Shane Hoffman-Soaring for Mediocrity (6th Feature)

Journalistic Reflection

Every morning for the past week or so I've turned on the news and heard nothing but the same: AIG is evil. The bonuses are ridiculous. The company should be ashamed...ect.

While browsing on CNN.com, I ran into this story that I figured from the link title, "American has a new enemy" would be something interesting and new. Unfortunately, it turned out to be more of the same.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/03/20/pm.aig.obama/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

The story is certainly newsworthy, but when you have 24 hour news networks that have to fill their stations with the best stories every second of the day, you can run into some very serious problems. The article itself is pretty short but really, it doesn't say anything new. It has a few quotes from angry legislators and President Obama, but that's it. The same story has run in larger detail three of four times since Monday.

As journalists, we know there are thousands of stories that go uncovered each day. It is our job and public duty to do our best to find those stories. I hope CNN reporters keep that in mind so the next time they are on deadline they won't have to reproduce their same story for a fourth time in a week.

6th Feature-Paper Airplanes...

When I heard about this story I got so excited I had to cover it. A paper airplane contest sounded like just the story I needed to break away from the mold of the serious stories I have been doing since the semester began. On paper (literally) it was perfect: I could go and get pictures and sound of excited contestants with great designed airplanes. I was all excited....until I got there.

The contest was going on, but all of the sound I wanted was drowned out by an obnoxious music system and over modulated PA system. Furthermore, my story angle took a hit because Mizzou wasn't actually hosting the world-wide contest. MU was just a place for one of the local mid-west heats. After some thought I decided to make the most of the story anyways and get a few interviews of the winners as well as at least a little bit of usable sound.

For the first time ever this semester I finished with a story that I knew no matter how hard I tried, would still be a creme-puff, forgettable piece. It was a "fun piece" which is a nice way of saying it lacks a lot of what we want as a newsroom. My editor Janet still wanted me to run the story and even complemented me about "being able to make a lot out of a little."

I've learned my lesson. Stories aren't always what they seem to be and sometimes what you think will be there is not there at all. The key is to not lie about what actually occurred, because good writers can find other ways to boost interest of the story that don't involve false or sensationalized information.

MU Hosts Paper-Airplane Competition

Look in the sky it’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s a…paper airplane? Indeed it was, at the MU Recreation Complex last Thursday afternoon.



MU joined over 200 other US colleges competing against one another in Red Bull’s Paper Airplane Competition. Competitors from 85 countries now take part.MU Junior Mike Taylor was the first to compete and says his plane had a retro feel to it.

“I mean you know, pretty simple design. Old school design,” Taylor said. I wish I knew something different so that it would have gone farther.”



The competition included three stages: distance, air time, and aerobatics.
Students competing in the distance competition stood behind a “launch line” similar to the foul line in bowling. If competitors crossed any part of the line the attempt did not count.

MU student Daniel Hammon came in third while his roommate Jeffrey Lee won the distance competition with a throw of 89 feet.Lee’s throw was still 19 feet short of the mark needed to surpass the current record set by East Carolina University.Lee says the free Red Bull that he and his roommate won still gave him plenty of reason to celebrate.



“The six cases of Red Bull sure is great,” Lee said. “Actually with Daniel we have 15 cases total for our dorm.”

In the aerobatics competition each participant competed in front of three judges who scored the planes in paper quality, size, construction technique, and support material.

Paul Hamm won the aerobatics competition with a score of 93.3.Hamm says he admits his post-flight celebration was a little unnecessary.

“I mean I really didn’t need to do the back-flip part,” Hamm said. “But you know, I was excited.”

The top three pilots from each country will receive an all expense paid trip to Salzburg, Austria to compete in the world championships.

Shane Hoffman-New Kid on the Block (5th feature)

Journalistic Reflection

A hot topic in the news this week was President Obamas lack of transparency thus far in his presidency. The top three news outlets (CNN, MSNBC, and Foxnews )each had some sort of article about it, but I chose Foxnews article to focus on this week. You can find the story here:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/10/obama-administration-struggling-live-transparency-pledges/

Although I agree that the President has made some mistakes and gone back on some campaign promises such as posting bills online 5 days before they are signed in to law, I have noticed that Foxnews has rarely reported something positive about the President. In fact, I've already seen a number of links to stories about the top candidates for the 2012 campaign. I could understand this perspective if this was say, next year, but it's only been less than two months since President Obama was inaugurated. Two months! Already, like with Bush in 00 and 04, people have given up on the president. They've thrown the key away and are now enjoying every moment of failure that comes his way.

This is not a Republican or Democratic problem. This is a media problem of utmost urgency. I don't believe FDR, Lincoln, or Washington could have lasted one day under the microscope that current politicians are under in todays society. With 24 hours news channels constantly competing against each other for time and ratings any story, no matter how outlandish, could make it on air. The Presidents mistakes are the juiciest, most coveted stories out there. As President Obama continues to make decisions that impact his campaign promises, Foxnews and all other media outlets will surely be the first to analyze his performance and mostly, his mistakes.

Phone interviews are so much easier than in person ones. I mean really, you don't have to walk out the newsroom door. You can prop your feet on the desk even and sip a cup of hot chocolate or tea (I'd just recommend you do this away from the equipment. It's VERY expensive). Phone interviews are easy. Predictable. Lazy. They get the job done and meet the bare minimum. The sound quality usually isn't great but it's also not terrible. It's just average. Even the best soundbites sound disconnected.

I say this all because when my editor told me about a story she wanted me to cover I immediately realized a small problem. It was in Kearney, MO, over two hours away. ME? I couldn't do that kind of story. My time is too precious. I don't have it in me.

(Of course both of these were major cop outs).

When I finally got my head around the opportunity it was too great of a chance to let go to waste. I was given the opportunity of interviewing the new Columbia superintendent who is soon to become an important celebrity like figure in the town.

So, I sucked it up and went. The drive was long. 2 hrs and 13 minutes to be exact. But the man was very nice, my convergence partner and I got great sound, and the experience was well worth the wait (and was sweetened so much more when we stopped for some famous KC barbecue on the way back).

Sure, I could have done the interview on the phone and still come out with a decent story, but I did not come to MU to settle for mediocrity. I've never wanted to settle for anything and as journalists and watchdogs of the public we can't afford to compromise our duty for convenience.

Not now, not ever.

Columbia Picks New Superintendent

The Columbia Public School district is about to get a new makeover. Come fall, the new superintendent will be former Kearney Superintendent Chris Belcher.

School board officials say in four years time Belcher improved test scores for Kearney Public Schools. Kearney recently won a Blue Ribbon Award for placing within the top 10 percent of the state.



Kearney School Board President Brian Thomas says Belcher has accomplished a great deal as superintendent.

“When he came on in 2005 he was very adamant about making us one of the top performing schools in the state of Missouri,” Thomas says. “And he was able to do that in four years time.”

Now, Belcher says he looks forward to bringing Kearney’s small town enthusiasm to his new position.

“It’s a big deal when the basketball team wins or when the PTA has a big carnival that the community comes out and supports it,” Belcher said. “And what I’ve been overwhelmingly impressed with is I still feel that type of issue at Columbia Public Schools.”

Belcher says Columbia’s superintendent position presents unique challenges, especially with financial issues. He’s coming into a school district that’s facing layoffs and budget cuts, but he says underneath it all Columbia schools are good.

Some of Belchers fellow employees aren’t ready to see him go. Carolyn Switzer, Belcher’s secretary and Kearney School Board secretary, says Belchers impact on the community will be greatly missed.

“Dr. Belcher has mended a lot of relationships between the community and the school district,” Switzer said. “It’s fun when you’re out in public and you see six and seven year olds that know who he is because he has been in their classrooms.”

As Belcher looks forward to his future in Columbia, he says he hopes to accomplish what his favorite blues musicians achieved by creating an environment where people learn from each other through new and exciting educational opportunities.

Shane Hoffman-Cooking up a New Story (4th Feature)

This week I had the opportunity of going to interview Mike Odette, a local chef and co-owner of Sycamore Restaurant. I went because he was up for a big award in his field, but I did not want that to be the only angle I took on the story. I went into the restaurant with a goal in mind. I wanted to find something, anything to help humanize him and give his profile a more recognizable feel to it than just some big award.

As I walked into the room to start setting up the equipment, Mike's daughter Elizabeth strolled in behind me. She was loud, brave, and confident. In other words, she was perfect. I did the one-on-one interview with Mike and then went back to the kitchen with him to get some sound of him cooking. Right as we stood over the stove Elizabeth came over and wanted to help. It was a perfect moment for sound and a great photo opportunity.

I had no idea that this opportunity was going to present itself until it happened. I think the key is I went into the story searching for that special angle. I had a plan and it worked out. While stories may not always work out this way, I'm learning that the more preparation you do as a journalist. The "luckier" you'll get. I've still got a lot of work to do this semester but I know one thing is for sure, I'm loving what I'm doing and I'm so thankful and blessed to be at MU.

Journalistic reflection

This week I read a story online about the Missouri Womens basketball team. Here's the story link:

http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2009/03/02/sweet-victory/

To sum it up, the article is about how the MU womens basketball team encountered an unexpected event after their big win at Colorado last weekend. The story starts out with a great hook about the bus taking an unexpected turn. I expected it to be a story about the bus being hijacked or about some big surprise. In a sense the author, Rachel Crader, was setting me up for a steak kind of story.

However, once I read further the steak quickly turned to a cheap frozen dinner. The bus driver was searching for a Dairy Queen to treat the players in the area but never found one. Sure, it delayed the team 20 minutes, but was it really worth a headline? Was it really newsworthy? I'd say no to both those. It came across as someone who desperately needed a story for deadline and kind of just threw something together. I understand that that happens in our profession from time to time but it shows and it certainly did here.

I can only hope that the next time I read an article about the team it's more story related. Womens sports in general gain far less coverage and interest than mens as it is. Stories like this only hurt the perception of womens sports even more.

Local Chef Nominated for National Award

A couple of hours before dinner time Sycamore restaurant co-owner and chef Mike Odette, holds his daughters small hand in the kitchen as she tightly grips a blender. At only two and a half years old Elizabeth may be small, but her father has already begun to teach her some culinary skills. After stacking two small crates on top of each other for support, Elizabeth stands above the stove thickening a carrot soup that will be served that evening for dinner.



Odette’s commitment to family serves an important role in his profession and lifestyle. Mikes wife Amy is a local firefighter who often works 24-hour shifts. On those days Odette drops Elizabeth off at school while their one-year-old son Harry joins him at the restaurant. Odette says the couple prefers it this way.

“We’ve managed to dodge the daycare babysitter bullet for most of the kids lives.” Odette says.

Odette’s hard work and more than two decades of cooking experience have caught more than his family’s eye. Odette was recently names as a semifinalist for a James Beard Award; the equivalent of an Oscar nomination in the culinary profession.

Although Odette acknowledges being selected is a tremendous honor, he says he hopes the real benefactor of the award will be the city of Columbia.

“A lot of small towns in general have some very, very good restaurants, “ Odette says. “Columbia in particular has some serious culinary talent and some very good restaurants that are very worthy of attention.”



Odette came to Columbia in the fall of 1986 to study engineering and French at MU. He only started working at restaurants to support himself when school didn’t work out. Once Odette started cooking however, the skills came naturally to him.
“I liked it an awful lot and that kind of surprised me,” Odette says. ‘Cooking and I seemed to hit it off together right off the bat.”

Odette now employs 30 people at his downtown restaurant. Karlos D’Agostino has been working with Odette since the two of them were employed at Cherry Street wine cellar five years ago. D’Agostino followed Odette to Sycamore.

Agostino says he enjoys working for Odette because he’s very different from popular TV cooking personalities.

“Very laid back. The polar opposite of the angry chef you see on like the Hells Kitchen,” D’Agostino said. “Picture the exact opposite of that and that’s what it’s like working for Mike.”

Odette joins 19 other chefs in the Midwest category for Best Chef. Between 400 and 500 judges who range from food critics, educators and past winners will cast online ballots in the contest. The field will be narrowed to five finalists and the winner will be announced March 23rd.

Although Odette recognizes the great honor that would come with winning the award, he says for now his focus remains on his restaurant which he hopes to pass onto his family some day.