legbamel: Live and on the Scene

I made my first foray into the “exciting” world of journalism yesterday. There was a minor event nearby. I found out about it, attended with a camera, took a picture, wrote a brief article, and submitted the package to Associated Content. For all that it was a 10-minute, nigh-unpublicized event, I was thrilled to be there as a reporter. Unofficially, of course. I was undercover as a mere interested bystander.

The problem came when I went to write the article. I had a little hook, a good quote from one of the participants, and nothing else. It took me more time researching on the web to get some background than the entire process of discovering and attending the event. I assume that this is a standard issue for journalists – that the events themselves are brief and not particularly interesting unless you are willing to explain why they happened and what they mean (if anything).

What particularly entertained me about the thing was that there was only one “real” reporter there. She was from a local television station and had her trusty camera operator with her. I see her around the area a lot and figure she must have the downtown, human interest beat. I could pretend that, as the only “print” journalist there, I was scooping the local paper. Heh, sometimes a little self-delusion is just what you need.

I'll have to see if AC will print the thing, though. It is strictly of local interest and obviously not much of that. If only sending it in to the local paper would not completely blow my secret identity on-line. Because of my job, I don't publish under my real name. I seriously doubt the paper is going to publish me under my pseudonym!

Of course, if it does get published, I'll link to it here.