Lansing Breakfast Club

How do you put the social in social networking? When I think about that question I'm reminded of this Daily Show video. It's an old one but I've always remembered it because there's a good point... How well do you know the people you friend or follow on the internet? Do you even know them at all?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Trendspotting - Social Networking
http://www.thedailyshow.com/
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Health Care Crisis

Enter the Lansing Breakfast Club. It's a way to bring people together who met over the internet. Basically the club is a weekly tweet-up with a theme. Two co-workers started it because they wanted to meet more people in the Lansing community. They got the word out through Twitter and Facebook. The idea was to meet for breakfast every Wednesday at 7am. The first week 6 people showed up, 16 weeks later they've had as many as 60 at one breakfast. Not only does the club bring local professionals together, it also supports local businesses. I found out about the club through twitter and as a reporter I wanted to see what it was all about. I went to a breakfast to check it out and knew I had to do a story. Next week I showed up with a camera and turned this piece for our "Tell Me Something Good" segment. The funny thing is I'm still going to the Lansing Breakfast Club. After we shot the story one of our videographers said wow that's really cool we should go next week. A few weeks later I'm happy to report we've been regulars ever since.

You can find the club on Twitter just search #LansingBreakfast or become a fan on their Facebook page.

Big Three: Blogging and Tweeting a New Image

Last week GM CEO Fritz Henderson made a big announcement, but before he held a press conference information was already out via social media.

Henderson announced the gas mileage of the highly anticipated Chevrolet Volt. Even without an official announcement there was already a buzz on the internet. It started with “what it 230” – a viral marketing campaign that made its rounds on Youtube, Flickr, Facebook and Twitter. If you want to see what I mean, search for it on Google, or type in #whatis230 on Twitter.

My point: the Big 3 are blogging, tweeting and interacting. Of course they aren’t the only companies taking advantage of social media but I think it’s worth taking a look at them specifically.

As a journalist and a Michiganian I was both excited and interested in this topic. I wanted to follow the actions of these American automakers through social media, especially during this unprecedented time for them. I think the Big 3's use of social media is another way to revamp their images. In addition, it creates new opportunities to connect with customers and try to gain future customers. So, the point of this entry is to take a closer look at the ways General Motors, Chrysler and Ford have embraced this new medium. I’ll probably talk about Twitter the most since these companies are using the site to promote other ways they're communicating.

From what I can tell, GM and Ford have the most visible presence on Twitter. The companies use the site to talk about new products but they also direct followers their site and blogs. GM hosts webchats and tweetups. Staff also blog and tweet. And when they tweet they also reply to their followers. You’ll see that Ford has more followers than GM; this could be because GM has more groups on twitter. Ford is also good about replying to followers and staff also host livewebchats.

Chrysler has the smallest amount of followers and the least groups, but they also promote their blog through twitter.

I think the most surprising thing to me is how social media makes these big corporations somewhat accessable. It really creates a new level of transparency to know the Big 3 on a more personal level. I also want to point out this blog post is made up of my observations. In the end it’s hard to measure social media usage. I hope you’ll use this post as an opportunity to follow these companies and make some comparisons for yourself.

Breaking the News and Following it Up

Just finished up a six day work week. I spent three of those days covering a drowning. Here's a day by day breakdown.

Sunday: We first learned that someone may be in the water Sunday evening. I had just wrapped up the shoot for a story I was working on when I got a call from our producer. It was one of those situations where we didn't have much info so I quickly headed to the site to figure out what was going on. Ended up turning a package about the basics - someone is in the water, rescue turned into recovery, calling off recovery for tonight because it's too dangerous.

Monday: I got to the station early to follow up with the sargent I spoke with on Sunday. Their plan was debrief at 9 and head out to the water at 10. I met them at the site as they continued their recovery effort. It really helped that I was there the day before, actually we were the only media there on Sunday. I knew who to talk to and where to go. I also had another advantage, the victim's friends had seen me there too. Understandably, they didn't want to talk, or at least do a formal interview. Luckily, they were able to share their story with me and let me get sound off the shot gun mic. Divers located the body by mid-afternoon. My story for the day was reaction from friends, the same friends that were swimming when their friend went under and didn't come back up.

Tuesday: The day after they found the body there were still more questions. The teen who drowned was swimming in an area called Cedar Lake or some simply called it the old gravel pit. I wanted to check on the number of drownings, the history of the lake and if anyone should swim there in the first place. The story I ended up with was a little different. I interviewed the sheriff's department for the basics and I also set up an interview with the drain commissioner because he knew a lot about the area. Seems straightforward until the sheriff's deparment said the area was dangerous, then the drain commissioner said people should swim there. If conflict makes a good story I would say this piece had it.

Show and Tell: Clunkers

I haven't blogged since GM filed for bankruptcy, how appropriate that I decided to blog today since I just did another story about cars. Although, this story was about potentially good news for the auto industry. The "Cash for Clunkers Program" would give incentives to turn in a car that is bad on gas and not worth a whole lot - hence the name clunker. I had pitched this story idea three weeks ago before the bill had passed in the House or Senate. Now it just needs a signature from President Obama.

The obvious angle would be to find someone with a clunker they wanted to turn in. I ended up doing the story as more of an explainer with the dealer's perspective. Really, I didn't have a lot to work with so it was important to make it interesting. I knew it would be tiring listening to one guy from the dealer promote the program. I wanted to break up his bites with an explanation of what makes a clunker. To do this I did a multi-part stand up with a grease maker. I needed multiple shots to keep it visual. I also needed to sequence, sequence, sequence. I wrote the four points I wanted to get across on different parts of a van so I could keep moving.

When I edited all the pieces together the stand up was 26 seconds. Seems long but I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I also think it fit well into the overall story.

GM Files for Bankruptcy

GM, one of the Big Three American auto makers filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. If you're from Michigan you probably know it is a day many thought to be unthinkable. Not because it is painful but because it just couldn't happen... until today. People here live and breathe cars. It seems like everyone knows someone who knows someone who has something to do with the auto industry. To say it's a big deal wouldn't do it justice.

As a reporter I feel honored to do my little part in covering this historic story - a story that doesn't have an ending yet. The scary thing for Michiganians is not knowing what this exactly means. What does it mean for auto dealers or suppliers? What about employees and retirees? What does it mean for the state budget deficit or an unemployment rate that's already greater than 12%?

Chrysler filed for bankruptcy on April 30th and look where GM is just over one month later. The Chrysler bankruptcy proceedings are said to be going smoothly. Today the court granted approval to let Chrysler sell assets to Fiat. On the other hand a GM bankruptcy could be seen as more complicated because it is a larger company with more overseas operations.

For me this entire process will be about watching it unfold. I think there are a lot of questions to be answered today and in the next few days. I also think because of the scale and magnitude of this event we might not yet know the full ramifications.

Lastly I wanted to list some notes & numbers I wrote down throughout the day.
Previous GM break even point 16 million, new break even point 10 million (car sales)
MI Facilities - GM closing 5 plants and idling 2 more causing the state to lose 8,646 jobs
82 billion in assets, 172 billion in debt
Fed lending could total 50 billion
New ownership percentages: government 60%, Canada 12.5%, UAW 17.5%, Bondholders 10%

My Thoughts on Leaving Missouri

I'm leaving Missouri on Saturday but it hasn't exactly sunk in yet. I've called this state home for the past three years, now I'm leaving. I'm moving back to Michigan to begin the next chapter of my career.

But lets get back to Missouri.... when I decided to come to the "Show-Me State" I had one thing to go off of. I'll warn you that this is a funny story yet bad stereotype. Anyways, when I was a kid I had a puzzle map of all 50 states. I distinctly remember Missouri because it was the state with a pig pictured on it. Little did I know I'd end up in the pig state and little did I know how much I'd come to love the pig state. From my time in Missouri I can tell you that there is a lot more to this state than pigs. Infact, I've never personally ran into a pig my entire time here but I have seen my fair share of cows.

I not only lived in Missouri but I reported here. My entire experience here has really been a learning process. I can say I've learned much about the state, its people and about myself. The great thing that I had the chance to experience firsthand is the midwest attitude. For the most part everyone is very friendly and easy to relate to. I say for the most part because I don't want to risk sounding like a millennial. (thanks Woelfel) I hope I was able to give something back through my reporting. I learned a lot covering severe weather, something there is no shortage of in Missouri. I also hope I was able to take the Michiganian in me and do some enterprising reporting about the auto industry.

Another place I will miss is KOMU. When I moved to Missouri and didn't know anyone the people at the station were some of the first to ask me what I was doing on a Friday night. I've made so many wonderful and lasting friends at the station. I'm thankful to all of them who took the time to help me along the way.

The Show-Me State has truly shown me a lot. I just wish I still had that map with the pig on it!

What do I tweet about?

Read my Wordle to find out.

RTNDA

I told myself I’d blog about this, I just wasn’t sure when. Between the jet lag and reporting on live TV literally hours after we landed, I would say it has taken me a few days to get caught up on sleep.

I got in to Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon, the RTNDA festivities started on Sunday. I had never been to Vegas before so I wasn’t really sure what to expect. Of course I was there for business, the RTNDA@NAB conference. I learned a lot at all the different sessions. Some of my favorite sessions were about the current state of the industry and new media. I really liked Cashing In on Business and Financial Coverage and The (News) Doctor Is In: What’s Wrong with My Website? Of course I have to talk about Jen Reeve’s Twitter 101 because I loved hearing about how newsrooms plan on using twitter.

It was also a special RTNDA for my news director, Stacey Woelfel. He became the new Chairman of the organization. Congrats to him! Another highlight of the trip was someone who I got to meet, Merv Block. I read his book before I was even in J School so I was very excited about meeting him.

All in all it was a great experience and I would really like to go again if I get the chance. I think the conference did a good job of acknowledging the current economic situation, yet at the same time it wasn’t as negative as I may have expected.

Belated Post - On my way to RTNDA

After a whirlwind week, I’m finally on a plane to the RTNDA@NAB conference in Las Vegas. There was so much to do this week, but I can finally breathe as I sit on this plane with a cold drink on the tray table. (Incase your wondering I wrote this on the plane with the intention of posting it when I landed. I planned on posting it until I found out the internet was $15 per day at the MGM.)

Last night I anchored the 10. After the newscast I edited a franchise story for KOMU’s Your Health segment that aired on Sunday. Then I burned a bunch of DVDs, went home, packed – next thing I know I’m on my way to Vegas. I’ve been looking forward to this conference since I started going to our local RTNDA meetings three years ago. Now I’m the secretary for our chapter. I am just so excited to meet new people, so excited to learn new things, and yes I’d by lying if I said I wasn’t excited to go to Vegas.

Teaming Up for a Visit

Last week I shot a story for KOMU's Your Health franchise. I followed University of Missouri football players as they visited sick kids at Children's Hospital. The football players also handed out autographed pillowcases to the patients. I knew, I had to bring a still camera to get some good pictures of this story. I also created a web extra video to tell the story behind the pillowcases.

Link to the story: Teaming Up for a Visit

Everyone is talking changes

This week the Detroit Free Press made some major changes. The paper will only be delivered Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. This is a huge step for a major metropolitan newspaper. As a journalism major and an avid Freep reader I was really curious about these changes. For my capstone class I am taking part in a project called Media Giraffe. The goal is to interview people with an innovative media presence on the internet. I figured these bold moves by the Free Press definitely qualify as innovative. I contacted the Freep through twitter to setup an interview. They responded right away and I was able to interview Steve Dorsey. He's their Deputy Managing Editor for Presence and Innovation. The interview was extremely interesting, I think we talked for 30 minutes. It wasn't only an interview about the Free Press: it was an interview about the future of journalism and the state of the industry. I am currently writing my piece for the Media Giraffe site and I'll link to it when I'm done.

The newspaper industry isn't the only one experiencing changes, TV is changing too. The University of Missouri School of Journalism had a special guest. Russ Mitchell came in to talk about The Real World of TV News. He also showed a clip from his KOMU days - priceless. Russ took questions about everything from how he got into journalism to changes at the network level.

Both of these experinces brought me a lot of hope. Ask about the future of journalism and I bet 9 out of 10 times you'll get a negative response. I think we need to start seeing the positives in this industry. When this happens I think it will be easier to move forward even if that means a doing journalism differently.

A Soggy Week Reporting

The week started off nice but somehow spring turned into snow. I know, I know - it's Missouri and these things happen. Monday was gorgeous, although it was raining in the early morning. Luckily it cleared up as I drove to Jefferson City. My story was about the number of applications River City Habitat for Humanity receives. You would think in a down economy more people would apply, but interestingly enough the economy hurts applicants. Habitat for Humanity won't accept people with recent foreclosures, bankruptcies or judgements. In the current economy that means less people could potentially qualify. In the beginning I thought this story would just be about applications increasing but it turned out to be more.

I was caught in the middle of a downpour during my drive to the station Tuesday morning. I turned on the radio and heard there was even a possibility of a tornado. First thing I thought, severe weather story. (good thing I had my rainboots) After talking to our meterologist we determined most of the damage and wet weather would be Southwest of Boone County. I decided to take a visit to Morgan County. Shot some good weather video, then something else broke. While I was talking to the Sheriff he told me they arrested a fugitive earlier but hadn't sent the press release yet. Turns out a Florida man wanted for attempted murder was hiding out in Morgan County around Stover. With this new information I did a short weather VO and an onset about the fugitive.

Saturday was equally soggy with the possibility of snow. Two years ago Missouri saw a devestating freeze in early April. I was wondering if growers feared a possible repeat after a fairly warm March. Wineries saw widespread damage in the 2007 freeze but they weren't too concerned. But the cold sent nurseries scrambling, especially ones that had all their flowers outside. It's a good thing they moved the flowers inside because it started snowing later that night.

Building a website from the ground up

My goal: launch my website http://www.lizgelardi.com/ in less than two weeks. Maybe I can even have it up a week from today, but I don't want to make any promises. So far I have the site laid out. I've also converted my videos and uploaded them to vimeo. I was really surprised how easy vimeo is, and my video looks great. To get this site up and running I still need to write a bio, figure out how to put my resume up and add pictures of me. - Hopefully it won't take too long.

Right now, I am also trying to start up another HFR. I don't know what my web extras will be yet. As I get more information, I will probably have a better idea of content to put on the web. I'll also be pretty busy this week, I am reporting Monday-Thursday.

Web Story - Completed

Last time I blogged, I talked about my challenges creating a comprehensive web story for my 8 On Your Money story. I created a flash map and Jen Reeves helped me add it to the story page as a KOMU.com web extra. I also created a graph and slideshow that I added as additional KOMU.com extras.

The web version of this story allows the viewers to look through the information at their own pace. It was fun to see my co-workers feedback of the flash map. I showed it to a few people, and as they rolled over it I could see their reaction to the number of cars sold by county. I hope the map, graph and slideshow add to my video and text. I also wrote an expanded text story by using more context and quotes.

The links section of my web story has a lot of the numbers I used to research this story. I hope to add transparency to this story by adding links to information from the Department of Revenue and National Auto Dealers Association.

Economy Driving Change

Creating a Comprehensive Web Story (trying to)

Right now I am writing a long-form web story for my 8 On Your Money story. So far I've added a few links but I hope to expand my content to include a slideshow and sound slides. I also have a graph that I hope to add as a pdf. I will update this post once I finish this story.

Resources for Breaking News

Last night I was working on my 8 On Your Money HFR and about to blog (I swear)... when we started getting a lot of traffic over the scanner. There was a rollover accident and house fire around 9pm on Saturday. The producers asked me if I'd go out to grab some video, so of course I couldn't say no. Plus, running out to get video didn't seem like a bad idea since I had been logging tape pretty much all day. I ended up going out with Kevin Schwaller to the accident. We interviewed the victim's dad and got video. Then, I remembered my still camera in the car so I started taking pictures. I also remembered twitter so I started tweeting updates.

After the accident was cleared we were on our way back to the station when we got a phone call that there was a residential structure fire. Change in plans, off to the fire. I continued to tweet updates and I also took pictures at the fire.

When we finally got back to the station I uploaded all my photos on the KOMU flickr. It was also helpful to have the still photos for the lead image. Then Kevin and I imported all our video. We cut stories for the web using sound from our interviews and b-roll from the scene. I think this was a really good way to get the information on the web long after the news was over.

Links: Rollover Accident and House Fire

Side Note: This week I also finished the flash map I was working on for my HFR. I am very excited to put that up on the web soon.

Flashing Facts

This week I got a refresher course in Flash. Last time I touched Flash was my senior year of high school. I was really excited to learn it again because you can do so much with it. (just think if I would of kept with it all this time, I would be an expert by now)

I started building a Flash map on Thursday and I also worked on it today. I knew that I wanted to use an interactive map for my upcoming HFR about the auto industry. This story has so much information and Flash just gives me another outlet to put information out there. I finally decided to build a map showing 2008 car sales broken down by the counties in KOMU 8's viewing area. When you roll-over the county, the number of cars sold in 2008 shows up. Today I was able to modify this feature; now the number shows up inside a clip art image of a car. I hope this map will really add to my HFR. The numbers tell the story, and it is interesting to see the contrast between counties by letting the viewer see for themselves as they roll-over the map.

Ice Storm Recovery

Blogging the Bootheel

Long week. Actually, it felt like one long day. I left for the Missouri Bootheel Monday morning to shoot a follow up story on the ice storm for KOMU. I traveled with a crew from Boone Electric Co-op; they've sent linemen to the area for the past two weeks. We headed out at 9am and didn't arrive until after 4pm. It was almost 300 miles! I didn't know what to expect on my way down. When I was about 15 miles outside Sikeston I started to notice the damage. The crew stopped in Sikeston to eat and I walked around to take pictures and talk to residents. As I made my way further south the damage became worse.

Finally, I arrived in Portageville. The Boone Electric crew that I followed met up with another crew that was already there. That evening I went out with the crew to start shooting my story. When I was talking with the crew I also found out about another story. The MU Delta Center was helping feed linemen, at least 500 of them. I headed over to Rone Hall, the place where all the linemen ate. It was really a sight to see; all the electric trucks were parked outside and inside all the linemen were eating. Everyone was extremely nice. I met people from MU Extension, Charles Crawford (the manager of the Pemiscot-Dunklin Co-op) and "Shorty" (the owner of a local restaurant who was cooking all the food).

I ended up staying overnight in Portageville, I actually got the last room at the New Orleans Inn. Jake Fisher from MU said I should stay there, he called and booked the room. Everyone in the town knew each other and I'm guessing he knew the owner. When I arrived, funny story, I went to go check in and there was a note on the door that said, "Go to the bar next door." Well, I went to the bar and sure enough the owner was there and he gave me my key.

The next morning I was up at 4:30. I went over to get video of the linemen eating breakfast and did a phoner for the morning show. After breakfast I followed Shorty to his restaurant to get b-roll over there. I decided to do a story about Shorty and the fact that he was feeding around 500 men three meals a day.

After I got video at Shorty's Restaurant I met up with the Boone Electric crew to get more b-roll with them. They were setting poles all day and it was really interesting to see just how an electric pole is put in the ground. I followed the crew around for a while and then decided to head back before it got too late. When I got back to Columbia just before 11pm I uploaded all my video so I could put together my stories the next day.

My thoughts on the trip: I really learned a lot over those two days. Both of the stories I shot came out very well. And I hope I was able to convey the sense of service that I experienced with every person I met.

Links to my Stories:
Recovery and Restoration
Shorty's Service

More Content, Less Problems and a lot of Tweeting

Web extra, well it isn't really extra because it's required. All the reporters had an extra, mostly links. The challenge: what can Kyrsten and I do during our shift that is going to draw people to KOMU.com? I was talking with Kevin Schwaller who just finished interviewing UM System President Gary Forsee. We decided it would be great to post the raw material to the web, especially since Thursday was the night before Forsee's State of the University address.

Kevin was a big help, he exported the interview as a .mov and saved it in broadcastfiles. I created a new story and uploaded the interview to the web. But of course we wanted to promote it! Kyrsten and I used the KOMUNEWS twitter and we tweeted a lot. I tweeted before and after the video was posted using KOMU and my personal twitter. I think this shows the power of twitter as a promotion tool. Maybe someone received that update on their phone and thought to themselves, hey I really want to check out that interview.

I really hope people watched the raw interview. It is so easy to post an interview and I think dot com should push reporters to do it more often.

Forsee Interview

Winter Warzone

Ice damage in Southeast Missouri from the winter storm that hit this past Monday and Tuesday. Tens of thousands are still without power. Just two of the photos from my live shot last night. To see more photos and my story click here.

My First Blog Post

Second week of dot com and I am feeling pretty comfortable with KOMU.com and ACM. For my shift Thursday night it was important to post pictures of the gang bust. Since there were three separate stories I also had to be careful not to confuse them. That wasn't the only news for the night, I made sure there was a link to the new airport plans.

Last night, I had my live shot shift. I wrote the web version of my story for the first time and I think it turned out well. I had a lot of information, a link and really awesome pictures. I also posted the video myself (something I didn't know how to do 2 weeks ago).

I feel like dot com was one of the only things at KOMU that I didn't have a good handle on. Now that I'm in Jen's class I hope to know KOMU.com inside and out because it is such an important part of our stories. Hopefully I'm already on my way there.