conducting a study that will track the development of children ability to use cues when learning new words. The schools department chair, Judith Goodman, is conducting the research with MU doctoral student Kathy Brady.

Brady’s experience with the study has given her a new found appreciation for how hard it is for children to learn new words at an early age.

“When we are talking about what the word means we are really looking at how they make the connection between the sound and the object that the sound refers to,” Brady said. “There is a body of research that gives us an idea of what kinds of cues children use.”

The research is being funded by a $2000 grant from the American Speech-Language Hearing Foundation and is one of only two grants awarded nationally.

“This would take us another step further beginning to combine variables and beginning to look at how children handle the cascade of information that they’re faced with as they hear speech around them.” Goodman said. “The research that we are doing is taking baby steps to understand the best of both these worlds.”

Brady and Goodman will conduct additional participant studies and hope to have results of the study ready by March.

Mid-Missouri’s Safety Net Under Increased Pressure

As Missouri’s unemployment rate continues to rise, Mid-Missouri non-profit organizations are gearing up for an increase in need. Although it is barely a month into 2009, some Mid-Missouri non-profits have seen a significant increase in need from last year.

Non-profit directors like Major K. Kendall Mathews, Columbia and Jefferson City’s Regional Coordinator for the Salvation Army, recognize how hard it is for people to get by right now in the wake of a struggling economy.

“We see that people are coming to us really, really desperate,” Mathews said. “Some of them on the verge of loosing their jobs, and some of them are just having a difficult time making ends meat.”

The Red Cross has also noticed a change in need. The organization’s Executive Director Mike Odneal says he will continue to provide support regardless of the funds that come in from donations.

“As far as the services we provide, we will continue to do whatever we can and whatever it takes to continue to provide the emergency services we’ve always provided,” says Odneal. “If donations continue to downtrend, we can just minimize the amount of services that we provide to people who have disasters, but typically we will do whatever we can do regardless of the funds and the situation that we have.”

Mid-Missouri non-profits are continuing to encourage people to donate when possible.

The Humbling First Week

I don't know if it was the apple pie or too much egg nog, but something happened over Christmas break that made me forget about all the challenges and obstacles that I faced last semester when I covered a story. I came back to Mizzou knowing I wanted to do a story on non-profit organizations in Missouri. What I had somehow forgotten was that reporting is anything but easy.

I began by calling up the Salvation Army Harbor House and mistakenly asked the receptionist what their hours were. After a shocked response of "our hours?!" I quickly regained myself and apologized. Still feeling highly embarrassed, I managed to spit out my name and my reason for calling. I then proceeded to get the contact information of the PR person I needed to talk to and as politely as I could said goodbye. It wasn't exactly the ideal start I wanted to begin my Broadcast 2 career, but sometimes as a journalist you just have to take the hit and learn from your mistakes.

After a few phone calls, I decided I would travel to Goodwill, the Red Cross, and the Salvation Army thrift store to get some in person interviews and hopefully some natural sound. The Salvation Army employees were very nice, but like over the phone I was directed to a PR person for assistance. Needless to say I wasn't going to get an interview with anyone from there that day. I did manage to gain some courage however, and grab an interview with a customer as she walked out of the building. This is where mistake #2 ensued. I pulled out the marantz and put on the headphones, only to find out that the high amount of wind outside was giving the microphone terrible feedback. I did not realize at the time, but the headphone volume was turned up way too loud. Out of the three minute or so interview, 95% of it was unusable. Welcome back to the world of reporting Shane.

I proceeded to get an additional interview from the Red Cross and ended up having enough sound and interviews to successfully complete the wrap. Journalism is anything but an exact science and rarely if ever do stories go exactly how you would like them to go. This wrap humbled me in that fact and I realize that in order for me to become even a decent reporter I'm going to have to get use to adapting to problems in the field.