The Airlines

Mary Elizabeth Medawar, NBC5 Next

For a while people have been continually telling me to do a story on the unpredictability of the airlines. I have heard complaint after complaint from “my flight has been cancelled for no apparent reason” to “they didn’t give me any food and then made me pay for it when I asked for some.” So when I looked into it, I found out this is a nationwide thing with all the airlines. Prices are rising for tickets, checked luggage, redeeming frequent flier miles, changing flights, etc. The airlines have also begun charging for amenities that used to be all-inclusive like your first carry-on, non-alcoholic drinks, food, seats with more leg-room, position of seats (aisle, middle, window), and so on. I even read some articles saying the next charges will probably be for restroom visits and sick bags (gross!). It’s understandable that the airlines are forced to raise ticket prices due to the exceptionally high price of fuel, but if everyone flying is paying more for tickets, shouldn’t that be enough to cover all these other fees as well? When I attempted to search for the answer I hit a roadblock. The PR woman for O’Hare and Midway said all my questions should be directed towards the airlines. After contacting the headquarters of a few airlines and asking for interviews with reps in Chicago, I received no return phone calls. So by the end of the week I had only conducted interviews with people in the airport who were sick of the additional expenses. This was very unfortunate because I know my piece would have been stronger with a professional voice from someone who could explain the new fees. It also needed a fair balance, which I was unable to obtain. It’s important to cover all sides of a story and if I have people complaining about high prices, I also need a spokesperson relaying the airline’s side. I have found that large corporations are nearly impossible to contact when on deadline. Next time I will shoot for someone local who is easily attainable.

When Holidays Work Against You

Mary Elizabeth Medawar, NBC5 Next

I got a great tip from some friends that a local high school just began a new enrollment program that gives students from disadvantaged neighborhoods the opportunity to attend a selective enrollment college preparatory school. So naturally I jumped at the story idea and began trying to find information about the program. Unfortunately for me, I picked the stupidest week (the week of the 4th) to do this story and was unable to contact the people I needed. I did learn some great lessons from this experience though: 1. Holiday weeks will always work against you because people take extended periods of time off. 2. It’s inevitable that doing a school-related story in the summer will be trying due to shortened office hours and lack of students to speak with, but it will be worse when there’s a holiday involved. Despite the problems I encountered, I was able to put together a package with the help of two people who gave me the resources and information I needed. To them I am sincerely grateful.

I ain’t afraid of no ghosts…

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
A Ghost Story
One day, a couple of months back, I saw a business card for “Paragon Paranormal Investigators.” Always on the hunt for news stories that are largely ignored by the media, I put the card in my pocket and the idea to a story on these paranormal investigators in the back of my mind.

After looking into the world of paranormal investigators on the Internet, I decided I would pitch the story idea to NBC. Then, I contacted Cher Anderson, the founder of Paragon. She seemed like an interesting person from our brief telephone conversation. She asked what a story would entail. I told her I needed to get some video of her and her team in “action.” I asked her what the investigators had going on for the week. She told me they were currently investigating a house in northern McHenry County. I asked if I could tag along, do an interview and get some footage of the team at work.

She said she would have to check with the home owner, (the client), to see if it was OK. The homeowner agreed. But she was adamant about keeping her identity private. So she would not do an interview and she did not want the address of her home or any exterior shots taken of the home. I had to agree to these stipulations, knowing the story would not be as good without them.

I would have preferred to get an interview with someone that went to the lengths of moving out of the “haunted” home to rent an apartment in a nearby town with her children. Clearly, the things that were happening in this house were traumatic enough to force a mother to pack up her essentials, grab her kids, and high tail it out of town.

Cher told me some of the reports that accompanied this case. The homeowner told the investigators that there was a lot of tension in the house. She lived there with her boyfriend, a toddler, and a middle-school aged daughter. They couldn’t explain it, but there were more fights, really bad screaming matches, that the couple never did before moving in. Then, the older child reported many odd occurrences. She said there were 2 people in the house. According to her, there was a fat man and a skinny, old man with very long fingernails present in the house.

These spirits, they said, were mischievous and even borderline violent. One day, the daughter claimed she was getting up off the couch, where she was napping. She said she felt someone grab her from behind and pull her back onto the couch. Apparently, this spirit was not ready for her to get up. There were many other unexplained happenings that concerned the mother. The family lived in the house for two years. Eventually, they couldn’t take the fighting, the weird occurrences any longer.

So I met the investigators at the house last night about 10:00 pm. Unfortunately for me, as Cher put it, “ghost hunters do it in the dark,” so the footage of them actually gathering electronic evidence was done in the dark. I couldn’t get video of that. But I was there as they set up their electronic equipment. They had several cameras, with video cameras connected to a monitor that recorded everything. They also had digital camera, thermometers to judge temperature changes.

Then I was lucky enough to get to go along as they presented some “evidence” to the owner of the courthouse Grill In Woodstock. This building was home to the courthouse, jail, morgue, and more for over 100 years. One could imagine all the suffering and anguish that occurred in this place. And the owner and some of her employees seem convinced the place is haunted. I have no idea, but I’ll do the story and let the public decide. One thing I learned was that these investigations are not like the movies or TV shows. The reality is a ghost hunter’s motto is “hurry up and wait.”

Recap

Mary Elizabeth Medawar, NBC5 Next

Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

After the dietary supplement story I realized that when beginning something new the first story is always going to be the worst. That was a difficult lesson for me, being a perfectionist, but I learned a lot during that first week that helped me there after. You know the saying, “Everything that can go wrong will go wrong”? Well it’s true. I didn’t acquire the pictures I needed for proper b-roll because the person I interviewed was out of state. So I had to go with what I had- as Marcus always says. I also had countless difficulties with Final Cut and couldn’t figure out how to export the final piece. This experience taught me not to use software you’re unfamiliar with when on deadline. Then I had a nightmarish time with Aaron (the aide at school) inserting titles and exporting it as an AVI file (it took us like 5 hours for a 30 minute job). That taught me to be satisfied with what I have, especially when the one helping me wasn’t familiar with technicalities on Avid. To top it all off my external hard drive wouldn’t transfer the files onto the computers at NBC. Looking back I am thankful those things happened in the beginning because I was able to learn and grow from them.

My next story about the new iPhone thankfully went much better. I taped during the week of torrential rainfall and heavy storms, so finding a day to shoot outside was a tad difficult. I taped my stand-up on the side of the Apple store right in front of display windows, which I later realized was stupid because they cast a bright light behind me and I turned into a talking silhouette. I walked away from that story with an understanding that you shoot with the light in front of you, not behind you.

My Clinton/Obama story was not the norm for me. I have never reported on politics and am not an avid follower of them either. So piecing this story together was challenging with a foreign language of terms to learn and a bunch of important events to catch up on. I was glad to broaden my horizons and step outside my comfort zone. I learned a great deal about loyalty and the inner workings of the human mind from the psychologist I interviewed. I also have a new understanding of politics from hours of research and televised videos. Marcus even taught me a brilliant way to acquire b-roll – YouTube.

The latest package I completed was about Chicago SummerDance. It was by far the most fun I’ve had working on a story. It was truly a sea of diversity- people were there from all over the world. The only real problem I encountered (aside from getting eaten alive by mosquitoes) was my voice became hoarse and kept cracking during my voice-overs. So my tracks sound unenthusiastic and monotonous- which I suppose is better than sounding like a boy during puberty. I also faced some more lighting problems because the once-present sun disappeared halfway through the night and my ending shots are darker.

Amid all the bad things that can happen it’s important to not become discouraged, but to keep persisting. Look at it as an opportunity to expand your knowledge. These experiences will only make you stronger, as they did for me.

The Learning Game

Mary Elizabeth Medawar, NBC5 Next

I’ve determined that learning is comparable to a game. Over the past few weeks I have been learning a great deal and have turned it into a game against myself. After the completion of each story I watch it dozens of times and pick it to pieces, scrutinizing nearly every shot and voice track. While in the beginning I would be furious that it wasn’t up to par, now I accept that the next package is a blank book waiting to be filled with new ideas and color. So with each passing week I bring the game up a notch and challenge myself in new ways with fresh knowledge gained from past experiences.

Learning Curve

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
Brand new week and a fresh slate. I turned a story last week, from start to finish, in one day. That was one of the goals I set for myself coming into this opportunity. I knew if I could finish a good story, a solid package in less than one day while being my own camera operator, producer, reporter, and editor, then I was on the right path.
I was mildly impressed with the outcome. After each piece I feel like there were one or two things I would like to back and fix, or do a different way. Or some kind of information omitted snuck into the piece. Chuck Goudie from ABC gave me some great advice while I was his intern. One of the lat pieces of advice was not to dwell on a story, move on to the next one, just keep moving forward to the next story. What’s done is done.
And that is the blessing and the curse of the deadline. Of course, any perfectionist who is trying to exceed people’s expectations like I am trying to do, will want that chance to improve, to tweak their work to get it one step closer to perfection. But the deadline says- you’ve done your work, you’ve checked your facts, white-balanced your shots, recorded your tracks, and this is the outcome.
I am learning and growing with these pieces now and I am starting to come into my own as a shooter and editor. My reporting skills have not failed me and those, too, seem to be improving each passing week and each passing story.
I will try to be proud of these final products while knowing that I could have done something better somewhere in my story. I will just know to save those self critical thoughts for the next story.

Roger and Me

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
Have you ever seen a rickshaw in Chicago?

If you answered no, then check out my story on the Chicago pedicab movement. I met this fascinating man named Roger Rickshaw- his real last name is Brownstone- in case you were wondering. He has 2 full time jobs- one as a financial trader and the other- hauling people around the city in one of his rickshaws.

These are amazing vehicles. I was lucky enough to get a ride from the Ogilvie Metra station to the lakefront and over to the Columbia college building at 600 S Michigan. He picked me up, we did an interview and went for a ride.

Roger is a fun guy, and an avid bicycle enthusiast. He has not owned a car since 2004. He lives and works in Chicago and goes almost everywhere on a bike.

He told me one of rickshaws cost about $4,000, he buys them from a company that makes them in Denver. He now has 18 rickshaws in his fleet. Doing the math, he has invested a lot (around $72,000!!)into the rickshaws one might see peddling around Chicago.
Powered by human muscle, these modes of transportation yield zero pollution. If you’re not in too much of a hurry, these things are a great way to get around. Roger also offers tours- the most popular one being the Wrigleyville tour. You can also rent these rides by the hour, day, week, etc.

Roger boasted about his great employees and says without them his business would not be as successful as it is today. As those employees know, Roger stresses one thing as being the most important- SAFETY.

As far as the story itself, I was just trying to have fun with this one. In the editing process, I could not avoid some jumpo cuts, I jut have to get better at shooting, not nreaking the 180 degree rule.

There was no controversy, no official transcripts to read, no law to interpret. Just a good time riding around in a rickshaw with Roger. One thing I learned is that pedicab is not in the dictionary- I added it to mine.

The vegan teacher…

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
What a week! After re-editing my first package- some issues needed to be taken care of- it was off to Williams Bay, Wis. I arranged a meeting to interview Dave Warwak, the vegan teacher fired by the school board in suburban Fox River Grove.

I read about this case and found myself with more questions than answers. I sought to find the truth.
To me, this case cannot be broken down in black and white. There is a lot of grey area. Warwak made some mistakes during this ordeal. The truth is, Warwak made too many waves too quickly. Transformations of the school curriculum and menu choices, mandated by our government, will never happen as quickly as Warwak wanted them to. But he did what he felt he had to do. It was brave of him to do what he did, despite the fact that he could of gone about it in a more subtle way. This is a very sensitive issue, and the parties involved were caught up in the emotion.
As a journalist, I want to be the one who stands in the middle of such controversy. I try to separate the emotional side and stick to facts. That’s all I ever do as a journalist. I read over 80 pages of the records from the dismissal hearing. I read every newspaper article written about this case since April of 2007. I know more about this case than I set out to. I did more reporting and researching than will be found in a two minute news story. I understand why some parents were upset and why the school fired him. I know this started with the reaction to the “Peep Project.” I understand how Warwak quarreled with the head of the cafeteria about removing posters promoting drinking milk. And I understand how it evolved into Warwak being insubordinate to his superiors, ultimately leading to his termination.

I want to listen to what both sides have to say and then report the story. I really wanted to include quotes from parents, students, anyone that will talk. The trouble with a story involving children is that I cannot interview a child without their parent’s consent. I contacted the principal of his former school and made a call to the District 3 administration. I included what little information I was given. Due to time restrictions- a deadline must be observed in all of this- I could not track down Warwak’s former students, contact each of their parents, get my camera and microphone and go to each child’s house. I wanted to have something like that in the story. In fact, if a parent of a former student contacted me now that the story has aired, I would pitch a follow up story to the NBC news team. I would be there, mic and camera in hand, and give them a chance to tell their side.

I did my best to be neutral. I am not for or against veganism or what the school board did when they fired Warwak. It is not my job or my place to pick a side. That’s for the public to do. All I ask is that people look at both sides with an open mind as I did.

Sun 2 Me 0 after two (stories)

  

Here I go into week number two determined to do this story a little better than the last. I know the content will not compete with the auctioneer license story. But I’m trying to do better with shot selection and editing in place of content for a week.

So let me get the mistakes out of the way…this one was similar to the mistake I made last week in the fact that it involves sunlight. That means the sun is up two nil on me after two stories. I should have used the ND filter when shooting in the bright afternoon sun. You will notice in the package a few shots were “whited out” because too much light was being allowed into the iris. I did adjust the f-stop, I used a higher number to reduce the light, but that was not enough. The shots don’t look too bad..but in my world of striving for perfection (knowing I’ll inevitably fall just shy of that goal) I could have done better. The Neutral Density filter would have allowed even less light through the iris and gave a cleaner and better shot- especially the stuff from the Ford dealer as you will see in the piece. Lesson number two involving light leaned- learn to love the ND filter right about noon on a sunny day.

This story has been done, but not this way. Instead of focusing on gas prices, I wanted to see if SUV sales were being affected by the gas prices. I found out more about SUV’s losing trade-in value and some car  dealers are reluctant to take SUVs.  I wanted to find out if the trend has hurt small used car dealers that sell these SUVs. It turns out is does hurt, but the wise car dealers take in more small, compact cars, and they stay away from SUVs.

I pitched this story two weeks ago, the same day I pitched the auctioneer/eBay story..and decided to go for it this week after discussing it with the NBC news team at the Monday morning meeting. On Sunday, in the Sun Times, the cover story was about how $5.00 gas prices could be the death of the SUV. So I guess I’m a little disappointed because it now seems like I borrowed the Sun Times story for my piece. I know that is not true and I will take solace in the fact that my news judgment is good and forward-thinking.

As the market shifts, these small used car lots must be careful. Do they consider taking a chance by getting a great deal on an SUV? Or do they supply what the public demands- more fuel efficient cars? It seems the answer is to buy up smaller cars. It might seem like a steal to purchase a large SUV at a 30-40% decline in cost compared to a year or two ago. But if one cannot afford the fuel needed for the Sport Utility Vehicle, it sadly becomes nothing more than a Stationary Utility Vehicle.

 

 

First story- it’s in the books

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
I began researching this story in an investigative reporting class at Columbia College. Sam Roe, the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, directed the class to the Web site of the Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. Mr. Roe’s intent was to show us anyone can find a good story if they know where to look- the board’s discipline reports.

I was looking for something that stuck out. After scrolling through a few months of Discipline reports, I spotted a couple from northwest suburban Crystal Lake who were fined $10,000 each for auctioneering without a license. After debating if anyone would care about a story like this and wondering about the details, I set forth on a mission to find out what happened.

It wasn’t until a few months later that I would get to turn this story into the enterprise piece I had envisioned it becoming. Trying to find a story written about William and Bonnie Speechley proved to be difficult. I could find nothing written specifically about this case. I tried Google, then Nexis, then the local newspaper’s websites. Nothing. And for my intention of an enterprise story, one that had never been reported before, this was a very good thing.

On Monday, I began making calls and tried to get the ball rolling on this story. I called the Illinois State Association of Auctioneers (located, by the way, in Wisconsin- go figure) and spoke with Maxine O’Brien. She gave me some good quotes and clarified her association’s views on eBay stores and the Illinois Auction Act. She was not familiar with the Speechleys’ case, but when I told her about the fines, she said “Good!” Her opinion on the case was obvious. She told me to call an administrative assistant, Susan, with the Illinois Auction board, so I did. Susan said she could not comment on anything that was related to this case, but she was present at the hearing where the decision was made to fine the Speechleys. Then, I contacted Sue Hofer of the IDFPR. She gave me some good information, but would not comment on the specifics of the case.

The first snafu I encountered was that my main source for the story- the Speechleys-were on vacation. After leaving a couple of messages on Monday and Tuesday, I got to speak with Bill Speechley on Wednesday. After some persuasion, I convinced Bill this story needed to be told, and the story would not jeopardize his chances of having the fines dropped by an administrative judge.

I interviewed Bill at his office, A Video and Image Company in Crystal Lake. Despite a few technical mistakes by me, (I interviewed Bill with a window behind him due to space limitations- a mistake I regret making) the interview went quite well.

I then set off to get the other elements of this story. I found an owner of a sell it on eBay store that was doing business without a license. I told him about the story and the Speechley case. I offered him a deal. I would not reveal his name, identity, or take any shots of his business in exchange for an anonymous interview. I agreed not to show his face and he agreed to sit down and talk. You could say I have my first confidential source as a journalist. And no one will ever know who that source is.

I am not a good editor, and my camera skills need some work. But content-wise I feel like I nailed this story, despite having to leave out some good information due to time restrictions of the piece. I shot this story on Wednesday, and I spent most of Thursday editing at the college. I would have never finished without the help of Aaron Owens, the nighttime work aid and Avid genius at Columbia. He really helped me out a lot– so if you’re reading this– THANKS AARON.

I learned a lot and in the end, I felt like I did a pretty good job- not great, not terrible- but pretty good–and I’m ready for the next story on NBC Next.