Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Newsmar By Marshall Swanson To fellow students and instruc torsat USC he's probably just ano ther face in the crowd of thou sands that trek daily across the sprawling university campus. But to about 280,000 Columbia area TV-viewers, he's WIS-TV newsman Ben Griffin, 21, who at one moment may be quizzing a state political leader or providing the voiceover on film showing one or another regional, state, or local news event. Griffin, a senior expecting to graduate in August with a BA de gree in Broadcast Journalism, said he spends about 50 per cent of his 40-hour work week at the station writing news copy, editing film, and going out on news assign ments. While he normally reports to work at 3 p.m., he's subject to be ing sent out on a news assignment at any hour. Such was the case last spring when he received am earlN morning Sunday call. His assign ment: Go to Abbeville, S. C. and report on the effects of a tornadc that struck there earlier. Griffin, a 1970 graduate o1 Belton-Honea Path bigh School ir Belton, S. C., first dabbled with the media while he was a high school student. In addition to serv ing on the school's yearbook staf i he took to acting and emceed beauty contests in his spare time Sometime during his junior yea he realized he wanted to go int( broadcasting. USC Awa USC professors have received $71,963 contract from the U.S. De partment of Health, Educatior and Welfare to conduct researcl on a new kind of fertility contrc substance. Professors Robert L. Cargill an Thomas A. Bryson of the chemis try department will soon begin ei forts to design and prepare in th laboratory new molecules effect lye in birth control without th undesirable side effects commo to the presently used oral cor traceptiv3s. The program aims a preparing new compounds whici can be used after intercourse t prevent pregnancy-the so-callec "morning after pill." Cargill and Bryson say -the most current birth control piu contain modified steroids (ste ogds being in general fatlike mol cules, some of which exhibit he monal activity). "We are lookir for compounds which trigger ori hibit fertility activity. The activi we hope to inhibit is the produ tion of progesterone," Bryson ex plained. Progesterone is a horm~or ated by the absorption of ultravi let light. The concepts generat4 by this earlier basic research for the basis of the program on fE tility control. Thus the basic pure research with no preco ceived application performed 1-Student Before going to work for WIS TV in January of 1972, he put ii one and-a-half years as a staffe at WUSC-FM and pulled a stint on summer as a country and westeri DJ at WHPB in Belton. "it was quite an experience," he said. "I knew nothing abou country and western music but managed to make it through summer by faking my way througl it." Last week, Griffin travelled ti Tennessee to film a report on a re ligious group that purports to shov its faith by handling deadly rattle snakes. After being notified Friday ai ternoon that he was to make th report, Griffin made a few phon calls, went to the Lutheran Serr inary to research the subject an< then left Saturday afternoon on plane for Knoxville. By 5:30 Sunday morning Gril fin and his camera crew had arrivE at the church where a snake-hani ling ceremony was scheduled 1 take place. Although they didn't kno how they would be received by ti people at the church, Griffin sa he and the crew began milling round the church asking questioi in preparation for the filmed re port. When a minister arrived Griff tracked him down for an intervie and then moved inside the chur< to film the snake-handling. rded Pill I whose function is to prepare t - uterus for the implantation of t fertilized egg. If the production 1 progesterone if inhibited, leavi i the uterus unprepared, then t fertilized egg will not be implant - and thus, no pregnancy will occi They hope that the compoun will not have the undesirable si effects of current birth contri - pills, most of which prevent ovu a tion and "bring about all kinds a problems." SIf the drug proves to be effe t ive, it would be at least 10 yes 1 from the beginning of testing 1 a fore it is on the market, they sa Cargill explained that the "nc el" steroid molecules will be ma t by shining ultraviolet light chemicals, which will lead to 1 r.. production of new compounds, .The compound will be test r- for biological activity by the U gPublic Health Service and in 1 ,.. laboratory of the faculty of 1 :y Medical University of Georgia >- Augusta. . According to Cargill and B son, the awarding of this contrn e demonstrates two important pr >. ciples. First, much of Cargill's dr search over the past eight years I m been aimed at understanding 1 r- nature of chernical reactions in 3r Dr. Bryson's education and tra p- ing were in the synthesis of si at aids and steroid-related molecul Describes "In covering something like this for TV you have to be very mobile r and move around getting shots of 3 everything that is happening," said I Griffin. Although the film crew was within a foot of some of the snakes Griffin said he wasn't I scared. "I wasn't afraid of being bitten because I was watching them to ) make sure they didn't get too - close. But there was a danger of getting bitten." "The big thing about it was the emotion those people were going - through. It was really an emotional e type of story. We were beat by the 9 end of the day." Griffin's crew shot about 30 minutes of film at the church and aired three minutes and 45 seconds of the material later on television, a ratio Griffin said was a little d more than average for a TV film J- story. o "We try to say we shoot (a ra tio) two to one, but it usually N comes out closer to four to one. ,e That's the trouble with the med d ia," he laughed. "I think we really 3- realize how limited the broadcast is medium is as far as getting across content is concerned, " he said, but added, "that's not to say I don't in believe in broadcasting. It's the N strongest medium in the world, in :h its place, but it does have limita tions." .rant he whereas Cargill's background was he primarily in photo-chemistry. The of new research program is the result ng of the pooling of scientific ideas ie of Professors Bryson and Cargill 3d and later, Dr. bransome's; jr. ds Ia of S 3rs d. . de he ed S. he he in ry ict in re :he er- ... - lob "The other night I went and sat through a three-and-a-half-hour hearing on the Lexington County budget. I came back and wrote a minute-and-a-half story on it. That's the limitation. There's no possible way you can tell exactly what went on. The things we do tell are the basic facts and that's about all a lot of people really care about anyway." Griffin cited a strong point of broadcasting as being able to tell some of the news even though the medium cannot do what he termed an "adequate job" of covering everything. "There are a lot of people that don't read the paper," he added. "The one big asset is the visual medium. The broadcast medium has greater impact." In evaluating his broadcast training at USC Griffin said, "It. (the training) helps some, but I think one thing we should realize is there is no way you can learn professional broadcasting in an academic surrounding. You've got to be in the business. Experience is more important in this business than anything." "I think one of the big plusses of the USC broadcast curriculum if you're going into broadcast news is the fact that you're allowed to get a liberal arts background. You take a lot of courses. Some peo ple say that's what's wrong with the journalism curriculum. I don't -SALE 25% OFF INNER CITY GLADRAGS 2016 GREEN STREET (AT FIVE POINTS) [onday Nig udent Spec * 2.99 U.S. Choice Sirloin Choice of Potsto Salad Bar .74r SALUDA AVE. COLUMBIA. SOUTH( think so. I think it's very valuable." In his spare time Griffin says he watches TV with an eye and an ear for how and why certain things are done in the production of the show. While he plans to go to law school in September with the in tention of specializing in commun ications law, Griffin hopes he can stay on at WIS-TV in at least a "limited capacity". As a career al ternative to communications law Griffin said he would like to stay with broadcast reporting. Griffin's most rewarding assign ment: covering the snowstorm that hit South Carolina last winter. "Then you realize how impor tant television is because there were 250,000 to 300,000 people stranded in their homes and could not leave," he said. "The only out side communication they had was through radio or television. The newspapers couldn't run. The stranded people were depending on us. We slept about three hours a day for about three days. You didn't get tired because you knew you had to be out there doing something because there were peo ple waiting." Easy To Open Uharge Account *100 (mit) RITTON hit Reservations Please FIVE POINTS AROL INA 29050