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.