By Maddie Dockery (NCC News)
Our team consisted of Kit Rodophele as the anchor, Gino Zarrillo as the live reporter, and Rochelle Scott as the recorded reporter.
A1: Headlines
When deciding which headlines to use I tried to pick out what I thought would be the most intriguing to listeners. I chose to tease the Jamesville-Dewitt School District project, the Graco strollers recall, and the investigation of Four Loko.
A2: Jamesville-Dewitt School Project
This was not my original choice to lead the newscast, but unfortunately Gino could not get any soundbites for his story, which I moved to A4. Rochelle did a great job covering this story about an $11.5 million renovation plan that was approved last night by a vote of 467 to 74. Jamesville-Dewitt will use the funding to build new roofs, reconstruct bus loops, and add new bleachers to the football field. I thought the story was important because it is about a local school district. Rochelle ended up doing the wrap live because there wasn’t enough time to record it before the newscast.
A3: Graco Strollers
We followed Rochelle’s wrap with a reader about a recall of Graco strollers. The recall came after four reports of infant deaths caused by strangulation by the strollers. This is a national story but I thought it would follow the Jamesville-Dewitt story nicely because it is child-related.
A4: Child Porn
Staying with the children theme, the next story was a voicer by Gino. The story was originally supposed to be a live wrap, but Gino couldn’t get any soundbites. To his credit, Gino worked really hard trying to get in touch with people, but the detective working on the case wasn’t available until it was too late. Gino did a great job turning the story into a voicer. The story was about a 47-year-old man from North Syracuse who was arrested after emailing pornographic images of a child to an undercover police officer. This story was interesting because the man is the president of the Cicero-North Syracuse Field Hockey Booster Club.
A5: Four Loko
We transitioned from child-related stories to a story that would interest many college students. Kit wrote an anchor actuality about the FDA’s investigation of the popular alcoholic beverage, Four Loko. The drink is so dangerous because it is a mixture of energy drink and alcohol. I thought the story was important because so many college students drink Four Loko.
A6: Siena Poll
We had to jump a bit to the next story, which was a reader about a new poll from Siena College concerning the race for New York governor. Despite the jump, I decided to transition into this story because like the Four Loko story, it is on a larger scale. The poll just came out this morning, so it was very timely. It also showed an overwhelming lead for Andrew Cuomo, which I felt was newsworthy.
A7: Cuomo Debates
The next reader stayed with the political flow, specifically the race for New York governor. Democratic candidate Andrew Cuomo announced that he will not commit to any more debates before the election. I thought the previous story flowed seamlessly into this one. This story also captures the interest of anyone who watched or heard about the debate, which took place on Monday.
A8: Facebook Page Memorializing Gay Teens
Admittedly, this story does not flow well out of the previous one. This anchor actuality, written by Kit, was actually a last minute replacement. I wanted to stick with the political flow and have this story be about how military recruiters were advised to accept applications from openly gay applicants. Unfortunately, we could not find a good soundbite from ABCNewscall. Instead, we ran this story about a Facebook page that is memorializing gay teens who have committed suicide. People have been leaving hateful, anti-gay messages on the page and Facebook has decided to clear those comments. I thought this story would work with the following stories and was also relevant because so many gay teen suicides have been in the news lately.
A9: Dan Choi
This reader was about a West Point graduate who was discharged from the New York Army National Guard in July, after publicizing his homosexuality. He is now enlisting in the U.S. Army because the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy was suspended. This story would have fit better in the newscast if we had been able to do the actuality about the military recruiters. However, I feel that it still flows with the surrounding stories because it is about tolerance and acceptance.
A10: Clinton Shows Support for Gays
I wanted to finish the A-block with a reader, so that we would be able to cut it if necessary. This was a national story about a YouTube video that Hillary Clinton made, in support of gays that work in the State Department. This story shared the same theme of acceptance and tolerance that the last two stories also have. I ended up cutting this story because we were short on time going into the break.
Kicker: Madoff Auction
Our kicker was about an auction that will be held next month in New York City. The auction will include more than 400 of Bernie Madoff’s possessions. I thought the story would be a good kicker because some of the items being auctioned off are very extravagant. I also found it very interesting that all of the proceeds from the auction will go to the investors that Madoff ripped off.
B2: Weather
Kit read today and tonight’s weather forecast, as well as the current temperature and conditions. I had a weekend weather forecast prepared just in case we had extra time to kill, but we did not need it.
End of Show
Kit ended the newscast on time.
Floater: FDNY
We did not end up needing this story, but it was a 15 second reader about the New York City Fire Department. A federal judge barred the FDNY from hiring new firefighters because the entrance exams are discriminatory. I thought this story would be easy to tack on to the end of the A-block. It would have flowed well with the previous few stories because it was about discrimination.
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