I have officially gone out to my first accident. I was sitting at my desk when the scanner piped up and alerted us about an accident involving a tractor. Our news director was already out shooting an accident earlier that day so it was my turn. 

I grabbed my gear as fast as I could and was off to the intersection of Kimbal and Orange in Waterloo. When I arrived, I noticed that it was very low key. A tractor was turning left and the woman driving behind her failed to notice his signal and went to pass. She was hit on the passenger side. Everyone was okay and her car suffered minor damage. 

This was still a challenging shoot because the road was so narrow. I didn't want to get in the way but it was hard with the police car, tractor, and car on a narrow road. I managed to get some good shots for the show that night. 

I love the rush of jumping up, grabbing everything you need, and getting to where news is happening. Then getting back to the station to edit the video you shot before the closest show. I love the atmosphere of the news room and the news business in general. You never know what is going to happen.  POA: Be ready for the unexpected. You never know when news will break and they need you to go get video. Especially in Iowa you never know what the weather will be like so it is handy to have back up clothes/boots in your bag or car. 

So far, I have been doing so many different things during my internship. A few of those things include helping the 5 o'clock producer, Janelle Haible, write and edit stories for the 5 o'clock show and writing stories for web. The first few stories I wrote got completely torn apart by Janelle haha I think I was trying too hard! POA: When writing stories for broadcast, make them conversational, they are understood by all audiences and are much more fun to listen to. I wasn't making them conversational enough but I have gotten much better :). The corrections now are very minor and subject to personal preference. 

I was trained on the news room's camera and audio equipment and the following week was asked to go out on my own for the first time to Vinton, IA to get footage for a VO SOT on their new mammography unit. This was going to be a lot of firsts and I will admit I was a little overwhelmed. My initial reaction was "uhhh I have no idea how to get there" haha I am directionally challenged at times and am very bad with highway names. Eric, the News Director, was very helpful with helping me with directions and I made it there just fine. Driving one of the company's Ford Escapes was fun too! I have to drive really well though because it is basically a KWWL billboard.