A visit to the Late Show with David Letterman

Today Julie and I went to see letterman. It was for a taping of Fridays show. No need to tivo it, we weren’t on at all. We did have good seats; third row on the side. It was lots of fun. Tom Brokaw was on and talked about all the comedic stuff that he always talks about…you know poverty and global warming.

 

Putnam County Spelling Bee was so funny that I almost had to sit down

This evening I went to see the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee , what a hit. You sit outside the theater and read all of the quotes from the critics…and you say “can this show really be that good?” Rather than me giving you a creative quote about spelling H-I-T or the “sweet spell of success” I’ll just say “yes it really is that good.” I went 2hrs before the show to try to get the lottery tickets. But I didn’t win so I just bought standing room only tickets for $25 the show runs 1:45 with no intermission so it wasn’t that bad, and it was well worth it. When you are watching it you forget that it is a musical and feel like it is a comedy show. If you are going to be in NYC, Chicago or San Francisco it is a must see.

 

I have a damn good wave

Today was our NY Program took a “tour” of Good Morning America. Or so I thought when we got there at 6:30 a.m. we quickly realized we were not only going on a tour but also going to be in the audience. They put our group smack in the center and sure enough there I was waving to the camera to bump into and out of the breaks.

 

Journalism Under Fire: “Writers Taking the News Personally” (3/4)

This session was on journalists writing in the first person. Mike Sager, visiting writer at the University of California-Irvine and writer-at-large for Esquire, said it best when he mentioned the saying “opinions are like A-holes every one has one.” The completion of that is “and no one wants to hear about them. But, is the later part true? NYTimes.com sells their opinions in TimeSelect. People are flocking to talk radio and the talking head shows on 24-hour cable. Why? Well, here’s an opinion for you. People are interested in hearing about the opinions that they agree with. Yes, sometimes people may begins to see a different side to the issue when they read about what the other side has to day, but overwhelming people like to fuel their own fire. Just look at FOX News or conservative talk radio. There is no shame in admitting that FOX has a conservative slant…just as much as the other cable networks may slant to the left. Most of FOX’s viewers are conservative. Same with conservative talk radio…most of the listeners are, well, conservative. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this….as long as you agree with me.

 

Journalism Under Fire: “Aren’t Women Citizens?” (2/4)

Our second discussion in the series was on women in the newsroom. It was incredibly interesting to hear about how although there are many aspiring female journalists the number that makes it to management is slim to none, and that hasn’t changed over the past ten years. There were two reasons laid out for this. One, the inherent sexism in the workforce prevents women from getting management positions. Two, that women are not seeking these positions. While it is hard to say which one has more ground to stand on, I am sure that it is a combination of both. Participating in the discussion were Sheila Gibbons, vice president of Communications Research Associates and co-author of Taking Their Place: A Documentary History of Women and Journalism; Carol Jenkins, Emmy award-winning news anchor and correspondent, founding member and now on Board of Advisors of the Women's Media Center, and Geneva Overholser, professor and Curtis B. Hurley Chair of Public Affairs Reporting, Missouri School of Journalism.

 

All the post that’s fit to blog

As a part of the program we visited the New York Times newsroom. We started out by chatting with Neil Amdur and Merrill Perlman Both Mizzou grads. One of the most interesting things that I learned there was about their “Continuous News Operation.” The NY Times is structured so that the focus on getting the latest news out to the readers. This means that the CNO is responsible for keeping the stories fresh not only for the website but also for the different versions of the paper. This goes to prove that the NY Times is serious when they say they are “Platform Agnostic.”

 

Catching up

These past couple of days have been quite busy. Interning at ABC is a blast. I spent my first day in the Media Room for ABC NewsNow learning about how they edit all of their shows. Today I was at ABCNews.com working on some online stories and then in ABC NewsNow learning about their process. Tomorrow I head out with one of the producers to go out on a shoot. On a different yet exciting note, I found out today that I was selected for the Scripps Howard Top Ten Journalist Award. And on a much less exciting note, I found an error in the NY Subway Map.

 

A Gourmet lunch

Well, close to it. Today we toured Gourmet Magazine. We had the unique experience of eating in the Conde Nast cafeteria. While it was great food, it’s not necessarily anything to scream about. Learning about the magazine was intriguing. It was exciting to hear about their big push to start to target a younger audience b using the web. I look forward to seeing it.

 

Journalism Under Fire: The view from the newsroom (1/4)

Part of the NY Program is weekly panels put on by the Missouri School of Journalism and The New School. This week’s panel was about what it is like when your newsroom becomes the story. The panelists were Paul Steiger, managing editor of the Wall Street Journal and Missouri Honor Medal recipient, and Barney Calame, public editor of The New York Times, former deputy managing editor of the Wall Street Journal and MU alum. The panel was hosted by CBS’s Russ Mitchell also MU alum.

A lot of the discussion focused on examples that they both faced, including Daniel Pearl and 9/11.  To hear from these two journalists about what it was like to put out a NY paper on 9/11 was fascinating.  Paul Steiger talked about how he was at the WSJ when the plane hit and then saw the first tower collapse only to be covered in dust, still working to make sure that his staff made it to the NJ newsroom to put out the next days paper. At one point when they were talking about the reaction they got from readers the next day and I have to admit my eyes watered up.

Click here to watch the panel online. (real player)