Scott's Thoughts

On Friday night, local FOX 5 news covered the story in a way I had never seen before. Instead of having a professional camera operator out in the snow with a reporter, the reporter had a handheld personal camera. The footage was a bit blurry and not always centered, but it was a unique way to show the snow footage. The reporter was in a van being driven around the area.

I found it interesting because the reporter was out showing how dangerous the snow was, and how people should not be driving in it, yet he was riding in a van. I thought it was a little silly; if it was so dangerous, how come he was out there?  As for what news values were in the report, I would say impact, timeliness, prominence, proximity, the bizarre or unusual and currency were all prominent in the report.

Jury Recommends Death for 69-Year-Old Grandmother

1. Impact, Timeliness, Prominence, Proximity, Conflict, The Bizarre or Unusual and Currency.

2. Who – Faye Copeland, Ray Copeland.

2. What – Death Penalty Suggestion by Jury for Murders.

2. When – Tuesday Night trial, murders last year.

2. Where – Chillicothe, Mo. Livingston County.

2. Why – because she was responsible for the murder of four transient farm workers.

2. How – possible because of battered-wife-syndrome.

3. Personal sources (defendant’s attorney, Judge), observation (gender of jurors, length of deliberation), and stored (would be oldest on death row).

4. Copeland’s attorney, David Miller, from either a press conference or an interview. Circuit Judge E. Richard Webber, hearing his pre-sentence investigation in the courtroom. All of the other information in the story could have come from either observation or have been stored and looked up.

5. How were the four transient farm workers killed? Who is the oldest person on Missouri’s death row now, and what is their age? How come the court refused to allow a psychologist to testify about “battered-wife-syndrome?” Is there any evidence that Ray was abusive to Faye? What was the pre-sentence investigation ordered by the Judge meant to do?

This week the first thing in the media that caught my eye is the new media outlet, “OCNN” which stands for Ocho Cinco News Network. It is run by Chad Ocho Cinco, Wide Receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL. Other reporters for “OCNN” are Darnell Dockett, Defensive Tackle for the Arizona Cardinals, Ray Rice, Running Back for the Baltimore Ravens and Chris Cooley, Tight End for the Washington Redskins.

The correspondents for “OCNN” are in Miami, Fla this week for the Super Bowl. Ocho Cinco and his fellow correspondents are giving a unique insight to media day, an NFL requirement that players participating in the Super Bowl attend. By having current NFL players asking the Super Bowl participants questions, it gives a very unique and new feel to media day. Below are a few links talking about “OCNN” and some of their reports.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=4881327

http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4881823

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs/2009/news/story?id=4877775

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?id=4878523

http://www.facebook.com/OCNN85#!/OCNN85?v=info