Oklahoman interns NewsOK.com Blogging Community

The last days are upon us. Seems like it all just started and now everything is about to come to a screeching halt.

I can say that I’ve definitely enjoyed my time here. Heck, I enjoyed it so much I’m going to apply again for next year’s internship and try to come back and do it all over again (but that’s only if they didn’t get tired of seeing my face and I didn’t screw up too bad in this years internship!).

Whether I come back or not, I definitely learned a lot. Found out I’m a solid writer, but not nearly as good as I thought I was before I came here.

The experience of it all was great though. Covering events I’ve never covered before. Learning about sports that I’ve never even followed before and hardly know anything about. I also met so many new people and was able to go to so many different places I’ve never been before.  The most important thing is I know I became a better writer through all my experiences.

So now you’ve heard about me. What about you?

1.) How did you feel about the internship overall? Would you like to work for The Oklahoman in the future?

2.) What will be your lasting impressions of Oklahoma? What did you like and dislike about it? Did it match the stereotype you had in your mind before you came?

Thanks so much everyone! Good luck in your future journalism endeavors! Who knows, maybe one of us is the next Tim Russert or Barbara Walters or Stuart Scott or Keith Olbermann or …….??????????

- Dontay Allen, Sports

Yesterday was a whirlwind of unexpected assignments - including a breaking news assignment to see the send-off of two OKC Red Cross volunteers who went to San Antonio to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Dolly.

My editors received the news release from the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma at 4:01 p.m. — and the send-off was scheduled for 4:30 p.m. Luckily, I didn’t have much to do yesterday evening, so my editors threw a camera in my hand and sent me on my way.

I sped down I-235 toward downtown, managed to find the Red Cross offices and get there in time to get the story. I was able to do a video interview with the Red Cross director and then talk with the couple that was volunteering.

It turned out to be a really sweet story to do — and it gave me one more opportunity to practice juggling a notebook or tape recorder and a video camera:

Unfortunately, there happened to be a lot of news for today’s Oklahoman so, for whatever reason, my 10-inch story had to be drastically cut down for the print edition.

This is the first time at The Oklahoman that I feel disappointed that one of my story’s was cut… but I understand it’s not my decision to make - it’s my editors. And these moments happen to every journalist.

While the newspaper offers readers a few paragraphs on this Oklahoma City couple and the video provides more depth to those bits - this blog gives me an alternative medium to share the whole story with you, as it was approved by my desk editors:

By Kristen M. Daum
Staff Writer

Dean and Bunnie Morgensen drove to San Antonio Tuesday in a red-and-white emergency response vehicle, ready to assist if Hurricane Dolly hits southern Texas.

The Oklahoma City couple has volunteered with the American Red Cross for 31/2 years. They have been on nearly 20 trips to natural disaster areas across the nation.

“We have a passion to help people,” said Bunnie Morgensen, 71. “It’s about the hugs, and holding hands, you maybe cry a little bit with ‘em and tell them, ‘This too shall pass.’”

The Morgensens decided early Tuesday they wanted to go to San Antonio in case Hurricane Dolly took a turn for the worse, said Vince Hernandez, chief executive of the American Red Cross of Central Oklahoma.

“As an organization, we want to be sure we’re poised and ready to help anybody that might be affected by the storm,” Hernandez said. “If you wait a little bit too long, it can almost be too late.”

The Morgensens’ last trip with the American Red Cross was to assist flood victims in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. They volunteered for 16 hours a day for 22 days, handing out nearly 9,000 meals.

“That minute we spend … to see them and give them a little relief … even a few seconds makes a big difference,” said Dean Morgensen, 82.

Bunnie Morgensen said past disaster victims have called them “angels” for the work they do.

“But I don’t think so,” she said. “We’re just happy to be doing what we’re doing.”

As Dean Morgensen organized supplies in the emergency response vehicle, his wife held a piece of paper with a quote by author Kenneth Blanchard that summed up why they spend their time in disaster zones.

“There is a difference between interest and commitment. When you are interested in something, you do it only when it is convenient. When you are committed to something, you accept no excuses.”

- - - - - 

It’s the new world of journalism: being able to offer news content through a variety of platforms.

~ Kristen M. Daum, City Desk intern at The Oklahoman.

[Readers: Agree or Disagree?? Talk back under the comments section.]

For years, journalists have been fighting for protection of their anonymous sources, and Congress has yet to officially support them.

But that time may come to an end in a few short weeks.

“The Free Flow of Information Act” (S. 2035) - aka the Federal Shield Law - is scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor before the August recess, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid tells the Society of Professional Journalists.

Every state, except Wyoming, has its own shield law — but there is still no national law in the books. So, last week, SPJ members were on Capitol Hill lobbying Congress for support of a shield law - which is far from ensuring passage.

Only 18 senators (out of 100) have signed on to the Federal Shield Law. For the House version (H.R. 2102), there are only 71 congressmen signed on, out of 435.

That means just 16 percent of our national legislators have declared formal support for protection of journalists’ anonymous sources!!

In May, Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) wrote a column for The Washington Post, articulating why this bill is so vital to America:

“If we are to have a free press, it is necessary to protect the relationship between journalists and trusted sources to whom journalists have promised confidentiality … The lack of a federal standard undermines state shield laws and the public interest embodied in those laws.“

As Specter notes, the bill doesn’t make journalists “above the law” or allow them to withhold information that affects national security. But it would protect journalists from naming their anonymous sources in general cases.

While anonymous sources are often avoided - and for good reason - there is still a place for them in modern journalism, and to not have them at all would be devastating to the freedom of the press and American democracy.

Some of the most defining political stories of 20th century American government revolved around anonymous sources. When used correctly, these sources have divulged undisclosed information on American warfare and led to the downfall of a president, such as what happened in the investigative stories of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate.

“Sources almost always have an agenda when they speak up, but sometimes they have information of vital interest to the general public and much to lose if they’re caught passing it along. If journalists can’t protect their sources’ identities, you will be much less informed about the world,” writes past SPJ President Christine Tatum.

“Lately, federal prosecutors have dragged too many journalists into court, flaunting subpoenas for notes, work product and recollections of private conversations. The feds’ arrogant insistence that journalists should be compelled to act as arms of law enforcement undermines free speech, a free press and an informed citizenry,” she said.

But on the other side of the issue, U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey has spoken out in opposition against a federal shield law:

“The heavy evidentiary burden the bill would impose on prosecutors seeking information from reporters will impede investigations… Reporters serve a vitally important function in our democratic society, but they are not above the law. This legislation would change that — with grave consequences for national security and law enforcement.“

Journalists are not the judge or the jury. We find the facts and disseminate them to the public through various presentations.

It is up to law enforcement officials to find the evidence that is used in courtrooms — and to take that evidence out of a reporter’s notebook (while breaching the trust between a reporter and anonymous source) is simply lazy.

Without the First Amendment and without journalists, Americans would be uninformed and our democratic government would go unchecked and unaccounted for.

Journalists should not be above the law, but they should be afforded some degree of legal protection when they must expose the truth of those who wish to keep it quiet.

If the government continues to lock up journalists who refuse to name sources, America’s free press could tumble down a horrible spiral until our rights are no better than those given to journalists in totalitarian dictatorships, where propaganda replaces truth.

~ Kristen M. Daum, City Desk Intern at The Oklahoman.

For the past two years, my college newspaper The State News has been in a legal battle with Michigan State University.

At stake: Freedom of information, government accountability and personal privacy.

In February 2006, three men allegedly went into an MSU dorm room with a gun, poured gasoline on one of the residents and threatened to light him on fire. Thankfully, no one was hurt in what was called “the Hubbard Hall incident,” and the three men were later charged for their actions.

But - even now - Michigan State University police failed to disclose the incident’s police report, saying that to do so would invade the privacy of the assailants and the victims. So, The State News submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to release the report, only to be denied both by the police and MSU administration officials.

Under Michigan law, state universities are themselves government bodies — and therefore are subject to FOIA. But because of the ambiguity of a university’s “governmental role,” The State News and MSU engaged in a two-year cat fight over the right to public information.

This essentially was a battle of principle, since the information The State News wanted had already been made public through court proceedings.

Well, The State News lost the first round - with the circuit court denying the report’s release in its entirety.

Then the Court of Appeals ruled halfway in the newspaper’s favor, by saying the circuit court should have decided what information in the police report could and could not be released.

This spring - two years after the incident - the contest came to the Michigan Supreme Court.

And yesterday … the court released its decision.

In effect, it’s another win-lose for The State News.

The supreme court agreed that the lower court must review the case and decide which bits of information in the police report are and aren’t public. But the court fell drastically short of offering a definitive answer on the public’s right to know vs. personal privacy.

So The State News is back to square one in its fight for free flow of information.

Now, what’s this have to do with you, or anyone outside of Michigan State??

Well, by the time this case reached its second appeal — it’d become a class-action lawsuit, meaning the supreme courts ruling would not only apply to The State News, but every student newspaper in Michigan that had a similar qualm with its university.

It would have set a precedent for FOIA and privacy rights in the state of Michigan — had the supreme court chosen to rule definitively on the case’s core issues.

At the very least, The State News didn’t lose… but collegiate journalism still has a long road to hoe before it’s taken seriously by their respective institutions.

Until then, we have to keep fighting for accountability of our universities and ensure the public’s right to information is not infringed by a university’s desire to quash a controversial situation.

~ Kristen M. Daum, City Desk intern at The Oklahoman
(and former State News staff member, 2005-07).

Hello, Readers:

Check out NewsOK’s podcast page to hear the interns reflect on their past six weeks at The Oklahoman!

— Kristen, Adrielle and Nathan, on interning for the City and Business desks and the Data team.

— Monica and Hailey, on interning for Metro and State.

— Mike and Dontay, on interning for Sports.

And now, we’ve got less than two weeks left — Who would believe two months could go by so fast?

~ Kristen M. Daum, City Desk intern at The Oklahoman.

This morning, we lost another great journalistic inspiration of our time.

Former White House Press Secretary and Fox News anchor Tony Snow died at age 53, after battling colon cancer.

Snow had been a prominent broadcast journalist since 1996 on Fox News, where he anchored the network’s Sunday news show. In May 2006, Snow replaced Scott McClellan as White House press secretary after McClellan’s resignation.

But Snow held the post for only 17 months, as he faced intermittent problems as the cancer resurfaced in his body, and resigned in September 2007.

He was known for his jovial camaraderie with White House journalists and his critical interview technique as a Fox News anchor, and he has certainly left his mark on the journalism world.

But once again, in less than month, I’m left mourning a journalistic inspiration that I’ve had the honor to meet… and I’m left wondering why such a powerful media icon was taken from us so soon.

I met Snow at the 2008 National Press Foundation awards dinner in Washington, D.C. in February. Five of my colleagues at the Washington Center for Politics and Journalism and I received tickets to the dinner, which had more than 1,000 people in attendance.

I didn’t know that Tony Snow was going to be there until I noticed him at the far end of the head table. I remember turning to one of my friends, “Oh, my God! Tony Snow’s here!”

At the end of the dinner, I asked my friends, “I’m going up there to meet Tony Snow. Anyone want to come with me?” They looked at me like I was crazy… or unusually brave, I can’t tell.

But a couple of them agreed to come with me, and I led the way up to the former White House press secretary.

He was talking over the table to someone else down on the main floor, and I waited my turn to approach him. When he was finished, I boldly - but shyly - asked him for his autograph and a picture. “Sure,” he said. “Come on up!”

Snow graciously signed my autograph book and then took time out from mingling with all the other more important people vying for his attention to talk with three humble interns and get his picture taken with them.

Snow was refreshingly kind, caring and generous with his time — something that he didn’t have to do, but he did - because that’s the kind of person he was.

It was only a few minutes before we were with Snow again, watching him jam out with his band at the NPF dinner’s post-reception.

Watching Tony groove on his saxophone and rip on his guitar, you’d never know he was fighting an internal battle with cancer. His last surgery was in 2007 — and nearly a year later, as I watched him on that stage, he looked healthy and happy.

That’s what makes today so hard for me…

I knew Tony Snow was fighting cancer, but when I met him that February night, he was the picture of health: Upbeat, friendly and energetic.

Two great journalistic icons gone in less than a month, both taken before their time: Tim Russert and Tony Snow. And I had the privilege to meet them both — it’s heart-wrenching. 

~ Kristen M. Daum, City Desk intern at The Oklahoman.

I love the topic, once again!

Do you approve/disapprove of journalism outsourcing??

On principle, I disapprove of journalism outsourcing. Journalism is a profession completely based on facts and communication between those who make the facts known, those who report it and those responsible for making sure it is in the best, most credible form in the end. When the last component is thousands of miles away, the process becomes more prone to major mistakes and issues with timeliness, as well.

— Are their better ways the news organizations can cut costs without cutting American jobs??

As long as it’s not my job being cut! haha. But seriously, yes. Teach reporters to do more than report, and you will save money on hiring extra people because of lack of photographers, web people, etc. Also, teach reporters to report all kinds of news so that if the paper becomes shorthanded, they can use other departments. (Of course, I know it’s common that other departments are usually loaded down, too.)

— What does this mean for news content and the importance of readers??

Nothing good. But on that note, it is emphasis of the importance that you are you’re best copy editor for the story you write. Plus, you never hear someone say “There’s an error in the story, the copy editor lied!” It’s all you:)

When you call a customer service line for an airline or credit card company, you would expect your call to be forwarded to some international office in India or southeast Asia — Outsourcing has become practically universal for that.

But not in journalism, right????
… Sadly, wrong.

All too often now, media organizations announce that they’re outsourcing jobs as a way to cut costs - while they simultaneously battle with the shift from print newspapers to online multimedia.

Copy-editing and page design (for now) are the most common newsroom departments being outsourced. That means stories are edited, headlines are written, and pages are layed-out by people thousands of miles removed from a newspaper’s readership.

The Orange County Register has had a history of some outsourced copy-editing, but just a few weeks ago, the Register officially signed an agreement with an India-based media firm to handle a share of its copy-editing and page-designing needs. While editors at the Register contend that no jobs are in jeopardy because of the deal, the newspaper already had a round of voluntary buy-outs in 2006 and 90 staffers lost their jobs in April because of dwindling circulation numbers.

But the Register wasn’t the first. McClatchy Company media goliath started outsourcing jobs in late 2007 at some of its larger papers, such as the Sacramento Bee and the Miami Herald by January 2008. Meanwhile, these newspapers are still cutting U.S. jobs to save money.

 If you think outsourcing journalism jobs is just a fluke of the times, don’t hold your breath. The Newspaper Association of America named as the No. 2 industry trend to watch in 2008 - as more and more news organizations try to cut costs and stay afloat.

Poynter Fellow Butch Ward, at least, offers some words of hope about this depressing pattern, but this no doubt remains troublesome to all of us entering the journalism industry.

Some questions for you to ponder:

— Do you approve/disapprove of journalism outsourcing??

— Are their better ways the news organizations can cut costs without cutting American jobs??

 — What does this mean for news content and the importance of readers??

C’mon, let’s start some chatter…

~ Kristen M. Daum, City Desk intern at The Oklahoman.

Each month in The Oklahoman’s News and Information Center, ”Best of the Month” honors are awarded to the top achievements in news-gathering, reporting or presentation. In June’s “Best of the Month,” members of the 2008 Intern Class were selected for several accomplishments!! 

Here’s what Joe Hight, The Oklahoman’s director of information and development, said about this month’s intern winners:

BEST INTERN ACHIEVEMENT: (an annual category for June/July)

— Jennifer Adams (Graphics) and Nathan Curby (Data), for their work to create an interactive map of all public golf courses in the metro area for the “know it: Golf.”

— Hailey Branson (State), for her 16 stories - including five for Page 1A.

Finalists: Amy Rymer (Photo), Kristen M. Daum (City),

Jason Singer (Sports/Metro) and Mike Jeffries (Sports).

SPECIAL RECOGNITION:

— Hailey Branson, Johnny Johnson, Sheila Stogsdill, Ron Jackson, Julie Bisbee, John Sutter and Henry Dolive, for their online and print coverage of the tragic deaths of two girls in Weleetka.

— The City desk (including Kristen M. Daum and Brian Kimball), Metro, Photo, State and Video departments, online editors, Paul Monies, Steve Maupin and the Data Team deserve special recognition for their work on the election filing period. This year, the work included providing candidate information for the new ElectOK.com.

— The Intern Class of 2008 deserves special recognition for its efforts to write the “Intern Blog” and then promote it. The blog rose to No. 1 or 2 during certain days in June and was No. 6 overall on NewsOK for the month.

Congratulations on your achievements, fellow interns!!

Let’s keep the quality journalism flowing!

~ Kristen M. Daum, City Desk Intern at The Oklahoman.

In short: Last week was awesome. 

My workload was football camp heavy, as I covered Adrian Peterson’s camp in Norman and Wes Welker’s camp at Heritage Hall. Both were great experiences. Thursday, at Peterson’s camp, The Oklahoman was the only media outlet there (that I know of…), and so access was completely unique. I literally got to follow “A.D.” around all day. For a big NFL fan, it was pretty special.

On another front, the coaching sessions here at The Oklahoman are proving to be beneficial. Stan Ketterer, an associate professor at Oklahoma State, has been focusing on color writing with me. I’m beginning to really understand the difference between ‘telling’ the reader and ’showing’ the reader. The lessons in color should really come in handy this week, when I’m working on a story about a 90-something-year-old woman who is a huge mixed martial arts fan (cage fighting to be blunt.) Should be exciting!

I honestly can’t believe this internship is already half over. Four weeks have blown by, but I’m looking foward to improving my scope as a writer and reporter in the next few weeks instead of being so worried about “fitting in” to a very established newsroom.

Until next time,

 Mike Jeffries, Sports Intern