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Chasing Dreams: Journalism (Recognition)

Apr 9, 2009 Featured, Journalism, Travels

I’ve not met huge stars yet, but I would say that just within the first four months of getting involved I’ve met pretty significant individuals.

I have met David Coleman, also known as the Dating Doctor. He helped with the script with the movie that Will Smith acted in, Hitch, if I remember correctly. I got a good solid interview with him before his show.

I have also met Reverend Michael Adams from Cape Town, South Africa. He’s part of the social movement to change Cape Town’s still on-going issue with the “Colored” community. He worked with Kiersten Chace of Mondo Films (which I have also met) on the documentary “I’m Not Black, I’m Colored”. The documentary which SCSU students had a private screening of.

Just yesterday I met another very well known individual. An individual which apparently President Barack Obama even spoke to. Yesterday, I met Coach Herman Boone. Coach Boone is the inspiration behind the Walt Disney movie “Remember the Titans”. Denzel Washington took the role of Coach Boone in the movie. I had the opportunity to interview him and shoot a video of him as well.

But being a journalist does not mean you’re meeting famous people all the time. Being a journalist is about finding the heroes in everyday people. Finding that story that pulls at the emotional heartstrings in other people. It is about news, but nobody reads dry news. One thing I have learned is that there is always a way to add that human dimension into news, and that’s the trick in making news become a news story.

Let us look at news, as a Broadway show. The audience is the everyday news consumer. The news that you present is the actors and the story. What role does a Journalist play? A journalist is in the backdrops. They are the makeup artists, the costume designers, the backstage crew members, the stage crew, the director and many more. They play a role in all of it, but neither are they everything of each role.

A news consumer reads the news, but chances are they do not know who it was that reported the story. To many journalists, and me included, it doesn’t matter at all not being known. If I wanted to be known and famous I probably would not have chosen Journalism as the field I wish to pursue. However, the general public does not know that it can be very tough to get news at times. Not every interview goes well, not everyone is forthcoming, not every source is reliable, not every equipment we us is dependable, not every day is going to be bright and sunny.

Journalism is, without a doubt, a very people-based job.

If you quote someone exactly the way they say it, but they feel that it made them look bad. There’s the chance that you, and the company you work for, will get the heat for it. Also because I am currently in the States, “get the heat” basically means you stand a chance of being sued. I’m sure that’s not something you want right?

An advice I got was to save all notes and recordings I’ve made for at least half a year before disposing of it. It is an advice that I have to admit I have yet to be able to follow. But I do keep my notes for as long as I can.

The University Chronicle, the campus paper that I currently write for, may be a campus paper but even then it has been sued multiple times before in the past. It’s quite impressive however, the amount of awards that The Chronicle has won. I feel proud to contribute to it.

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Tags: Featured, Journalism