On the Brinck

My final project – Broadcast news stories

News comment for November 10

It’s no secret that people all across the country are feeling the pinch of the economy. Families, businesses, and governments are all facing budget shortfalls as the economy struggles to recover. However, Suffock County, New York’s decision to penny-pinch almost left children Santa-less this Christmas season.

In an effort to save $660 of their $2.7 billion dollar county budget, county executives decided to scrap Mr. Kringle from their plans for the first time in ten years.

A supporter of this idea said, “How do you justify that expenditure when a health centre is losing money?”

An opponent of the cut said, “Do we really have to hold Santa Claus hostage to balance the budget?”

Another exclaimed, “I mean, $600? Give me a break. There comes a point where you go overboard in terms of penny-pinching.”

I tend to agree with the opponents of this proposed cut from the budget. With an almost 3 billion dollar budget, a mere 660 dollars won’t even make a dent on a dent.

You can read more about this article here.

Luckily for Suffolk county kids, a New York politician has decided to foot the bill for David McKell, the man underneath the Santa suit. Whether this was out of kindness or a smooth political move, I’ll leave that up to you.

I’m Nick Brincks reporting for Morningside News.

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Members of the community were in tears and students covered in mud, but this was all a part of Morningside College’s annual service day, Into the Streets. On Wednesday, October 5^th, a record number of Morningside students went into the streets to help those in need. Organized by Omicron Delta Kappa, Morningside’s leadership honor society, Into the Streets is an annual day of service for Morningsiders. The previous record for participation was set last year with 600, but this year’s 800 set the bar even higher.

With the recent flooding devastation, over 400 of the students worked on flood cleanup at Riv-R-Land Estates in the Dakota Dunes. Other areas serviced by Morningside students were the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center, Crossroads Homeless Shelter, the Food Bank of Siouxland, and the Northern Hills Retirement Community, just to name a few.

One of the event’s coordinators, Jackie Lincoln says she received high praise from members of the community about the efforts of Morningside students.

Jackie Lincoln talking about Into the Streets

Another successful year of Into the Streets is in the books, and once again, Morningside College students make a difference in the Siouxland Community.

Morningside College gave back to the community, and now the community is giving back to Morningside.

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The Siouxland Economic Development board recently awarded a $5000 grant to the Morningside College Entrepreneurship Education Center.

Entrepreneurship is a key ingredient to the future, and the Siouxland Economic Development agrees.

Located in the Lincoln Center on the Morningside College campus, the Entrepreneurship Education Center supports student involvement in starting businesses, attending business conferences, and participating in fundraisers and charity events.

Pam Mickelson, business professor at Morningside and director of the Entrepreneurship Education Center, explains why this grant is special.

Pam Mickelson talking about $5000 grant

The grant will be used to relocate the Entrepreneurship Center into a larger space by renovating two existing rooms. The new room will provide more space for meetings, research and planning, and will also double as a seminar classroom.

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It’s almost as if Bob Barker or Drew Carey made a campus visit, as many Morningsiders may have heard this.

Come on down!

Over 80 students packed into the Yockey Room Tuesday night (Nov 1) for their chance at Contestant’s Row. Morningside College held their own version of the Price is Right, to help students learn about credit cards. Morningside career counselor Stacie Hays discusses the idea behind the event.

Stacie Hays discussing credit cards

The event was a collaboration among Career Services, the Business Office, Res Life, and Sodexo. Morningside freshman, Michelle Draper, used her credit card knowledge to bring home the grand prize, a brand new 32” flat screen television. And the best part was she didn’t even have to put it on a credit card.

I’m Nick Brincks, reporting for Morningside News.

Mock Broadcast News Story

Additional news comment for November 3

I was watching Conan last night, and realized something I recently heard is true. Current-day media is all too similar. With consolidation of news companies nationwide, it seems that creative journalism is becoming less common, especially in TV news.

On tonight’s episode, Conan O’Brien will be officiating a same-sex marriage for one of his staff members. The show is being produced in New York City this week, and New York state is one of the states where same-sex marriage is legal. This video clip shows how “similar” the news is all around the country.

News Comment – November 3

A new viral video is bringing up the debate about discipline vs. abuse. A video posted by a Texas girl reveals her father, a Texas Family Law judge, beating her with a belt over a dozen times for illegally downloading content from the internet.

In the video secretly captured by his daughter, judge William Adams is shown whipping and screaming at his daughter, and his wife even takes part in the beating.

In this article by the Associated Press, Hillary Adams explains what’s going on in the video, and what her motive was behind posting it, nearly seven years after the video was recorded. “He’s supposed to be a judge who exercises fit judgment,” she said.

In less than a week of being available on Youtube, the video has amassed over 2 million views, and the judge has received threatening calls and messages because of it.

The most incredible thing about this story is that this man, who’s duty is to exercise good judgment, is the abuser in a sickening story. Another piece of info that makes this story amazing, is that the daughter suffers from a form of cerebral palsy.

There is a line between discipline and abuse, and one would think that a judge would be able to avoid crossing this line better than most. Taking into consideration that his daughter was handicapped, I don’t see how this judge shouldn’t get “the book” thrown at him in this instance.

Over the past few weeks, there has been much talk about the current contract dispute between News Corp. and satellite provider DirecTV about the price DirecTV must pay for News Corp’s cable channels. News Corp. is the parent company of FOX, and the channels potentially impacted are FX, National Geographic Channel, Fuel TV, Speed, Fox Soccer, Fox Movie Channel and Fox Deportes. The FOX News channel is not in danger, so conservatives have no need to worry.

According to DirecTV, Fox is asking for a 40% increase in fees to carry their channels, which would lead to higher costs for DirecTV subscribers. This increase would likely lead to many subscribers “cut the cord” and get rid of their subscription.

The current agreement between the two ends Nov. 1 and if no new agreement is reached, viewers could be left without these popular channels.

Dish Network had a similar dispute with FOX a few years ago, but was able to come to an agreement. It will be interesting to see if DirecTV is able to as well.

Whether you are a DirecTV subscriber or not, how would do you feel about this issue? If DirecTV has to pay more, they’ll raise their rates. Would fairly higher prices lead you to drop the subscription? Would you prefer to pay for only channels you actually watch? Do you watch any of the channels in jeopardy?

This article contains information about the dispute, and this article looks at some of the intricacies of the issue.

News Comment for October 20

Over the weekend, the motorsports world lost one of its own. Dan Wheldon, 33, was racing in the IRL for only the 3rd time this year. He was a 2 time Indy 500 champion, including this year’s event, and the 2005 series champion.

A horrific 15-car accident on lap 11 of the final race of the IRL season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway left several cars careening through the air, one of which was the #77 of Dan Wheldon. After it was apparent that Wheldon was seriously injured, he was life-flighted to a nearby hospital and the race was red-flagged for track repairs.

For nearly 2 hours, drivers, teams, fans and viewers all waited to hear an update on Wheldon, praying that it would be good news. As the minutes passed by and no news was available, it became apparent that the news would not be good.

After a 45 minute meeting with the drivers, series CEO Randy Bernard made the announcement that we were all afraid of. “IndyCar is very sad to announce that Dan Wheldon has passed away from unsurvivable injury.”

He went on to say the race, hardly 5% complete at the time, would not be finished. Instead, the 19 cars that made it through the accident would complete a 5 lap tribute to their fallen competitor and friend. Teams lined pit road as the cars circled the track, around the scoring pylon which showed only one number in the first position, the #77.

As the five laps concluded, cars returned to pit road and ABC signed off for the final time this season. Under tragic circumstances, lead announcer Marty Reid ended the broadcast in a way that brought not only me to tears, but I’m sure many other viewers as well.

Marty Reid’s “Goodbye Dan Wheldon”

Goodbye Dan Wheldon, you will be missed by your family, friends, competitors, teammates, and us fans.

This incident has left a major hole in the Indy Racing, but it has impacted motorsports in general. Does a fatal accident affect the way drivers race? Here’s an article about that.

News comment for October 13

“Pot laced brownies served at a Southern California funeral sent three people to the emergency room over the weekend.” This is a lead that will undoubtedly lure a reader into wanting more information.

This story goes on to say that two 71-year old women and an 82-year old man were taken to the hospital after attending the memorial service for their friend. The three all complained of dizziness, nausea, and the inability to stand on their own. It turned out that brownies they consumed at the memorial were laced with marijuana, as their fallen friend was accustomed to snacking on.

This story has brought controversy to the town of Huntington Beach. First off, medical marijuana is illegal there, and secondly, police said no acknowledgment was made in any form about these brownies containing “extra” ingredients.

This story came out about the same time a Montana man was arrested for giving marijuana brownies to four children.

Both articles revolve around issues that arise from medical marijuana being legal in some areas. Both stories bring up the debate, should it be legal?

A record number of Morningside students went “Into the Streets” to help those in need. Nearly 800 students and some faculty participated in ODK’s annual college community service day, helping with various service projects with non-profit groups throughout the Siouxland community. With the recent devastation from Missouri river flooding, most students engaged in flood clean-up, but there were many other activities also going on.

The day began at 7:30 Wednesday morning as hundreds of students filed into Eppley Auditorium before heading into the streets. There they were greeted by Into the Streets coordinators, Jackie Lincoln and Jessica Boschen. Omicron Delta Kappa is a leadership honor society for upperclassmen, focusing on getting students involved in community involvement through service. From here, the more than 50 campus organizations involved dispersed across the tri-state region to help those in need.

Over half the students worked on flood cleanup at the Riv-R-Land Estates area in Dakota Dunes, under supervision of the Salvation Army. Other areas impacted by Morningside’s involvement were the Dorothy Pecaut Nature Center, Crossroads Homeless Shelter, and the Food Bank of Siouxland.

The day was certainly full of hard work, but most students liked the aspect of helping people. One of nearly 500 students helping at Riv-R-land Estates, Morningside junior Danielle Dahlkoetter agreed. “I wasn’t expecting to work that hard, but it was a great feeling knowing we were really helping people.”

Jesus Cendejas, a sophomore, also helped out with flood relief as part of the campus ministry group. “In the past I’ve worked with campus ministries and participated in several mission trips. Last year I helped with flood relief after their devastating 2008 flood, and also went to New Mexico to help out a Native American family with their home construction. At Riv-R-Land Estates, I helped get rid of sandbags. We set up an assembly line of sorts to move sandbags away from the house to the street. For over two and a half hours, our line moved over 500 bags. I like doing this kind of work because it allows me to personally be the arms and legs of Jesus. Helping people is my strongest passion so I saw Into the Streets as a privilege.”

Morningside freshman Alex Struck volunteered at Council on Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence. “About 20 of us from the tennis team stained a deck and fence, distributed brochures, swept the sidewalk, and cleaned baby toys. It all created a great sense of accomplishment inside of me because we helped them out quite a bit.”

Another Morningside junior, Ryan Schneider, described his experience, one that was different than most groups. As a member of the music fraternity on campus, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Ryan and his fellow Sinfonians sang for residents at the Northern Hills Retirement Community. “I realized that helping people isn’t always about lifting or doing hard work, but it’s ultimately about helping other people and brightening their days. As a group, I think we accomplished that.”

Regardless of the type of work involved, Jackie Lincoln was extremely thankful for all of the hard work people put in. “I have received several e-mails and phone calls from people thanking us for what we did. I also talked to some of these people during some of the activities and some were in tears because they were so impressed with our students.”

The Morningside College community came together like a family for Into the Streets this year, and the Siouxland community can be very thankful for that. This year’s Into the Streets was a huge success when considering the record number of students. The hard work of nearly 800 students has not gone unnoticed, and the people of Sioux City are extremely thankful for that.