Broadcast Journalism Graduate Students
Graduate journalism students find persistence pays off
By Chris Johnson and Agnes Pietryka
As journalism graduate students, we covered the presidential primary campaign appearance of Illinois Senator Barack Obama on Feb.5 in Chicago.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
As expected, Obama won the Illinois primary, but what we learned that night were some real life lessons about what it takes to cover election politics. Reporting seems glamorous from the outside, but from the inside it’s a totally different story.
The challenge for us was the competition to get press credentials to cover the election night event at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Chicago. Not every reporter was allowed into the event. Some members of the international media, for example, were turned away from the campaign rally. Each reporter was required to submit a request for press credentials a week before the event, but that still did not guarantee entry.
In our effort to get credentials, initially the campaign only accepted one Columbia College student. After good old-fashioned persistence -- cherished by all reporters -- we were allowed to enter the event.
Once inside, we secured interviews with media reporters and videographers as well as Obama backers, including elected officials such as Mayor Daley, Atty. General Lisa Madigan and former Atty. General Roland Burris.
We put into practice our arsenal of journalism skills. Our professors would have been proud of us. We prepared for the assignment by reading widely about the campaign, though we always stay abreast of current events as required in our public affairs reporting program.
But we didn’t expect the raw competition that we saw that night. We saw reporters and camera people fighting at every turn to get clear audio and the best shots. At the end of the night, we, too, needed to come back with a story. So, alongside seasoned professionals from all over the world, we fought to get the best sound bites and visuals,.
The Obama experience taught us the importance of persistence. That’s not the only quality of a good reporter, but it is necessary for one to succeed. If we were to put this quality into lay language, it would be the following: Do not accept “no” for an answer. As reporters, we keep plugging.
Chris Johnson and Agnes Pietryka are students in the graduate broadcast journalism class of Lillian Williams.
By Chris Johnson and Agnes Pietryka
As journalism graduate students, we covered the presidential primary campaign appearance of Illinois Senator Barack Obama on Feb.5 in Chicago.
It was the opportunity of a lifetime.
As expected, Obama won the Illinois primary, but what we learned that night were some real life lessons about what it takes to cover election politics. Reporting seems glamorous from the outside, but from the inside it’s a totally different story.
The challenge for us was the competition to get press credentials to cover the election night event at the Hyatt Regency hotel in downtown Chicago. Not every reporter was allowed into the event. Some members of the international media, for example, were turned away from the campaign rally. Each reporter was required to submit a request for press credentials a week before the event, but that still did not guarantee entry.
In our effort to get credentials, initially the campaign only accepted one Columbia College student. After good old-fashioned persistence -- cherished by all reporters -- we were allowed to enter the event.
Once inside, we secured interviews with media reporters and videographers as well as Obama backers, including elected officials such as Mayor Daley, Atty. General Lisa Madigan and former Atty. General Roland Burris.
We put into practice our arsenal of journalism skills. Our professors would have been proud of us. We prepared for the assignment by reading widely about the campaign, though we always stay abreast of current events as required in our public affairs reporting program.
But we didn’t expect the raw competition that we saw that night. We saw reporters and camera people fighting at every turn to get clear audio and the best shots. At the end of the night, we, too, needed to come back with a story. So, alongside seasoned professionals from all over the world, we fought to get the best sound bites and visuals,.
The Obama experience taught us the importance of persistence. That’s not the only quality of a good reporter, but it is necessary for one to succeed. If we were to put this quality into lay language, it would be the following: Do not accept “no” for an answer. As reporters, we keep plugging.
Chris Johnson and Agnes Pietryka are students in the graduate broadcast journalism class of Lillian Williams.