Rock Hill's Vernon Grant and Christmasville

You may know of Norman Rockwell and his famous illustrations. I know him because he's from my "home state" of Massachusetts.

 

Recently I came to find out that there is another famous illustrator that was stepping on Rockwell's heels and he's here in Rock Hill, SC where I work.  The Museum of York County has a few exhibits about him and his story. Vernon Grant was not just an accomplished illustrator but he also was a very involved person in this town.  Without him Rock Hill would be another forgotten town in South Carolina and under the shadow of Charlotte.

The town also transform during Christmas time by using his illustrations of gnomes and Santas to decorate Christmasville in Rock Hill. Christmasville Rock Hill.

Here's a short version of his story....

 

and an outtake from a stand-up that might put you in the Christmas spirit or make you laugh a little more than usual.

NextGen Aviation Podcast

NextGen Avaiation website 

Click play to listen to the podcast!

Good dog! Bad dog!

I'm a dog loving freak! Always had dogs my entire childhood and now in my adult life. I feel a bigger bond with animals than I do with humans. That's just my weird self. No, I am not Dr. Doolittle or the Dog whisperer. I just like dogs...and would try and recuse a ton if I could afford it. I already have 3.

The Ladies of the House hold. Mini Schnauzer: Zora, Border Collie: Sasha and Toy: Poodle Ruby

Before I digress anymore, let me get to what I want to talk about.  You know how you are always talking to your dog like a human-being and telling them what to do and you think that they could almost understand what you are saying but then you just shake it off like you are crazy. Well you may not crazy at all.

A recent in the Cell Press journal Current Biology released November 26, shows the first evidence of how dogs differentiate and process those various components of human speech.  Your furry little friend can differentiate between the words you say and the emotion behind them.

"Previous studies showed that dogs have hemispheric biases--left brain versus right--when they process the vocalization sounds of other dogs. Ratcliffe and her supervisor David Reby say it was a logical next step to investigate whether dogs show similar biases in response to the information transmitted in human speech. They played speech from either side of the dog so that the sounds entered each of their ears at the same time and with the same amplitude." (Sciene Daily: Dogs hear our words and how we say them)

The results: "The researchers did observe general biases in dogs' responses to particular aspects of human speech. When presented with familiar spoken commands in which the meaningful components of words were made more obvious, dogs showed a left-hemisphere processing bias, as indicated by turning to the right. When the intonation or speaker-related vocal cues were exaggerated instead, dogs showed a significant right-hemisphere bias." (Sciene Daily: Dogs hear our words and how we say them)

Obviously, it doesn't mean that they will understand everything we say. It just means that they are paying attention to what we say and can make decisions on what we are saying really means to them.

Listen to the podcast of this blog.
 

Bill Cosby Rape Allegations

Here's the story: Bill Cosby's had a civil lawsuit in 2006.  The lawsuit: a women who claimed Cosby sexually assaulted her.  He settled the lawsuit and moved on with his life.  In a recent comedy show in Philadelphia, Hannibal Buress brought up that and called him a "rapist."  This was face that launched a thousand ships.

After this, more than a dozen women came forward saying that Cosby had sexually assaulted them.  Many news agencies from NPR to the AP have given Cosby the opportunity to have a say in these allegation but he has remained silent.  Recently, the AP decided to release this video footage that show extras of an interview where he asked the reporter to not show that part. While I feel the reporter should have stood his ground, he was a little wishy washy.  It's his job to get to the truth whether or not he answers. Don't pass it onto "your boss wants you to ask."

Cosby has the right to not say anything and protect his privacy but as a public figure and "America's TV father," that's out of the question. He owes his viewers, followers a comment. NOT SAYING ANYTHING HARMS YOUR CREDIBILITY!

After a month of not saying much, yesterday, Cosby finally broke his silence:

"I know people are tired of me not saying anything, but a guy doesn't have to answer to innuendos," he told Florida Today on Friday. "People should fact check. People shouldn't have to go through that and shouldn't answer to innuendos."

So what happens from here? Who knows. He hasn't been charged with anything, yet. These are just allegations. We will have to wait if any of these women bring back the lawsuit since there is no statue of limitation on it.

Listen to the podcast of this blog.

To Ebola, or not to Ebola...

I've been avoiding this post for a while because I don't want to make this a bigger deal than it already is! What I do want to focus on is the quarantine that is the hot topic.

Many are saying that it's unnecessary, that it's making doctors not want to leave and help in Africa because they will be subjected to that quarantine. That it's taking away certain freedoms.

This article, Nurse Defies Quarantine, explains her reasons why she won't do the quarantine. Yes, it is unnecessary to be quarantine if you have tested negative after you come back from Liberia, Sierra Leone and/or Guinea.

While I agree with this, I still think it's a good idea to follow the quarantine measures to make sure that the doctors who tested you didn't miss anything. It's only 20 something days and then you can be on your merry way.


NJ Governor Christie has a Controversial Ebola Quarantine.  All healthcare workers exposed to Ebola have a 21-day mandatory quarantine period. While he was criticize for it, more are joining in, especially Nobel Prize-winning doctor and medical researcher, Dr. Bruce Beutler.

Again, the risk of you getting Ebola in the United State is very low, but it's still a good idea to be safe about what you do and as a healthcare professional it is your job to avoid a wide spread fear by leading by example.  Diseases mutate and before we know it, it could become an airborne virus. Healthcare professionals have responsibilities to their patients and sometimes you have to give up a little freedom to make sure others will be safe.

Now, so far if the president can hug it out, then you can go on about your day and not worry about it until doctors release new findings that it can spread through the air. Obama eases Ebola fears by hugging ebola survivor Nina Pham.

For now, here's a few infographics from the CDC and WHO that will help you understand how low risk this really is and maybe help you understand how to avoid it, where it's currently at and what the U.S. is doing about it.

Listen to the podcast of this blog.

Stealing The Show

So Halloween is coming up and I wanted to write about something fun.  

WE broadcasters usually don't get to dress up for Halloween. So we try to spice things up a little bit.  Sometimes it doesn't go as planned like the video above. There's a saying in Hollywood: "Don't bring animals or children into the mix."

The same goes to broadcast but sometimes these curious dogs and kids end up making you a viral sensation like Ripple the dog.  He doesn't care that there is broadcast going, he just wants to play.

Then you have the ones that take the opportunity to just dance in front of the camera.

While these can be super distracting, it happens more than you think.  You have moments you will be live and someone comes behind you and yells or even asks you out. Like below:

But no matter how many times this happens, we still have to continue with our jobs and report. So yes, we can hear you and yes we have to address what you are doing behind us and then continue on with our story.

So opportunist! Keep working hard to ruin the live-shots we worked hard on. We wont crack...well it's kinda tough not to crack up when a rhino farts.

Elections? Already here? Who's running?

Really who is running? Or what are these people saying about themselves to get elected.

Elections have changed a ton with social media.  You can reach so many in just a simple click and post. But there are still television ads that the campaign puts money into to, to either sell you their candidate or bash the other candidate, or both.

I think they show insight on a persons character. If a candidate bashes the other then I know that candidate is trying to fight dirty. I don't like the bashing ads because it always reminds me of two high school kids fighting.

If they post an ad about themselves and what they do, then I always think that they are a little narcissist but of course a campaign ad is supposed to sell why you are the best candidate so I let it slide. I just look for honesty.

I asked a few people on social media what their thoughts where about television ad campaigns. This is what a couple said on our facebook page MediaMosis:

Check out this article from the Boston Globe, I thought it was pretty interesting and gives insights on how these ads can backfire quickly.

The Good, Bad, Ugly Political ads - Boston Globe

Why did I take this job?

Being a Journalist is tough. It's a 24/7 job. Meaning you don't get the normal holidays you would get, you work weird hours, if you are lucky you get a NEAR TO "9-5" job but breaking news CAN CHANGE THAT!

So why am I talking about my job? Well an article in Newscastic I read a few days ago inspired this blog. It's called: How being a journalist takes over our normal life.  I agree and disagree with a few but here's the over all list and my comments

1. We follow police cars, ambulances and any emergency vehicle.
Well not completely true.  We do get excited when we see a cops light flash or see a fire truck headed somewhere and we always ask ourselves (like most people) I wonder what is happening. I don't go chasing stories on my time off. Now when I'm working we do have a scanner usually in the car or someone in the newsroom checking and listening for anything in case we aren't available to listen but we listen while we write, we listen while we eat and we listen while we edit. Everyone is listening.

2. We ask way too many questions when meeting someone new.
This one is true....but it helps to get to know people really quickly.  I'm known to ask and nod my head and listen to you forever.

3. We correct your grammar when you speak, write and use social media.
Yes, but some days we all have the same faux paus, now even more with autocorrect...Damn you!

4. We are nosey
Nosy? Who me? I wouldn't use that word..more like naturally inquisitive.

5. We survive on coffee at work and outside of work.
I personally don't like drinking too much coffee because it's bad for you vocal chords and voicing is tough already enough when you speak two languages and you get tongue-tied.  Yes, coffee get many of us through to the day but I don't personally think it's a Journalist thing, it's mainly a people thing.

6. We will Google you
I hate to say it but yes. We will and hate to say that sometimes we rely on it too much when we should be doing other research from other sources than the internet and google. It's a good source to find leads, phone numbers, people and sometimes tips.

7. We checkout of conversations.
.....Checked out....already......We space out and we can also block you out.  In a newsroom there are so many noises going off and people talking and shows going on, you get used to the hustle and bustle and you kind of learn to just block people and concentrate. Some days it's easier to do than other days.

8. We will randomly write stuff down.
I carry a notepad everywhere. You never know when something genius will come up. ALWAYS WRITE THINGS DOWN!!

9. We watch the news.
Because it's kind of part of our jobs. It's not like we have a real choice. You have to stay on top of what is happening in your city.  The next day you need to have to pitch story ideas to your producers and news director. So yes we watch the news. Do we want to? Not really...but we do.

10. We are constantly surfing the web and checking our phones.
...this one..frustrates me...WHO DOESN'T?

11. We suffer from insomnia.
Not sure about everyone but I do. I just can't shut my mind and working news means breaking news will happen any time and you may get a phone call telling you to get into work. So we are sleep deprived.

I loved working for news when I was younger (being 19-23). I loved the adrenaline of cover a shooting or a fire. It was fun. I'm happy I no longer work for news. You can be more creative and happy. It's a tough job and only a few can tough it for a career. I can do it but I choose to have a life and a family.  Those things are important to me, news can wait.
 

Video Test

 

This video is uploaded straight into blogger without using youtube or any cloud service sites other than blogger.

From Drop Box

 

From Google Drive

ISIS, ISIL, DAESH - You say Tomayto, I saw tomahto.

Currently, we are at war.

Whether or not the government wants to admit or declare what state we are in, WE ARE AT WAR!

I don't mean to scare anyone but I believe it to be a FACT. People still ask "Oh, we are still involved in Afghanistan? Iraq? I thought we were done?" No, there continue to still be operations over there and people deployed.  I just saw a whole group of my friends at Ft Bragg, NC leave for a 9 month tour

I wanted to deploy so much and be a combat reporter but that never really happened, so I settle for staying back in the states and still do what I want. Now I have seen my fair share of war but on the home front.

One of my patches I will one day hope to use

Lately, watching the coverage of ISIS/ISIL/IS and the behedings of Journalist James Foley, Steven Sotloff, and British Aid Worker David Haines. 

David Haines, James Foley, and Steven Stoloff

It got me thinking about how these things keep happening. Why? What are we doing about it? WHY DO WE KEEP COVERING IT?

We mainly can't stop it or do much as reporters but continue reporting. One thing I did see that caught my eye and we as reporters should change. We shouldn't be calling the Terrorist Group by what they want to be called: ISIS - Islamic State in Iraq and Syria or ISIL -Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.  It's already confusing which one. 

THEY AREN'T A STATE PEOPLE!!

They are terrorist who took over and gave themselves a fancy name. Same as al-Qaeda. France did asked for us to stop the confusion in reporting by calling them DAESH. France Calls ISIS DAESH.  

Now what is DAESH  according to the article and other sources: "Daesh is a loose acronym of the Arabic for “Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant” (al-Dawla al-Islamiya al-Iraq al-Sham). Use of acronyms is rare in the Arabic world, with the notable exception of the Palestinian group Hamas (Ḥarakat al-Muqāwamah al-ʾiSlāmiyya)."

If you haven't opened the article, here is the part you should read:

"Defiance and disrespect

• It is also considered insulting, and the IS itself doesn’t like the name Daesh one bit.
• Beyond the acronym, “Daesh” sounds li[k]e the Arabic “Daes”, meaning “one who crushes something underfoot” as well as “Dahes”, which means “one who sows discord”.
• Dahes is also a reference to the Dahes wal Ghabra period of chaos and warfare between Arab tribes which is famous in the Arab world as one of the precursors of the Muslim age.
• “Daesh” therefore has considerably negative undertones. There can be little political ambiguity behind the French government’s decision to deploy Daesh as a linguistic weapon."

Outside my journalistic sense of decorum, I like this name a lot. I'm sure you could understand why, but really why? I think it fits them due to the under tones of what it sounds like to them and second they hate it. This is already a war against reporters and people who are only trying to help innocent people. 

Should we call them this instead or what we have already been calling them? I know for the public it may lead to confusion but us as reporters we need to take back the reporting not let terrorist tell us what they want to be called. They shouldn't get to pick, they are doing horrific things, they don't deserve to get recognition for their actions but we give that to them. We continue to sensationalize their actions and they will continue to because we enable it. So we need to change that and start fighting back and maybe calling them DAESH is how we start.

PBS Newshour Rapid Response project

The last few weeks have been hectic weeks. Between shooting a National PBS series For Your Home, a Home Improvement show that has been running for about 30 years and I have the honor to be the Director of Photography, to working a Gun Safety story for our Palmetto Scene Show, airing Oct 30th. I have been traveling all over South Carolina non-stop.

But lately, my proudest moment so far has been the PBS Newshour Rapid Response project. It's where PBS goes into high schools and works with future journalist to learn all about the world of journalism.  The PBS stations/affiliates across the nation mentors these students.  I was asked to "mentee."

PBS send topics they need to do stories on and as a class do a Package (see: Journalism Jargon) and if it's good enough, it will make it to the PBS Newshour in late December.  They also get questions or topics they have to turn around within a week called Rapid Response.

Didn't think much about it until I met my two school.  I didn't think I would be so involved but both need a lot of help. From learning the basic P's (Pre-production, Production and Post-Production) to the three pillars of camera photogrpay (ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed). They were eager to learn and I have been dying to teach to anyone who will listen.

Well, their first Rapid response was to ask a questions to this young girl, Malala. If you remember a few years ago she made the news for having being beaten close to death only because she wanted an education.

With a lot of help, the students from York Comprehensive High School made it to the PBS newshour.

Take a look at the video below, especially Emily's questions. 

The Students already had their question to ask Malala, what they didn't have was where to shoot it, how to shoot it and how to send it back to PBS.  That's where I came in to guide them. 

The picture above is how simple lighting help them create this beautiful video to send back.  It took 3 lowel lights, one with a diffuser and another one with a blue gel (left side of the photo).  We used a Canon 7d to shoot the interview too.

Besides the technical stuff, I'm really proud that these students really worked hard to do this by themselves. All I really did was asked questions why would you do this, explain a couple techniques and they went off and did it.  I'm impressed that the future journalist (at least in York Comp) have the drive to go out and do more, learn more and are eager to actually learn.   I run into so many reporters, photographers and so on that do just the minimum.  

Obviously, they are currently in the "honeymoon stage" of the journalism world but I think it's refreshing to see them starting now, like when I started working at 15 y/o doing voice overs for Telemundo, and be excited about a possible future in journalism, film, television, graphic design and so on. These kids both in York and Greenville, SC have so much potential, I may switch careers and teach instead of continue reporting. 

Journalism Jargon

-->We journalist have our own language sometimes, so a quick lesson on our jargon might help in the future for those who aren't journalist when we are posting.  This will have words from the world of newspaper to the world of television broadcast and I will make sure to mention which one falls into which.  

Sometimes these things are common knowledge and some aren't so common. 

Not everything will be here, so if you have your own to add, post a comment below.

A 

Advertorial: looks like an article/feature/show segment but it's a paid advertisement. 

Affiliate: A local station that subscribes to the services and programs of a network. Ex. ABC, NBC, CBS. 

Anchors: newscasters who host news broadcasts. 

Angle/Slant: particular emphasis of a media presentation, sometimes called a slant 

AP Wire: Associated Press news service that supplies international, national and regional information and stories. These are almost always rewritten before airing.

Articles: stories written about news topics that are considered notable by the editors of a publication. 

Attribution: credit given to who said what or the source of facts 

B 

Back timing: A convenient way of counting down the length of a newscast. This tells you when each story must run in order for your newscast to end on time.

Beats: specific public institutions or areas of concern for which specific reporters in a

newsroom are responsible watching. (e.g.: county reporter, health reporter, education reporter, courts reporter)

Beat Checks: Using a telephone to search for and tape news stories from a list of agencies.  A good beat check would be comprised of the sheriff's offices, fire department, local police, state highway patrol, DNR, local hospitals, and other government agencies that routinely handle breaking stories.           

Break: place designated within broadcast programming during which commercials run. Bumpers: small teases that come at the end of one newscast segment often previewing what is coming up in the rest of the newscast.

B-roll: video images shot specifically to be used over a reporter's words to illustrate the news event or story, to cover up audio edits.

Broadcast feature: Broadcast news story that gives reporters 5-25 minutes to develop a deeper look at a news event, trend, or individual. 

By-line: the name of the reporter, usually in newspapers/magazine article. Also for websites. 

C

Call Letters: A station's legal ID (for example, WBIZ-EAU CLAIRE) is a legal ID.

Citizen journalist: the rapid rise of Internet technology, in particular blogging, tweeting and social networking, have empowered persons without professional training to function sometimes as journalists feeding information to mass media. These practitioners now are known as a distinct category -- citizen journalists.

Cold Copy: Rip-n-Read - A script not seen by an announcer until the moment s/he reads it.

Column: an article in which a writer or columnist gives an opinion on a topic

Consultants: firms, groups, individuals hired by broadcast organizations to give advice on presentation, content, trends, viewer habits and preferences

Control Room: Where the technical equipment for putting a newscast on the air is kept and operated.

Copy: any written material intended for publication, including advertising

Copyreader: the person who "proofreads" copy as it comes in.

Cue: usually a physical signal indicting anchor/reporter to perform a task (start reading, wrap up, go to break).

Cue Up - Putting a video/sound material back to its beginning.

D

Deck: a smaller headline, which comes between the headline and the story.

Dub: to make a recording of a recording.

Editor: the person who "edits" a story by revising and polishing; the person whose job is to approve copy when it comes in and to make decisions about what is published in a newspaper or magazine. Also editor is the person that puts together the reporters package to go on air for broadcast. See Package.

E

Editorial: an article expressing a newspaper or magazine owner's or editor's position on an issue.

F

Feature articles: longer forms of news writing; topics covered in depth; sometimes the main article on the front page of a newspaper, or the cover story in a magazine.

Feed: A live or recorded report, or a set of recorded reports sent to a station/newsroom via satellite, phone, or other device for inclusion in a news program.

G

Gatekeepers: people who determine what will be printed, broadcast, produced, or consumed in the mass media.

Gutter: narrow margin of white space in the center area in a magazine, newspaper, or book, where two pages meet.

H

“Happy Talk”: the casual banter that goes on between news anchors and other “on-air” people.

Hard news: immediate factual accounts of important events.

Headline: the "title" of a newspaper or magazine story.

Human interest story: a story that focuses on the human side of news and often appeals to the readers' emotion.

I

Inverted pyramid: the structure of a news story which places the important facts at the beginning and less important facts and details at the end.

J

Jump line: line of type at the bottom of a column which directs the reader to somewhere else in the paper where the story is completed, allowing more space for stories to begin on the front page

K

Kicker: (Newspaper) an ending that finishes a story with a climax, surprise, or punch line. (Television) An offbeat or humorous story that typically is used to mark the end of the news segment and the beginning of the sports/weather segment.  The kicker can also be used to end a newscast.

L

Layout editor: (newspaper) the person who begins the layout plan, considering things like placement and amount of space allotted to news and advertising copy, graphics, photos, and symbols

Lead: first line/paragraph of body of story that summarizes/indicates most important information.

Lead-in: broadcast term for beginning part of story news anchor reads introducing the story and/or person-reporting story.

Lead story (aka Lead): first story in a newscast or segment (in broadcasting) or a story that is above the fold in print-this considered the most important news story of the day.

M

Masthead: information about a newspaper or magazine on its editorial page; sometimes the banner at the top of the front page which identifies the newspaper and the date of publication

Morgue: newsroom library

N

Nameplate: The title of a newspaper, newsletter or magazine on the front page or cover in the periodical's logotype style, often including the publication date and place of publication.

Natural Sound aka Nat Sound, Nat S-O-T, or Ambient Sound: Background voices, music, machinery, waterfalls, and other environmental sounds that are recorded on-scene and used to create a sound bed for a recorded or live report.  Primarily used for setting a mood or providing atmosphere for a report.

Nielsen: service primarily used in determining television ratings.

L

Live shot/Live Report: A TV news story during which a news anchor or reporter is live at a remote location. Within this report can be included a SOT, VO/SOT or PKG.

O

Outcue: usually the last thing a reporter says in either a live or recorded news story (i.e. PKG) indicating the piece is ending. (Example: “FOR UPDATE NEWS, I’M BILL SMITH.”)

Outro: usually the “Goodbye” or end segment of a newscast often during which news/wx/sports anchors engage in “happy talk.”

P

Package (PKG): a completed television news story on tape, which is edited before a news show goes on air and contains reporter's stand-ups, narration over images, and an out-cue for the anchor to start speaking at the end of the tape. Usually about 90 seconds.

Pronouncer: Phonetic spelling of a difficult word or name (i.e. Greg Louganis = Greg loo-GAY-nuss).

P-S-A - aka Public Service Announcement - An advertisement for a not- for-profit organization.

R

Ratings: measuring units used to tell broadcasters how many households and/or viewers have their stations/programs on at a particular time.

Reader: A story read by anchor without any audio/video.

Reporters: the people who gather facts for the stories they are assigned to write

Rundown -aka; Lineup: A chronological outline or order of stories or segments to be used in a newscast.  This is the producer's blueprint for the newscast.

Running Time: Refers either to the estimated time or the actual time of a newscast. 

S

Soft news: journalistic news stories that are interesting, but of less immediacy than hard news.

Sound bite (SOT): the videotaped quote in television news

Source: a person who talks to a reporter on the record, for attribution in a news story

Spin: hidden slant of a press source, which usually casts the client in a positive light

Stand-up: a reporter's appearance in a TV news story; usually a head and shoulders shot which features the reporter talking into a microphone at the scene of the news event, often used as a transition, or at the beginning or ending

Story Tag: Closing to a story package, live shot, or on-set piece usually read by the story report but can also be read by an anchor.           

Super/Chyron: a video effect that allows the television station to print and superimpose the name of a news source over his or her image when the source is shown talking in a news story

V

Voiceover (VO): A TV news story during which a news anchor or reporter reads a script live as video is played.  

W

Wire services: news gathering and delivery services that provide news from around the world to publications that subscribe for a fee. Best known are the Associated Press, Reuters, United Press International, Agence France-Presse and Canadian Press. Wire services are co-operatives that share news stories among members.

You can find all these terms down here as well. There are more that I just didn't add to this blog. 

Glossary of Broadcast News Terms
Journalism Glossary