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Mic Dreams

Reporting the Story: Facebook Scams

Today, News 20 @ 5 followed many interesting news stories around the Tallahassee area. Our reporters covered stories on Florida's Insurance Crisis and Facebook Scams. Today, was a slow news day, and so many of our reporters were required to enterprise stories. The story that I decided to follow for today's news was a story on Facebook Scams. I intially saw the story on CNN and decided to localize the topic and tailor it to Tallahassee's demographic.
Tallahassee is filled with college students and many of those students use Facebook. Facebook is one of the most popular social networking websites on the web, but it also can become a haven for scam artist. Watch News 20@5 for the latest on Facebook scams.

Tattoo Laws

A new tattoo bill passes in Florida and many tattoo shops are saying it's time for the reform to take place. The new tattoo bill will require tattoo artist to follow stricter rules when it comes to tattooing. This new bill will also make it harder for any minor under the age 16 to get a tattoo, even with mom and dads permission. Several tattoo shops around Tallahassee are glad to see the changes take place. These stricter standards forevery tattoo artist. Whether practicing underground or above ground.
The new bill also has its benefits for customers. Stricter health standards can prevent people from contracting diseases from tattoo shops.

Florida's Education Rally

In today's news, News 20 @ 5 covered a story on the education rally that took place at the Capitol. News 20 @5 was the first news crew on the scene to witness the events taking place. Thousands of Floridans marched to the Capitol on Wednesday to demand no more cuts to educational funding, especially for private and charter school students. The streets of downtown Tallahassee were filled with students, parents, and teachers Many politicians from all over the sunshine state joined in on the rally to support the cause.

Check out News 20 @5, Week in Review, for your weekly recaps of the news thats most important to you!

Proposed Legislation for Red Light Runners

Drivers beware, or at least be cautious because big brother is watching. There is a new proposed legislation in Florida that will allow state officials to issue tickets to red light runners. The proposed legislation is currently on the table in Tallahassee, Florida. Cameras will be mounted on main intersections and streets such as North Monroe and Tennessee Street. The proposed legislation will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for the city, but many Tallahassee residents are more concerned with where the money will go. The bill is sponsored by Rep. Ron Reagan and R-Bradendton.

Watch News 20 @5 for the latest in news, and weather, sports.

Things go wrong in News too!

Today started out very well until tragedy struck. After completing my news package pretty early today, I was going to go down stairs to drop my footage in the server. Then it happen, my hard drive died. I am so sad but I can't cry, maybe it is because I only having only 3 hours worth of sleep. You don't understand how upset I was on the inside, but I just continued my work. This was the most I have worried all semester. I just could not believe that I had lost all my footage because of a fire wire hard drive. So I went to plan B and used a feature package that I had finish a few days ago, and replace my "Red Light Camera" story with my "Haitian Art" feature.

Reporting for the news

What a day, what a day! Today was interesting to say the least. After getting a little over 4 1/2 of sleep due to producing sports all night at Florida A&M University's journalism school, I had to go to class. Wait a minute...that was not the bad part of the day, I was sick! Being the hardworking graduate student that I am, I don't complain!

Today was my second day going out to report for News 20 at 5, and production was going well until that deadline tried to sneak up on me. Knowing that meeting deadlines are important in this business, I was able to get it in on time. The story was on TCC's Open Mic event for Black History Month.

National Signing Day

Today marks the third week straight week that News 20 at 5 has aired live. If you missed the show on Wednesday, than you missed Lincoln Basketball highlights and Tallahassee's top football picks for the upcoming season. In Wednesday's newscast we featured many stories and highlights from the Super Bowl, high school basketball, and National Signing Day.

Players from various schools around Tallahassee were recruited to play college football. News 20 at 5 provided the latest in key signings for FAMU and FSU sports. This story was added to the top of the sports show because it was considered breaking news. Although Wednesday is usually a slow news day, but today was a very exciting day.

Reporting

Today marks the first day that I hit the streets on a mission to gather a couple of VO/SOT's from three different stories. Becoming a reporter for FAMU TV 20 News @ 5 is a very difficult task to undertake. There are many duties that a reporter is responsible for completing on a daily basis, and some of those duties include editing. Many reporters in the journalism field today are one man band. As a FAMU TV 20 reporter, I was sent out to cover three stories around Tallahassee. The first story was about Palmer Monroe receiving funding to operate its facility. The second story was about a new shelter in Tallahassee that will provide the homeless with a safe place to stay warm, away from the cold temperatures.

Lastly, the third story I covered was about a local community college, called Tallahassee Community College, and its monthly Black history Month Calendar. Logging around a 15lb camera can be a little tiresome, not mentioning the camera malfunction I had experienced prior to picking it up.

Later, I was successful in finding all of my stories and attempting to get an interview fro people on short notice. All video was editing and submitted to the wire on time, and my story were in 20 minutes before deadline. Deadlines are pretty scary in TV News.

First Live Show

January 20, 2010 marks the day that the FAMU NEWS 20 @5 went live. The anticipation was so thick in the newsroom, that if you had a knife, you could cut it with a knife. As a Associate Producer and Sports Producer, I have to say I had my hands full. The show turned out to be a huge success with only a week of preparation because we had something to prove. The Spring 2010 crew have been working hard to bring the latest in news, weather, and sports to the Tallahassee and surrounding communities. Reporters are out chasing stories throughout the day to bring the best content to FAMU NEWS 20 @5.