Alright, let me give you a little bit of background about me really quick so you can understand the next few points I'm about to make. Besides being at KOMU, I waitress part-time at a restaurant here in Columbia- a place Pinkel frequents. All of us who work at the restaurant know Pinkel fairly well because he's there a few days a week. We all call him Coach and we all know better than to breathe the word "football" in his direction (the man has a life outside of football, you know?). Okay, background over. Here's my point. Coach Pinkel is a human being, and unfortunately as a human, he made a big mistake. I am 100 percent against any drinking and driving and Coach Pinkel is a public figure, therefore he is held to an even higher standard. Pinkel could've called a cab, or a friend that night, but instead he messed up, and now he's paying for it. But I also know, that Pinkel knows all of this and is probably beating himself up worse than any public opinion, media outlet or even MU's Athletic Director, Mike Alden could ever do.
I watched our 5p.m. newscast that Thursday and what I saw actually disappointed me. Every story, except for three national stories and the weather segments, was about Pinkel in some way or another. I expected an "A" block filled with the story and maybe even the "B" block too, but to have every block of the newscast contain information about one man who made a bad decision seems like poor journalism to me. We broadcast to about 14 counties here in Mid-MO, but on Thursday we only covered one. One man and his DWI, no matter how big of a figure he is, should not take the place of other stories that impact the rest of Mid-Missouri, or the rest of Columbia for that matter. We pulled out all the stops for the 5 but when the newscast was over, I really only knew one story backwards and forwards. I checked out our Facebook page and noticed a couple of viewers who were upset nothing else was covered during the show. KOMU did a great job breaking the story and covering it, I just think the coverage went a bit overboard in the 5 newscast. However, I watched our 9 and 10 broadcasts and they fell into more of the show I expected- "A" block filled with Pinkel stories and rest of the news for Mid-MO followed after.
Thursday proved to be a great day of learning for me. I realized how we as journalists can go out and get all of the facts following big breaking news, an excellent skill to have. We also held a public figure (arguable the most recognizable public figure associated with the University) accountable for his actions. But I also realized how a big story can engulf us and lead us to ignore the rest of the viewers and the stories they might care to see/need to know more.
Here's a link to our 4pm "U_News" show- it too was filled to the brim with Pinkel news. I'm a bit more okay with U_news being transformed into a giant Pinkel story because there was a news conference about the repercussions of Pinkel's actions at 4 that day (both the Athletic Director and Chancellor spoke in that conference).
