Drawing a Line….

How often do journalists get phone calls or emails regarding stories they’ve written? In past internships I received a few, but no story has been as troublesome as one I wrote this semester for borderzine.com! Two emails in the span of months, I received messages from the president of the group I covered in this story. First, it was minor, a few mistakes that were easily fixed–no harm done. Now the last in the series, asks…no wait demands…no wait asks…whatever…that I take down a video posted on youtube.com where I interviewed a team member who was recently withdrawn by a collegiate league for undisclosed reasons.
Unbelievable!  The president said in the email that the group “shall consist of members”  that represent [the group] in a “positive way” and the member I interviewed was “not” one of those members.
This interview took place months ago. Not to mention, the time I spent editing, waiting for the multimedia advisor to look at it and approve it. What would happen to all the work that went into this? Would it all go to waste? I immediately emailed both faculty advisor/editors asking for further guidance.
I went in today and spoke to my editor and he said the video would stay. Aside from the feedback on the audio quality of the video, which considering that I used a Flip Cam, I was outdoors and it was a bit windy, the video will remain….at least until the next set of stories replace mine next semester.
 “Their PR problem isn’t ours,” my editor said. I was so thankful that he shared my same viewpoint. Since the first email it all felt like I was being held accountable to this president’s standard of reporting not the one I have trained all these years for. He always thanked me for “promoting” the organization, which in reality is not the case. Promotion is a mere side-effect in my opinion and I am definitely not their press secretary. Actually I’m NO ONE’s press manager.
This wouldn’t be the first time I’ve been dragged into a PR-related nightmare. A story I covered in the fall about a popular language software gave me the opportunity to interview an Olympic athlete. I didn’t really know much about this athlete, but was still excited to interview someone more or less “important.” It was exciting until this person showed up at my office with an entourage of the language software’s employees. The interview was awkward and the following weeks I received phone calls and emails inquiring about when my story would go to print from one of the members of the entourage, who turned out to be the software’s marketing/press agent no doubt. A  feeling of discomfort and selling out overwhelmed me. That, and what can only be described as something similar to intellectual rape or writer’s abuse. It took me a long time to write the story and in the end, the finished product felt just like that—a product. A press release!
I am just curious as to what a major media outlet would do in the case of a scandal. This one is baby stuff in comparison to the potential disasters that could happen. How would this have turned out differently if the video was of Idahoan Sen. Craig(R) talking anti-gay rights and then the bathroom stall incident happened?….hmmm….maybe not such a good example, because that is totally newsworthy. What about a video of an interview with a random basketball player who is later taken off the team for fighting during games?
It’s a tough one, but I’m happy with the outcome of this one. I hate being felt like I’m being bullied especially when this story’s been out for months. I bet  he would’ve wanted me to take down the actual story had I quoted the banned member.
I suppose it’s all in a days’ work. The exciting and glamorous life of a student reporter. Hmph.

 

yes..no…well…probably not

Just read a pretty disturbing article off http://journalism.co.uk. Of course the topic wouldn’t be what one might consider “disturbing” in the traditional sense. This year is going to be a tough one and I’m trying to make all the possible moves to avoid having to face the reality that it’s not going to be pretty. I went into this thinking that my writing would become something profitable and desirable by potential employers. It has been… sort of. I would not have been this far in the game if I didn’t have some chops. Truth is: that monster out there is intimidating and I can’t help but feel like a tool.
I’m from the google/text message/fastfood generation, where everything is readily available when and if wanted. Thinking about it now, it’s a generation that has thrived on putting in the least effort, but expecting a greater portion in return. As with everything there are ups and downs. It doesn’t hurt to be able to turn on the faucet to hot water rather than having to wait for the wood fire to heat it up. What I mean is that it all depends on how resourceful one is, i suppose. It’s all about taking full advantage of what’s available.
It’s time to take that “resourcefulness” (?) and put it to good use.
School’s over in a few weeks…what now? Is this supposed to be the part where I realize that college with the trials, late nights, exams, cramming and off-beat essay topics was supposed to be the easy and fun part?
It has been a tough couple of years, but it’s time to regroup and take a breath for what comes next.

Graduation is May 16th…
i have failed…failed at the aim of this blog. This was meant to shed light on the problems that graduating college students face. So far all I’ve had are declared major issues, foreign language credit  issues, and a missing course problem–all solved! It is impossible for me to actually attribute the ease in which my lackluster problems were fixed and conclude students facing graduation woes are nonexistent. I’ve been lucky, i know. I’ve been asking around, and surprisingly enough my peers seem to have their graduation arrangements in order as well.

So now I turn to moving forward with the rest of this year, though I must say that there seems to be a little bout of revenge going around on behalf of the professors. It really feels like they’ve been waiting until the last minute to slather it on nice and thick. If anyone needs me I’ll be glued to this computer here until after the first week of May.