Journalism Response
Journalist: Boyd Huppert
Great lead - "The most unlikely bartender in the state of Minnesota may well be the 76-year-old Pakistani immigrant pouring beers on Friday evenings in the tasting room at the Surly Brewery in Brooklyn Center." - it grabs me and elicits a, "What is this, now? I'm intrigued and must read more." Sets the scene. Establishes the CCC immediately.
No matter how alcohol dresses itself up, it always seems shrouded in some degree of stigma in culture at large. However, this story is not so much about a successful beer brewery as it is about a family united around a successful business...which happens to be alcohol. I think this came across well, especially with the statement from Omar's wife Rebecca, "It's all the same thing, but we just changed what we were selling" in regards to the switch from the owner's father's original abrasives company to the brewery it now is.
I like how this story answered every question as it popped to my mind. They mentioned "Surly." I asked myself, "Why would they name it Surly?" A sentence later I read, "The name Surly was chosen to represent the way one feels when they can't find a good beer."
One question that did pop to mind on a larger scale is the growing popularity of beer breweries and microbreweries. What's the difference between the two?....I just consulted my dashboard dictionary widget, which told me a microbrewery - as I suspected - produces on a smaller, more limited scale. Often only local.
I'm interested that there's no "posted by" credit near Boyd Huppert's name at the end of the story. Do you think he posts his own work, or is the webmaster a more invisible job at KARE11 than at KOMU-8? And if only one journalist's name is on a story, she or he puts her name out to take any and all feedback - good or bad: from the great, readable format to the grammatical error in the line, "...while Nick get's to come along for the ride," to be nit-picky.
And they only had one related web extra (besides an image and the story video): a link to the brewery's homepage.
My Experience
I got chewed out yesterday, and rightfully so...I think.
I have a bit of a problem (some wouldn't call it that) of unquestioningly accepting the authority of adults - especially those who demand respect through a confident demeanor. Well, as KOMU-8 TV news director and RTNDA chairperson Stacey Woelfel pointed out in a recent blog, my fellow "Millennial" generation-types and I don't know how to question authority.
With that said, I tried contacting a source on my cell phone for a quick comment about her organic food consumption habits. This woman mentioned she used to work for a particular newspaper and, although extremely busy, sounded willing to help me. When she asked about my deadline, I told her it was that afternoon, knowing I only had the broadcast lab camera for several more hours, even though the story was technically due the next day. And, honestly, I had really just called her on an whim.
Her tone immediately shifted to one of curt annoyance.
"You're calling me now for an afternoon deadline?" she said, nearly-incredulously.
Caught off guard, I stammered some words about also wanting her opinion and not necessarily needing an in-person interview. She, (graciously, I think), gave me the names of several people I could contact or places I could look to for more information, but ended that list with, "And just for the future, it's respectful to give a person three or four days' warning before doing an interview. Good luck."
On a side note, her interview, which I clearly did not get, was by no means integral to my story, but it would have added more depth.
Into my thoroughly-shamed, scolded and sheepish mind wandered the question, "But what about day-turns?" Yeah, that'd be GREAT to give three-to-four days of advanced warning to sources, but most news is no longer news by the ten o'clock newscast, let alone several days later!
Anyway, I don't know to what degree - if any - I am at fault here. Still, the sting of humility doesn't quickly recede, nor will the lesson this experience imparted...though exactly what I should take away from it I'm still deciding.
