Week Five: General Rounds

Most newsrooms have journalists allocated to various rounds such as politics, police, education, industrial relations and so on. With this in mind, our class chose specific areas of interest to focus on. I was drawn to ‘community’ immediately because I thought the stories would be diverse, relatively easy to access and get ‘talent’ (‘interviews’ are so last semester). Yet I knew I wouldn’t be able to rely on personal experience for story ideas or limit interviews to family, friends and a few professors. As Meg Grant, the West Coast editor for Reader’s Digest says, “You really have to be fearless about approaching people and getting them to give you what you need” (Sumner and Miller, 2005, 4).

Stepping out of my comfort zone has been a big challenge. However, it has been very rewarding to ‘bag talent’ that you know will give your story the edge it needs. I have found so far that people in the community are happy to talk to you and are often flattered that you have taken an interest in them, or their organisation, for example, Michelle Shaw, the Education coordinator for Hope Rwanda, was all too happy to help. Community stories don’t involve the ego’s associated with high profile players such as politicians.

I heart community.