Saturday, January 28, 2006
Living the Job
In the J-school, they tell you all the time that you have to develop relationships with the sources whom you come into contact with on your beat. And that you have to talk to people outside of the official channels to get your best information. I guess I never understood that till now.
Today I covered my first tennis home tournament. I'm on the tennis beat this year, and I walked into this thing wanting to build relationships with the people whom I'm going to be writing about for the next six months.
I walked into the Tennis Center today and learnt more about journalism than I've learnt in the last two years. I introduced myself to the coach and the assistant coach. Then started talking to random people who'd gathered to watch the match.
This guy named Alan introduced himself to me. Nice fella. Middle aged. Tennis enthusiast. I ended up talking to him for the rest of the match. And wow, I learned so much about the team and their background from this one guy.
See Alan's a personal friend of the coach's. So he plays against the girls for fun. And he knows so much about them. He told me how sunny Anna's personality was, or how Monica wasn't playing because she couldn't close out matches. How Dominika never gave up. Ever. How the other Anna gained some weight after her freshman year. Through him, I found out that Ceci was ranked as high as #4 in the juniors. That Jamie got engaged on Christmas eve. That the assistant coach used to play in the pros.
Just random fun stuff that I would NEVER get from any press kit. Random details about a person's life that make a person who she is. The stuff that really paints a picture and gives you a better idea of who someone really is. And that's the stuff you want to zoom in on as a reporter because I truly believe that you can't portray someone accurately unless you know a bit more about them and can figure out what makes them tick.
That's the perrenial problem with this profession. You form relationships that are quick and fleeting, all with a singular goal in mind-- getting the story.
I don't like that. I want to get to know these girls. The one thing I hate about reporting is that I always feel so vulture-like when I'm interviewing someone. I feel like they I don't give a damn about who they are, and that all the questions I'm asking may sound insightful, but that I'm only asking them because I want to write my story.
While I'm on this beat, I really want the people who are the focus of my stories to realize that I care about them as people, and I want them to see that I'm asking questions not just so I can churn my story out, but so that I can get to know them.
But that of course begs the question: Where do you draw the line between friend and reporter? See that's the one even the best in the business can't seem to figure out.
Today I covered my first tennis home tournament. I'm on the tennis beat this year, and I walked into this thing wanting to build relationships with the people whom I'm going to be writing about for the next six months.
I walked into the Tennis Center today and learnt more about journalism than I've learnt in the last two years. I introduced myself to the coach and the assistant coach. Then started talking to random people who'd gathered to watch the match.
This guy named Alan introduced himself to me. Nice fella. Middle aged. Tennis enthusiast. I ended up talking to him for the rest of the match. And wow, I learned so much about the team and their background from this one guy.
See Alan's a personal friend of the coach's. So he plays against the girls for fun. And he knows so much about them. He told me how sunny Anna's personality was, or how Monica wasn't playing because she couldn't close out matches. How Dominika never gave up. Ever. How the other Anna gained some weight after her freshman year. Through him, I found out that Ceci was ranked as high as #4 in the juniors. That Jamie got engaged on Christmas eve. That the assistant coach used to play in the pros.
Just random fun stuff that I would NEVER get from any press kit. Random details about a person's life that make a person who she is. The stuff that really paints a picture and gives you a better idea of who someone really is. And that's the stuff you want to zoom in on as a reporter because I truly believe that you can't portray someone accurately unless you know a bit more about them and can figure out what makes them tick.
That's the perrenial problem with this profession. You form relationships that are quick and fleeting, all with a singular goal in mind-- getting the story.
I don't like that. I want to get to know these girls. The one thing I hate about reporting is that I always feel so vulture-like when I'm interviewing someone. I feel like they I don't give a damn about who they are, and that all the questions I'm asking may sound insightful, but that I'm only asking them because I want to write my story.
While I'm on this beat, I really want the people who are the focus of my stories to realize that I care about them as people, and I want them to see that I'm asking questions not just so I can churn my story out, but so that I can get to know them.
But that of course begs the question: Where do you draw the line between friend and reporter? See that's the one even the best in the business can't seem to figure out.
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