Friday, May 29th

Wow, what a day! Although my morning was fairly dull, my afternoon and evening was PACKED. I stopped by the county courthouse for a (rather dull) court case and interview, and then later in the afternoon to a homeless shelter/soup kitchen to discuss a new form of donating via text message. After that, we were planning on interviewing a lady on a story about a teacher posting pictures of her drinking and kissing her former students (also girls), but we were diverted with the news of a lady in a nearby town who was being evicted and charged because she had over 40 animals in her tiny house. We traveled there and worked for about 3 hours. I got to hold some sweet, tiny baby kitties - SO cute! Then, we went and shot a clip of the owner and her caretakers leaving the house, which was so disgusting I can't explain. The officer said the house smelled so badly of urine, he could smell it through the charcoal in his respirator. Anyways, the lady was also severly malnourished - she was skin and bones, and her stomach was protruding - like you see on those videos of dying African children. The lady had 33 cats, 2 dogs, 4 ferrets, a rabbit, and dozens of mice all in a tiny home that was GROSS. What a story.

Too tired to post the things that entertained me :) I work tomorrow and Sunday, so look forward to more exciting stuff, haha.

Tara

Wednesday, May 27th

Okay, first, can I just say that it is WRONG to have weather this cold in late May?! It's like 60 degrees here and that = a cold Tara. Today has been pretty slow (knock on wood) but I've learned lots of stuff. When my "boss" got here she had me file future stories (events that are happening, that kind of thing), and then had me call a few beats (the 911 dispatchers who will tell you if anything big's going on). As far as going out for things - I got to go to the Federal Court building! It was pretty dull, went for a case against a guy who stole a ton of money from like, everyone he knew. It was short and whatever, but I got to see a courtroom, and watch an interview with a lawyer as he left the building...felt like I was on Law & Order, except we were the only media (and actually, the only people watching, his family didn't even come! Sad!) so it was like...woopee!

Things that entertained me today:
-Caller who was freaking out about a low-flying helicopter yesterday ("Why is everyone being so hush-hush about this?!") which we did a story on...YESTERDAY.
-telling our anchor that if anything big happened on the police scanners, I was going to jump up and down and scream at the assignment desk (which is on camera)
-the guy who was in court today was getting into his (crappy) car as we left the courthouse - he got a parking ticket. What a day - go to court for embezzlement and forgery, etc, and get a parking ticket :)
-I made a change for the news! Well, I didn't actually type out the change, but I got a call that a bill that we announced on the air was explained incorrectly...I did the research, saw that the guy who called was right, and told the producer, who then changed the newscast to reflect what I told her :) Not extremely fascinating, but I helped and it was cool, haha.

Until Friday,
Tara

Sunday, May 24th

Although this is my third day of my internship, it's my first day on this blog - let's just say I got really bored. I'll begin by explaining my job as an intern. Basically, I sit at a desk in the back of the newsroom, and do nothing. If a reporter goes out on a story, I might join them. Otherwise, it's just a lot of sitting. Eventually, I might get the opportunity to work on a piece myself, and add it to my resume tape...but I'm not sure what all I'll be doing - hey, it's just the third day!

Today has been pretty dull. I got here at 2:30 and I work until after the 10pm newscast. For the first...4 hours, I sat behind the computer and checked out my Facebook and drooled over cakes on Martha Stewart. Then, I went out with a photographer to cover a symphony concert. However, the day has not been without it's little moments:

-During the final break of the 5:30 newscast, the anchor asked our sports guy, "Will you buy me a pop if I say your name in the close?" He said, "Only if you call me King _____________" She declined :)
-Crazy, crazy callers: We got two calls from this lady who insisted that the mental health facility she was in was the anti-Christ because they wouldn't let her leave for church (never mind that the facility is run by...guess who? A church!)
-Listening to crazy stalker/viewer stories...our anchor is popular with people who make necklaces out of hair and prisoners, it seems, and one of our reporters is popular with older ladies in wheelchairs.

So, all in all, a dull but sorta fun day :) I'm enjoying getting to know this place behind the scenes.

Peace out!
Tara