Monday, May 21, 2007

Getting From Here To ‘Air’

Come to think about it, the rising price of fuel is something we’ve been discussing in our news meetings for quite some time. It is, after all, a story we have been covering for the past year as prices continue to sky rocket to new record highs…with little hope for any slowing.

I blogged about the rising price of fuel a few weeks ago, since than the prices at the pump have continued to climb. One of challenges we face is how to tell a gas price story from a way that is meaningful to you, our viewers.

After all, do you really want to just hear a minute and thirty seconds of people complaining? I don’t know about you but all that does is frustrate me more…knowing I am defenseless against the prices. Don’t get me wrong, I sympathize with them…but that doesn’t help me when it comes to forking over my credit card at fill up time.

Our discussions lead us to do a story about the price of public transportation. Our reporter, Brian Deroy posed a question about how the price of public transportation compares to the price of filling up your tank with gas each week. How could we tell this story? How to make it visual? Does the money saved equal the time it may take to get from point “a” to point “b”?

Amidst our discussions, Brian pitched the idea that he bus to work for a day. So this morning, rather than reporting to our 9am meeting, Brian woke up and grabbed a bus to work. He set out with photographer, Charles Malloy to tell the tale of his bus ride to work. His report is here.

Interesting how a simple conversation can lead to a story on our news.

If you enjoyed this post, please make sure to sign up for my RSS feeds.
I invite you to share your thoughts and concerns over gas prices (and ways your trying to conserve) by posting in the comments section.

-Jason
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)