A day that started out so well ended with me searching for answers on what exactly went wrong. I was a reporter this week and s]o I spent countless hours looking through calendars for every business or organization in Central New York. I settled on a story I saw on the 11 PM news that mentioned that the Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) was accepting applications starting Thursday.
HEAP is a federally funded program that helps people pay their heat and utility bills.The HEAP office in Syracuse is in the County Office Building so I ran over there right after getting out of morning classes. It was a really nice day out so I didn't mind the walk. There was about 20-30 people in the waiting room once I got there and I immediately started looking for angles to take on the story. I interviewed a few people waiting in line but didn't use them in my story because it?s hard to fit in full sound bites in a 50 second piece. I did get an interview with the HEAP coordinator, Cary Gould, who was very warm (pun intended) and easy going. He let me know that the program served over 21,000 homes last winter, and this year he expected to help more despite an unseasonably warm fall. Gould said that individuals who make up to $22,000 a year can receive assistance as well as a family that brings in $43,000 a year. Gould also dispelled some myths about who can receive assistance. He said that people who don't have a disconnect notice can get regular HEAP, but not emergency HEAP. He also dispelled the "myth" that a 401k account prevents people from getting assistance. He said that they only look at your income, the number of people in the home, and what percentage of your income is used to pay the utility bills. Gould also said that people receiving public assistance or food stamps don't have to go to the offices, but can simply call.
With all this wonderful information and plenty of time to spare, I returned back to class and started on my story. I tried to use two sound bites from Gould, but I quickly found out that my story would be too long if I did. I cut it down as much as I could, but I completely forgot to mention that my story was a bit long to my producer. Sorry Noel :-( With about 10 minutes left before the newscast I went to cart my story and it came out sounding like I was talking from inside a cave. I really felt like I let the team down...and I'll make sure that I never feel that way again!
Jordan was very cool under pressure and having her as anchor really saved the little we had in our newscast. Noel did a good job with the rundown and it's not her fault that her reporters failed to come through. Tyler was Tyler- optimistic through out. I think he brought great energy and did a good job adlibbing his story in the booth. I think we had the potential to do great, but communication was a problem that we can all work on for future classes. The biggest thing I took out of today's class was that it's just that...a class. This is where we're supposed to make mistakes so we learn what NOT to do.
1 comment:
Mura! You worked so hard the whole class and I am sorry your piece did not come out well on the cast! Stuff happens and you can't sweat the small stuff. You did a great job covering the event... It was an experience and we all learned from our mistakes. No worries and like you said- it's a class and there will be a next time!
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