Adderall story

I thought this was a very good radio story with interviews from experts, users, campus police's take on the issue, and even an Adderall dealer. I find it very impressive that they were able to get all of these interviews, especially the users and dealer, since they were endangering themselves by openly discussing the issue. Very well put together story that depicted the Adderall consumption on this campus very accurately. I know many, many people that take Adderall and it is fairly easy to get a perscription or to find someone with one. I was diagnosed with ADD when I was a kid, as many others were, and I'm pretty sure I could get a perscription if I really wanted one. I know people who hate the stuff and people who swear by it as a kind of miracle study drug. I was pretty surprised when I heard the officer say that kids cought with Adderall could be expelled from the campus. I guess since so many people use it, they are really cracking down on Adderall consumption.

Adderall

I was amazed at the way that the problem was presented. Perhaps things have changed since I completed my undergraduate degree. Back in 2006, lots of students were using Adderall to study. The majority were using it illegally. It was one of those things where you could find someone to get it for you if you wanted. Strangely, because I’m slightly ADD, I received requests several times during my time at MIZZOU.

The story presentation was interesting. There was little natural sound, yet what was in there worked. I was clear on who was speaking. I didn’t hear anyone say “you just heard from.” The story appeared to meet all the requirements of a good story. It was also LONG. I’d have liked it better if it was 30 seconds shorter. Good job.

Adderall

I think that this reporting has a good intro saying different way of awaking sleep. It is no doubt that there is a great interview of both sides of effects of Adderall. Reporting both sides seems to be typical in the news reporting. However, it is a good way of depicting what audiences should have to know about Adderall. The approach of this reporting is interesting because it depends on the idea of the existing information and the interviews, not his advices or lecturing to audience. I believe that this is a good way of getting attention from audiences.

Mario Manzini. Whoa.

I thought this piece struck a good balance between the narrator's voice and the subject's voice. At first, although the narration was fun and punchy, I kind of wanted to hear the subject already. But then when I heard Mario, I thought, well I know why this guy's in here sparingly: he talks so fast and with so much energy and detail, that too much of him would be kind of overwhelming. I think the narration was able to control the piece in a way that Mario's voice wouldn't have been able to.
---Tara Cavanaugh

Neuticles response

This audio news piece was really interesting to me because I have heard about Neuticles in the past before but I never really knew what it was. This audio piece informed me on what the product was and then gave provided the views of people that are for Neuticles and against it. I think that the audio piece could have essentially given a little more detail onto the procedure, and what benefit they think it brings to the dog perhaps. Healing information and possible side effects should have been listed as well since it is an operation after all.

I thought it was interesting to know that majority of the people who purchase Neuticles for their dogs are males who have masculinity issues and don’t want their dogs walking around without testicles. It was quite intriguing to see that not many female owners thought it was necessary to get this procedure done. I also liked how a local doctor from Columbia mentioned that she didn’t think it made a difference to the dog if they had artificial testicles implanted or not. She explained that once those hormones were removed from the canine's body they no longer acted like a canine with hormones.

So essentially this procedure seems to only benefit the owners of the dogs or other animals that this procedure is offered to. I think that its pretty pathetic that owners need their pets to have testicles in order to feel comfortable with their masculinity to be able to take their pet on a walk or etc.

KBIA post

Kelsey Waananen

I found the radio story about Neuticles to be rather similar to a cold read. The story was organized well and the information was interesting but there was nothing included that I couldn’t have gotten from simply reading. The only natural sound included was the sound of a dog barking and while this is a nice start, it really doesn’t add anything to the story. The journalist would have been more successful turning it into a TV piece… or even a text piece. There’s no audio to be gathered but at least if there were pictures of video the audience would have been able to orient themselves with where the man does operations and perhaps what the Neuticles look like. Essentially, what this journalist made was a creepy bedtime story.

Neuticles

This was an interesting story, and for the most part very well done. I think that the explanation of what neuticles actually are was sped through perhaps a little too quickly as I found myself going back to get a clear idea of what they are. That could, perhaps, have been done a little better.

The set up is good, going straight for the issue, which is neutering and the problems that pet owners have with it. It then goes to the focus of the story, which addresses that problem. It gives a variety of different opinions and sources, which makes it good reporting.

The way it was told was also well done. It keeps the interest and is remarkably tactful, avoiding any of the obvious kinds of jokes that could have arisen from the mention of testicles. It was very professional.

Mario Manzini

I listened to KBIA’s piece on Mario Manzini and enjoyed this story for the narrator’s direct and clean speaking voice and for the way he structured telling the story of a man who spent his life as an escape artist, and in doing so, escaped a way of life. Manzini’s life story is a successful one and in just a few minutes, the narrator successfully makes Manzini’s context clear with just brief use of quotes and sentences that keep us engaged in Manzini’s story and why he is attracted to what he does for a living. It’s a surprise, as the piece comes to a close, when we learn that he doesn’t even like the feeling of constraint. To be able to explore who Manzini is and what his life motives have been and continue to be, is a tough challenge to tackle in just a few minutes. When this piece finished, I couldn’t think of anything else I wanted to know. The narrator here had it all covered. 

Adderal story response - Manu

The way Justin begins the story is nice. It is in line with the subject matter of the story. He has a good script too. I also like the way he adds a touch of humor to the story and gives a practical reason for what is happening. Instead of making the story traditional, boring educational type, the journalist tries to focus on the practical side, what is the actual reason behind the popularity of Adderal among the college students. Without lecturing, he highlights the misuse of the drug by the students. However, there is a thin line between reporting in such a way and indirectly promoting such a use. A journalist needs to be aware of such matters whenever reporting on such sensitive issues.
In the story, it is also interesting how the journalist found so many sources. He also includes some numbers,but does not burden the listener. The length of the Adderal story is 7 minutes, which is quite a long time for a radio story, but Justin keeps our attention to the story giving us different perspectives and some interesting information from the users. It definitely is not easy to make a long radio story!

Chris Vlahos Blog entry

KBIA Story Blog Entry

I listened to “Missouri Senate Approves Vaporizer Ban”. The story contained good factual reporting but lacked a few crucial characteristics that make good radio stories. First of all it lacked natural sound. The reporter was explaining new legislation that went into place, but she may have been able to go to a local bar or restaurant, if she wasn’t old enough to get into a bar, and get sounds of the bartender and local patrons. The next thing that bothered me about the story was that the reporter took too long to get to the sound bite. I felt like she took more time than necessary trying to introduce the clip to the audience when in essence she could have said a lot less to preface the quote.

KBIA Post - J.T. Burns

I thought the Adderall story was interesting.  I feel like this was a beefed up version of our 2 minute clip assignment.  The reporter did a very good job of getting a variety of interviews that showed multiple perspectives on this story.  It would have been easy to just focus on the student's perspective, but the reporter truly got all sides to this.  Also, I thought it was interesting to see that there were anonymous sources in this story.  That tells us that the reporter must have worked hard to get these interviews.  I also felt like I learned important information from this piece.  As a college student, I have heard of Adderall, but I didn't know many facts about it.  This piece provided that.

KBIA Adderall Story by Brandon Twichell

I found the Adderall story to be the most compelling. It is a great example of radio journalism with its many interviews, notes, and its proximity. It brings to light a problem that most students might not know about since most of the drug-swapping is done in private. The reporter obviously had to do some digging in order to find an illegal user, so this is also a great example of investigative journalism.

The one thing that worked really well with this story that might not have worked so well with print or television journalism is the use of anonymous sources. Since a couple of the sources agreed to allow their voices to be used for the interview while keeping their identities unknown, the audience is better  able to trust the sources. Had the sources been used for a print piece, or had the interviewers agreed to be in silhouette for a television interview, the audience (and editor, for that matter) may have been skeptical of the sources' validity.   Radio journalism is probably the best--and only--way to use anonymous sources.

Prosthetic Balls to the Walls, Neuticles is a Rock Solid Piece(s) You Won't Miss by Jake Carah

I love a well executed, deadpan-novelty-story in any mode of journalism be it print, broadcast or radio. I thought the Neuticles spot seemed to (forgive me) neuter the competition, in the selection of examples we had to choose from. The fact that these prosthetic canine testicles came to market by a man from Missouri speaks volumes about the state we're in, as well as what people will buy for there pets. In considering the narrative and sound bytes presented by the reporter the story is a veritable tongue-and-cheek kick to the..."cadillac of prosthetic dog testicles."

 Upon a review of the story the humor can seem a tad campy, yet I feel it is the novelty of the product and that it is a story for radio that makes it work. If it had been told in any other medium lets say with pictures this story would have dropped like the proverbial. . . eh, you get the picture.  And that is the point. Listening and imagining the aspects of this story idea, while a bit puerile, uncouth or perhaps even gross in actuality, the satire and delivery mode make it clever and funny.  Besides, I think that is the point of convergence, it is finding the mode or medium in which to tell a story the best way and as for neuticles I don't believe I would have like to have heard it any other way.

KBIA Post - Jennifer Elston

The KBIA story on Adderall was my favorite of the three stories posted to the spring schedule for this course.  The beginning sounded very professional, grabbed my attention, and set a good tone for the piece.  Overall, the editing was very smooth, with only minor scratchiness.  This story is very relevant to our school.  I know many people who have taken their Adderall to help with finals or huge essays.  The narrator had a good variety of sources, used a conversational, yet refined tone, and used the subject-verb-object format that sounds best on the radio.  I feel that this piece was very well thought out.  It seems as if he had a strict script which he abided to had good numbers and outside information and facts.  The Adderall piece had less natural sound than the Neuticles piece, but I was drawn to the piece on medication, probably because it is so relatable.  The Neuticles piece felt like a story that the people who made the product had recorded, while the Adderall piece was more directed at raising awareness. 

KBIA Post by: Lindsey Weygandt

The KBIA radio story on Adderall was very informative and attention-grabbing. In the beginning of the story, the reporter's use of repition caught the listener's ear. The piece was very easy to follow, and the conversational wording allowed the story to flow. I noticed that the reporter followed a subject-verb-object sentence format, and that few descriptive adjectives were used. I believe the story was newsworthy because Adderall is very common among University of Missouri students. The variety of sources emphasized the popularity of the drug. I also liked how the story was delivered from both sides; students who take and sell Adderall, and adults and teachers who are against students taking Adderall due to the harmful medical side-effects. Overall, I believe the Adderall story was appropriate and raised awareness about the drug without offending the target audience.

The "realness" of stories

I have to say, watching A New Dawn made me realize how very powerful multimedia presentations can be. I also watched Unintended Consequences. I thought that both projects were able to present stories so powerfully. I've never been affected that way by reading an article or watching a newscast. There's just something lacking about it-- I think it's the fact that the subjects of the stories tell the stories, instead of someone else (a writer, reporter, or broadcaster) telling it for them.
I've heard about the violence against women in African countries; I've heard about PTSD; I've heard about drug addiction. But I think the multimedia presentation affected me in a way that I never really had been before.
--Tara Cavanaugh

Pictures of the Year

The stories and photos on this site are simply phenomenal and every part of me hopes I can have my name posted on this site someday. Since I hope to be a sports journalist, I mainly focused on the sports action photography. The eye gouge picture of Pepperdine's Jason Walberg and BYU's Jonathan Tavernari is absolutely fantastic and I have no idea how one can anticipate that shot. Very painful to look at, though. I was also impressed to see someone from the University of Missouri got recognized with the "Triathletes" picture of swimmers getting out of the water, splashing it all over the camera. It creates a very cool effect and the black and white only enhances the beauty of the shot. The Manny Ramirez photo and the stranglehold picture were probably my two favorites. "Manny Motor" catches Manny and his airbourne batting helmet in mid-air sliding into second base. I know facial expressions are important, but what is cool about this photo to me is that anyone who follows sports can recognize that that is Manny while only showing his backside. The flying dirt is really cool as well. The "Stranglehold" photo shows unbelievable emotion in the eyes of Brandon Collins and creates a kind of dark, gloomy feeling in the viewer with the shadows and the pure blackness around the wrestling ring. I can't help but thinking of the film The Wrestler when looking at this picture. All really superb journalism.

Multimedia story, response from Manu

The multimedia story “A New Dawn?” conveys a powerful message. What most struck me after watching the story was how different media can work together in making a great story, or a story great. In “A New Dawn?”, and other multimedia stories for that matter, emotionally charged words of the people and music along with the photos really add great value to the story. When compared to some of the winning shots of Stephen Ketz, John Moore, and Steve Liss that I also looked at, the photos also succeed in gaining more weight because of the long captions; however, they lack the same strong feel generated by the multimedia pieces.

Pictures of the Year post

J.T. Burns

Generally, I receive my news through either television, newspaper, or online articles.  I don't have very much experience with multimedia stories.  That being said, I was surprised by the emotional response that I had while watching "A New Dawn".  

I felt that the combination of images, music, and speaking gave this story a very strong emotional feel to it.  The black and white images were very powerful.  I don't think this story would have worked as well if it was in video format; each individual image had a its own message and feel to it that would have been lost if this story was a video. 

Because of the music, this story had an extra infusion of emotion than a written story.  The music set the mood and tone of what the reader was hearing and seeing.  All in all, I really enjoyed this medium.  It does a great job of eliciting an emotional response from the viewer.

POYi mutimedia

As a photojournalism student, I've not been crazy about the multimedia stuff. Recently, I was motivated by some great story telling made by an audio and a video or both together. I still believe that still images like photography are more powerful than video. 

However, I personally  like the story made by photographs and an audio together. As I saw the multimedia 'Black Market" produced by MediaStorm, this story influences me a lot in terms of the use of the media to make a story. Powerful black and white photographs depict the black market of the wild animals. Thus, the photographer shooting the pictures adds his voice of what he had experienced. Two combination of photographs and an audio create a better story. As the tradition of MediaStorm, the music added in the multimedia is in the grey area. I couldn't judge whether or not the music in the story increases the interest of this story. Overall, a good combination of photographs and other media exists in this story

Moving

Washington Sketch: Khartoum Karl seemed to follow the steps of the daily show. It took what would otherwise be an unnoticed news conference in the nation’s Capitol and gave it some exposure. The tone was obviously skeptical, and the ambassador played into those skepticisms. I found the threat of withdrawing Coca-Cola especially amusing.

The content of the video allowed them to take a different view than many hard-line news people would. Dana Milbank is a serious journalist. This story would not have worked as a print story. The irony of the Ambassador’s words doesn’t work in print. By using shadows of the speaker, close ups on a gaudy watch, and interspersed commentary, Milbank and Akira Hakuta achieved a piece that was both informative and critical.

On Another Note....

I found the photo of a Mary McHugh lying in front of her fiancé’s grave far more striking than it's equivalent multi-media piece. I assume that is why it won for best magazine photo.

Last year I attended the funeral of a friend’s cousin. What struck me about the funeral was that it was so, uniform. Yes it’s military, and yes they carry out several of them a day. Still, it seemed almost rehearsed. Everything was done at the appointed time. The family met, drove to the gravesite, buried the young man, and then came back to the main building for another short reception before heading to lunch.

The entire experience did not offer closure. It was strange to attend. This young man, from a military family, received full honors. He died after throwing himself on top of an IED in a house in Iraq, saving 7 fellow soldiers. Still, when leaving Arlington Cemetery there wasn’t a feeling of honor, pride, or even finality. Instead there was echoing loss and a $100,000 check along with a flag. Small compensation for the bereaved, and barely enough to see his two-year-old daughter to college.

The photo brought back these memories and expanded them. The empty field across the road in the photo is the final resting place of my friend’s cousin. He is buried about 10 yards from the road unseen through the trees. His grave is below the hill shown, and slightly to the left. The grief expressed by the young woman in the photo could be that of any number of young people who’ve lost a loved one.

John Moore captured her pain and grief. He also captured the innumerable losses not only in this war but also in previous ones. The fading tombstones, combined with the trees and cars show the number of losses. The fact that the tombstones around the grave are fresh indicates that many of graves in the photo are recent. The details to the gravestones show that these men and women were loved. Balloons and flowers indicate family members, while the flags honor the service to our country.

John Moore did an exemplary job capturing a moment. He also captured the pain that so many feel.

Response to Pictures of the year

I loved the first place winner for Newspapers by Stephen M. Katz because it clearly depicted the emotions that the subject was feeling and allowed the viewer to feel the same grief. I appreciated the photo because most people would look at the photo and think that his injury was from some sort of fighting within his hometown, but that was not the case. The young boy merely fell out of a tree near his house while playing. His injury would seem so basic to people here in the United States but unfortunately in less fortunate countries those kinds of injuries can cause life-altering changes. This picture invokes so many emotions and really mesmerizes the viewer.

My other favorite out of all the winners was the picture that won the Global Vision Award. I really liked how the photographer took an aerial shot of the area that was being photographed. I think this angle really allowed the viewers to see the extent of the damage that the mercury was causing in this area. I also think that the aerial shot allows the readers to see how greedy the people of this region are to obtain gold that they were willing to destroy their environment by incorporating mercury into their search. The viewer is able to see the destruction to nature that this search for gold is causing and is able to form their opinion on their methods.

I really appreciated those two pictures the most because they allowed the viewer to see the obvious but left room for them to form their own opinions on the message they were trying to portray.

POYi Multimedia Projects Review by Danielle Destrade

"A New Dawn", the 1st place multimedia story from the Lexington Herald-Reader in the Best Multimedia Project category, is probably the best news story I have ever seen. It does everything journalism should do. I was really affected by Dawn's story. It addressed the effectiveness of drug court in a way that a cut & dry news report can't do. By seeing Dawn's life play out over years, you understand what this issue is for individual Kentuckians. I really loved everything about the work, especially the incorporation of music. Looking back, I just now realized there was no video included, because the photojournalism so beautifully and accurately captured moments, and the pictures were combined so seamlessly with the audio.

Likewise, another favorite of mine was SoulofAthens.com. Along the same lines as the "A New Dawn" story, Soul of Athens finds the human element in newsworthy issues in Athens, Ohio. I thought they did a wonderful job of telling important, relevant stories about their community from within the community itself. This multimedia project resembles a favorite of mine, Mediastorm.com, but the fact that it is centered on a specific community, and not only reports on that community but seeks to contribute to it in concrete ways, really made it stand out even more so than Mediastorm to me.

These amazing POYi multimedia projects reinforced to me how powerful juxtaposition of video, audio, graphics & still photos can be in journalism. It can tell complex, resonating, complete stories in ways I haven't seen done in just one medium.

Pictures of the Year by Brandon Twichell

I always enjoy looking at Pictures of the Year. Some of my all-time favorites are those currently on display in the RJI lobby. While all of the photos on this website are excellent, my personal favorites are Global Vision. The views of the various stages of destruction of the Amazon rainforest (photo #4) send very powerful messages about the effects we humans have on the planet. At first I thought photo #13 was of an oasis in a desert but was surprised to learn that it was a plot of rainforest surrounded by destruction. If that does not show the amount of pain we are putting on the land, I do not know what does.

Another one of my favorites was photo #22 in that same group of photos. It is a very strange ice formation that I have honestly never seen before. I hope to take beautiful pictures like this someday and to hopefully be among the photographers honored by Pictures of the Year.

Pictures of the Year -Jennifer Elston

I love looking at photography.  My first instinct is to find black and white photos because I am naturally drawn to them.  There were many moving pictures such as those in the gallery "A Burning Problem."  These pictures visually tell the tale of Nigeria's bitter battle with oil.  One picture, number eight of ten, of a child with burns so bad that he has bone damage shows raw emotion, which is an essential for excellent photographs.  Black and white photographs, in my opinion, better tell the story of emotion than color photography because the viewer is drawn to the emotion or patterns in the photos and not the elaborate color schemes.  

The next striking set of shots were those surrounding the death of Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.  The photographers did not go the event expecting to capture Bhutto's final moments, but took excellent shots despite the chaos and the danger to their own lives.  One photo is entitle "Raw Grief" and it made me look at it exceptionally long.  The photo does not obey the rules of typical excellent photography.  It is not in perfect focus and the subject is sort of in the middle of the picture (violating rule of thirds), but the emotion captured in that photograph is especially striking.

My favorite set of photos were probably the collection called Hotshoe by Carolyn Drake, which detail life for young girls in Ukrainian orphanages.  The girls have very little.  The shots of the young girls going to the bathroom in pots lining the walls of the hallway made me very sad.  I have never heard of this exact story before and I do not think that text would properly show the lives of these children.  There are no smiles to be seen on these young women and the most emotion captured on their face was at their weekly shower.  I, too, one day, aspire to take photographs that tell such a vivid story.  Drake's photos are very close to the subject, but somehow, not intrusive.