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Month 12

And here we are. It took 14 months, 1 more than I anticipated, but next week, I graduate with my master’s degree in New Media Journalism.

As I type, I’m wrapping up the final parts of my thesis paper for the program. Looking back, I am absolutely floored not just by how quickly this year rolled on, but how much I accomplished.

I look at this moment, however, with a sense of irony. The first major assignment I did was a graduate paper. And now it’s my last major assignment. APA format is a bit more difficult to write, as until I started at Full Sail, I’ve only written in MLA format. The paper for my first month of classes was the first paper I wrote since undergraduate studies at UCF. But my course director at the time said it himself – writing is messy. And nowhere is that clear but writing stories and graduate papers.

Alas, that’s the business. Journalism is all about writing, and I learned writing good copy can make good video. I’m still proud of my Wounded Warfighter 5k story, and I look forward to building my name from there. I’m also proud of my interview with Steve Barrett and my education on old-school journalism.

In the last year, I reignited my love for journalism. I dabbled into new territories with storytelling. I met people I never expected to meet. I figured out how to use Adobe Creative Suite programs better than I had before.

Most of all, I realized how great a city like Orlando is for covering stories. And even though I may begin my career in another city, as many journalists tend to do, I hope that I get to accomplish my biggest dream – to spend my career doing what I love in the city I love.

#MikeGetsHisMasters #fullsailuniversity

Month 11

#MikeGetsHisMasters #fullsailuniversity

Month 10

And almost there. be in the final 2 months of my master’s degree program, and hopefully on to bigger and better things from there.

This month, we took a look at how we can use our public relations toolbox to refine our identity. One of my assignments was to create a new about me video. Admittedly, I dropped the ball on this one, as I thought it would be more complicated than it originally seemed. But then again, it was fun digging through my archival material and paint a better version of my life story.

Lesson-wise, I learned a great deal on how the public relations area worked hand in hand with the journalism field. They’re not that far off – one profession is about telling the stories about the world; another is about telling the stories within a given organization. But either way, a given public is served in both segments.

The one thing that stuck with me is the different kinds of publics – stakeholders, specifically - there are, as we learned in the first week. As Bowen, Rawlins, and Martin wrote in their Overview of the Public Relations Function, there are a great many cogs to define a stakeholder, be it latent, expectant, or definitive. What separates these types of stakeholders are these attributes: power and decision-making influence over certain groups; legitimacy, with a credible claim that could influence decisions; and urgency, whether that claim is time-sensitive and/or important to the organization. Latent stakeholders can have any one of those attributes; expectant stakeholders can have any combination of two; definitive stakeholders possess all three.

What will that have to do with my industry? The journalism field - and communication in general - is one with all eyes on it. It takes a certain keen eye to recognize these publics and figure out the best way to address them should the worst-case scenario rear its head. Maybe not as a front-line reporter, but certainly in a managerial capacity. All I have to do is learn how things work, how these publics have to be addressed, and respond accordingly.

Month 9

And so ends another month. For this class, we learned about which social media platforms will help get the most outreach of the audience we would like to speak to. During my presentation on month one, I outlined my goals as follows:

In this class, I hope to learn more on how I can connect with more people. I also hope to cultivate a brand all my own, and not make any missteps about it.

Learning about Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube was little more than a cinch, as I’ve had history using these platforms. However, I learned more about Reddit than I imagined I would. Each of our tutorials included background on many of these social media platforms. Reddit, which I’ve discovered can be an addicting platform all its own, can have many sources in which to mine a story from – from local issues to national politics. However, there is also the danger of running into users that are more passionate than others [putting it mildly]. As with all social media platforms, I shall know how and when to approach with caution.

I also learned more about how to target each platform appropriate with content that fits the demographic of my specific platform. Certain posts that will work on Facebook wont exactly translate well to Twitter; Instagram not so much with LinkedIn; etc. The biggest thing to keep in mind is that these platforms all cater to different tastes. Therefore, I should think about doing more than just sharing the same stories and different wording for each platform. For example, with LinkedIn, as I’m looking to build my professional network, not only would I share my latest stories there, but I would also share it amongst specific groups I find on there. It also helps for me to find any experts I may need for future reporting.

The biggest thing I hope to take with me in the future – timing. During my research this month, I found out that one can get the best engagement on Facebook on a Wednesday; while some of the best engagement on Twitter can fall on the weekend (see SproutSocial). Therefore, as my career progresses, I can refine my strategy on sharing my content – self-created or from other sources – at these specific times for the best chance of building my following.

Embracing these aspects – timing and tailoring – will help me in the future, as it’ll help me flex my creative juices even more, so to speak, and retain my distinctive brand, but in different ways. It will also help me branch out to more social circles and professional circles in the broadcasting industry, and therefore build my reputation, in which I look forward to learning how to maintain the next month ahead.

Month 8

And another month has come and gone. This is the part where things get serious. This was the month where we start synthesizing everything together - the text, the audio, the video, the graphics, etc. Admittedly, there were some things that I could’ve done better. For example, my last story required me to get an expert interview; however, that was something that wasn’t achievable. Again, admittedly, it would be my own undoing. That’s the great thing about being in college – learning from one’s mistakes so as not to repeat them.

That aside, I believe the stories I’ve done went well. For this month, my favorite assignment was to travel to St. Augustine to interview Barry Sand and Donna DeLorenzo from Flagler College. This month, they officially retired after 20 years of service. Prior to their joining the faculty, Barry had a long career with scriptwriting and producing (he trained under Norman Lear), while Donna made her bones in retail. They both took their talents to advise the college’s Enactus charter, which has gained them national and worldwide recognition – they even won a national championship title for the organization’s 2013 expo.

In general, with our skill sets, while I didn’t see it right away, I realized you’re never too proud or too ready to engage in refresher courses. Sometimes in the grand scheme of things of putting it all together, you lose track of those hidden details – well-put design, good photography. It’s my hope that these lessons stick with me long after I graduate.

On to month 9.

Month 7

After a month of R&R, I came back to resume my journey, and I think I’m having quite a good go of it. This was the month where the magic starts happening: News packages. I started remembering things that I learned about before, and learned new things that I never realized, such as scripting. Tedious to my mind at first, but I look forward to refining that as time goes on.

During the course, we took what we learned about news packages and their elements and made them into something our own. I think the package I’m most proud of is the one I did on the Wounded Warfighter Race in Baldwin Park. In addition to learning more about Orlando’s past as a military hub, it was my chance to use some editing tricks I always wanted to use. Aside from some minor desires, I think this is the package I would like to measure all my others against.

While I’ve been creating, I’ve also noticed one thing that I never realized would make a difference: headphones in the camera. Hearing the natural sound whilst recording footage makes things – no pun intended – clearer than I could imagine without. Obviously, you’ll hear it ingesting the clips back on the editor, but it helps knowing how it’ll sound beforehand.

The most important thing going forward is time management skills. This month, I let myself drop the ball more often than I thought and, going forward, I’m really going to have to develop a better sense of it, especially while juggling the capstone project. Pushing myself for faster turnaround times and organizing my work more will be the secret weapon, but it’ll take practice. I anticipate minimal social life while juggling the prospects of my future career and working my full time job. But some sacrifices must be made for the bigger goal.

Five months and counting.

Month 6

Month 6 is over; now I’m at the halfway mark. I do have to say, I had a lot of fun with this course. The best part, to me, was traveling outside my comfort zone, from reporting on shipping containers to meeting some of the most interesting people around.

In my Mastery capstone, I illustrated my hopes as follows:

“I’d like to pick out the most useful software to illustrate the story in question; and deliver my content in a tasteful, non-nauseating manner.”

While we do have Adobe Creative Cloud software apps like Premiere Pro and Photoshop, we started small. Visually, we had Adobe Spark - to me, a capable storytelling device, helping one get the point of their story across without overdoing it. Telling my story of Boxi Park, I had a lot of fun picking which pictures to include, and what kind of form it would flow from.

Sonically, we used Adobe Audition to create a podcast. And that was an eye-opener, realizing how simple it could be using the right tools – an iPhone microphone, for one. I’ve used Audition for years, but never really used it in this capacity, and I feel I can have a lot of fun creating podcasts if I wanted in the future.

Overall, the course expected me to adhere to the basic tenets of factual storytelling – who, what, where, when, why, and how – and as my professor put it, these tenets aren’t going away. While writing is always king to telling the story, I’m excited for honing the craft even more, while adapting it in these new ways. I imagine going forward that using Spark, especially Spark pages, can help me tell photo stories in completely bold ways. It’s all a matter of experimenting, and not standing still.

#MikeGetsHisMasters

Month 5

Month 5 has come to a close. This month, it was research and investigative skills. To be honest, I was a bit underwhelmed. The instructor that we had wasn’t really the same instructor that was there last year. For the most part, we learned via YouTube videos from last year and articles. As with all classes, however, we learned by doing.

I mentioned this in my capstone project from my Mastery class:

“Learning the basics of what should and should not be done with investigative stories is crucial. It will also be helpful to know the story behind some of the major stories that have shaped our world; as well as where to start out to break some news.”

Knowing the story behind the story didn’t play much part in this class, but “where to start out to break some news” did. We learned more about public records and how we can access them. I, myself, was surprised at how easy one can get to them, and at the process a bill has to go through before being signed into law. For example, the current statewide distracted driving bill was in the books for 6 months, written, rewritten and such before it got approved. However, as we keep seeing, the potential increase in severity of these laws is a story that continues to develop. With the help of the records of the Florida Senate, I hope to keep track and report on this story in the future.

From there, we learned at how to create infographics. The site I used was Infogram, which had a bubbly sort of energy about it. Though inputting the data for my story was a bit much, the interface made it less tedious. However, I needed to upgrade to download the file to my story, so I did what any college student did in a pinch: I took a screenshot. In the future, I may purchase a plan, depending on how much I’ll need it. Meanwhile, there are other options I can use, as we saw in one of our tutorials.

We also learned about identifying experts to interview – which ones can be the most beneficial in sharing their knowledge. Personally, I’ve been interested in theme parks and the news media for such a long time, I didn’t realize these experts were right in front of me. I’ve been friends with one of them for years – Christopher “Kory” Beale – and I wholeheartedly anticipate enriching my professional relationship with him, as well as expanding my networking circle.

Going forward, even though there was not that much motivation on my part of things, the information I will take with me will be beneficial.

With all that said, now it’s time to move to Month 6.

Month 4

This month, we delved head first into the legal world. During my capstone presentation in month one, I wrote that “it would help to know how to use media material properly without triggering a lawsuit; but it would also help most to keep abreast of media law decisions, old and new.” With that said, the cases we went over were mostly steeped in modern history – the latest case dated to the mid-90s, when the family of Beverly Deteresa sued Anthony Radziwill (producer, Day One) and ABC in general for intrusion of privacy (ABC won the case, by measure of their doing things by the book, for the most part).

Plenty of research was involved to get to know these cases and interpret them in modern use, such as Times v Sullivan, Gertz v Welch, and Central Hudson v Public Service Commission. What we didn’t know, we pieced together from looking up some cases of our own. In my case, I took a look at a case involving a station in South Carolina (Tharp vs Media General). A resident sued both the station and the local newspaper (at the time, they both shared a common owner) for slander, as serious allegations against him were proven false, but neither the station (via reporter Mason Snyder) not the newspaper acknowledged it. Aside from researching it on the Full Sail Library resources, there was nary a mention of it on other websites. So it was interesting to see how the case unfolded in that specific case (at that time, the news divisions asked for summary judgment, which had been declined). Reporting would be in my wheelhouse, and I would refer to these cases (Deteresa and Tharp) on what to do and what not to do when interviewing newsmakers.

At the same time, I enjoyed creating the Keynote presentation for Times v Sullivan and Gertz v Welch, and illustrating how they link to each other. The best part for me wasn’t researching the facts; it was assembling the presentation. I always have gotten a kick out of creating presentations and animating the information and pictures to go with it. It was also my first time recording the presentation, so that in itself was a learning curve for me. My only regret was turning this project in late. It was a gross underestimation on my part, with how time consuming it was. You can watch the presentation below.

https://youtu.be/QSImuTgc7Cg

The knowledge acquired, both with that project and our other assignments, can play a good part in the journey ahead. As specific cases highlight the angles of media that, up to that point, weren’t covered, they would function as handy reference points as the media landscape continues to transform, and our roles with them.

With that said, off to winter break.

Month 3

I’m now just wrapping up Writing for Interactive Media. The gist for this class is just starting to write stories and learning how to craft them and share them to our audiences.

From day one, we pretty much got the ball rolling with finding our corner of the world to report from and stories to report on. I still had my share of obstacles. The subject for my first story leads a busy life, and I wasn’t able to interview him in time… but I found someone who could. James Sparvero, a multimedia reporter for my local TV station WKMG, went from cooking at Burger King during high school to reporting from Cape Canaveral in a matter of years. And I found that not everyone catches the news bug right away. After graduating from Penn State, he took a production job at Fox Sports Florida and – because sports journalism wasn’t working out – he moved to WJHG-TV in Panama City only to find that reporting the news worked for him better.

I met him during a commercial shoot for the TV station, and everyone there – the anchors, reporters, and people behind the curtain – were the most gracious people I could ever meet and are community-minded to a fault. The shoot celebrated the “Getting Results” campaign that the station undertook in 2015, and the people they helped along the way. (I only wish I could’ve taken the opportunity to interview everyone and profile the station properly, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20.)

In the midst of all that, something hit me. From finding my stories to cover, watching my news programs, and reading a book I checked out from the Full Sail library - The Solo Video Journalist” by Matt Pearl, a multimedia reporter from WXIA-TV Atlanta - I realized that the stories I want to tell the most aren’t the crime beats or government pressers, but the niche stories – the human interest ones that delve into what makes people who they are, and what they want to share with the world. In the LGBTQ community, I feel there are a lot of stories to be told. Of course, I will still stick with feeding the media fandom, because I still believe there’s an audience there too.

Month 2.

This month was an eye opener as I started my second class on my Mastery Journey – New Media and Communications. I came into the class thinking that there was nothing about the journalism industry that I didn’t know about. But in my capstone project of my Mastery class, I noted that “I hope to learn something I haven’t yet. Namely, how these new platforms come into play with the ‘old guard’ media. And ultimately, what could lie ahead of us.”

And indeed, there were takes on the industry I hadn’t considered as deeply as I imagined. Our second lecture included information about news website Upworthy. I merely subscribed to their mailing list on a whim several months ago, not really knowing what they’ve been coming up with. Reading their keynote and watching their YouTube video illuminated the stories they not only want to spread, but also want to curate by breaking down the science of how they tell the stories. And I also give them kudos for owning the clickbait problems.

Of course, the heart of journalism is telling a good story (and for good measure, use the tools to help bring it to life), and I appreciated that I was able to analyze one: the blockbuster New York Times story about the wealth of the Trump family and how President Trump took part in tax loopholes and schemes (including fraud) to amass the equivalent of over $400 million dollars. Breaking the 15,000-word story required 18 months of investigating, including interviews and combing through thousands of public records. It comes down to this simple logic – Fred Trump hated paying taxes, and he (and Donald) did whatever he could to avoid them, or at least pay less than required. I was also taken by how the story was told – linking to some of the records and drawing out through video how things came to be. Of course, they also had behind the scenes articles, and a podcast, of how they tied everything together.

For this path to work for me, I need to delve into why the stories I tell are important. In the case of the Times, people should know why a United States President won’t let his tax returns be public record; but knowing the story behind it will illuminate the mind even more so. As mentioned, a great deal of research will be required to break stories like this, and I look forward to seeing how it’s done during Month 5 (Research and Investigative Skills).

The journey from my perspective. How interesting this year will be. But it won’t be a chore...as long as I can find the fun.

#MikeGetsHisMasters #fullsailuniversity

This week’s Moment of Power is a fireworks show. True story.

Last year, the Magic Kingdom’s trademark fireworks display was changed. The 18-minute spectacular is called “Happily Ever After,” an apt title for a closing show in a Disney park. Whereas the previous show, “Wishes”, was as much the description as it was the title, “Happily Ever After” expands on it and into what Michael Jung, Executive Creative Director of Walt Disney Imagineering Creative Entertainment, called a “hero’s journey”. He explains the flow as such:

“It kind of takes us on all of those different milestones that we experience - from a dream, to going on a journey, to meeting friends, to falling in love, to facing adversity and overcoming challenge and hopefully to triumph, and to finding our own happily ever after.”

I was one of the many who caught this show on opening night, and it moved me in ways I couldn’t fathom. Behind the many methods of eye candy used - projections, lights, lasers, and fireworks - was the message: that you’ve got to set out to make your dreams come true, “for you are the key to unlocking your own magic.” That fact is drawn home by their theme song, and especially the bridge leading up to the finale:

“The battles, the stories / The losses and all the glories / We’re changed by the way we live every day / Just look up and reach to the sky; we all have the courage to fly.”

It may be a fireworks show to some people, but it has so much more meaning for me. It’s the show that gave me the motivation to ask out the guy that I’ve loved. It gave me the motivation to finally pursue my goals of broadcast journalism. And it’s my hope that, when I watch this show for the last time as a Cast Member, I’ll have started the next phase of my hero’s journey.

Disney Parks. (2017, March 30). The making of ‘Happily Ever After’ | Walt Disney World [video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/pnf9VI134JU

Wdwmagic. (2017, May 12). Happily Ever After opening night performance at the Magic Kingdom [video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/NnZX52Oe1jw

#MomentOfPower #happilyeverafter #MagicKingdom

Personal Learning Network - LinkedIn

When one is required to build a professional network, one needs LinkedIn. I’ll admit, my profile is basic, at best.

I’ve had my profile for quite a few years, and there has been some regular maintenance, counting adding more connections, refreshing my profile info, etc. However, I cannot wait until I utilize it even more throughout this journey. Once again, you’re more than welcome to connect with me and follow along.

There is one thing on my profile, and one thing I see about the world, that will never change. Life is an adventure.

#MikeGetsHisMasters #linkedin

Personal Learning Network - Papaly

I’ve never kept bookmarks anywhere except my internet browser. Which is why I’m still finding my sea legs on this platform. However, once one plays around with it for a while, it’s not that bad to keep bookmarks on.

As you can see, I have a category designated for Full Sail, a column designated for careers (one category for official listings from TV stations, and another from job aggregation sites), and a column for stories of how the industry continues to take shape. Same as the Feedly, new sources and stories will be added. And you’re more than welcome to follow along.

#MikeGetsHisMasters #papaly

Personal Learning Network - Feedly

A big part for this journey to be successful involves keeping a finger on the pulse of the industry; namely, journalism at large. It’s been some time I worked with an RSS feed, seeing as I was more accustomed to doing that on the Firefox web browser. However, working with Feedly was more user-friendly than I thought.

The view from my Feedly iPhone app. For now, my feed is divided into three categories - one focused on the stories from “old guard” newspapers, another regarding television stations, and another regarding the industry at large. As the months roll by, new sources will be added and categories will be shifted, revised, and constantly changed.

#MikeGetsHisMasters #Feedly

This weeks inspirational moment comes from the world of music. Earlier in the week, musician Andrew Hozier-Byrne - simply known as Hozier - released a new song called “Nina Cried Power”. Hozier describes the single as “a thank you note to the spirit of protest”.

The title refers to singer and activist Nina Simone, whose cries of “power” to the Lord comprise approximately three minutes of the 10-minute length of “Sinnerman”, inarguably her best-known song. Also mentioned in the song are artists Billie Holiday, John Lennon, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, and Mavis Staples, who shared vocals with Hozier.

His music video, released on YouTube earlier in the week, features many Irish activists as well (Hozier hales from Ireland). He comments this on the video description:

“Ireland has undergone a socio-cultural sea change, the results of which will benefit generations to come. We are witness to a new Ireland waking to the consciousness of itself; a kinder, more inclusive nation. This video is an attempt to acknowledge just a handful of those who have fought for this new Ireland, and whose work continues to inspire me.”

While the song has no direct influence on the industry I choose to go into, the meaning is personally profound. To anyone, being black in America is enough of a target; being black and gay in America adds the red cape to it (no pun intended). The odds are stacked against the minorities, as some people still hold the notion that if you’re not a white, straight male, you’re persona non grata. However, these last few decades keep bringing all manner of change, from the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, to the ongoing revolution of the LGBTQ community. Journalists provide a window to these events in action; its even more risky yet rewarding. While it’s expected that we leave personal feelings out of our duties, some of us feel a connection. How I felt inspired by this song, and the video, lies in its simple meaning - the courage to fight for a better world.

Courage. That’s what everyone in that video, everyone in that song had to make things better. And that’s what I must have as well. Not just to shape my career, but my life as well. Interviewed by Rolling Stone’s Dan Hyman, Hozier makes clear, “The fights that took place 100 years ago or 200 years ago for whatever... don’t stop. There is no final victory.”

As a nod to this, I’ll tag future inspirational moments as Moments of Power.

Hozier-Byrne, A [Hozier]. (2018, September 12). Hozier - Nina cried power ft. Mavis Staples [video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j2YgDua2gpk

Hyman, D. (2018, August 31). Hozier on How Political Insanity, Nina Simone’s Example Fueled His New Music. Rolling Stone. Retrieved from https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/hozier-on-how-political-insanity-nina-simones-example-fueled-his-new-music-714478/amp/

#MikeGetsHisMasters #MomentOfPower

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