Just to be clear on our beats: if you are on the East Lansing team, for example, your beat is specifically the city of East Lansing. It is NOT any of East Lansing's neighbors, like the city of Lansing or Bath Township. Our stories are to be about trends and issues in the city of East Lansing, and the (non-student) people in the city of East Lansing. Same with all other beats: it needs to be exactly your geographic area (and no MSU students!).
And there are reasons for that: we want you exploring areas that you don't already know, and where you don't know people. That way, we can work on our ability to find stories and develop sources, as opposed to leaning on places and people we already know. In the real world of journalism, most of the time we'll have to go in blind to places and still develop sources and stories. That's what we'll practice here.
If you simply rely on covering areas you're more familiar with and people you already know, you won't develop your skills at finding story ideas and sources in unfamiliar places. You may do fine in this class, but then you'll get your ass kicked badly on your first internship and your first job, which wouldn't be good at all.
And that's why we're doing this class in the first place. You're worried about your grade this semester; I'm worried about how you'll do the day after your graduation.
And there are reasons for that: we want you exploring areas that you don't already know, and where you don't know people. That way, we can work on our ability to find stories and develop sources, as opposed to leaning on places and people we already know. In the real world of journalism, most of the time we'll have to go in blind to places and still develop sources and stories. That's what we'll practice here.
If you simply rely on covering areas you're more familiar with and people you already know, you won't develop your skills at finding story ideas and sources in unfamiliar places. You may do fine in this class, but then you'll get your ass kicked badly on your first internship and your first job, which wouldn't be good at all.
And that's why we're doing this class in the first place. You're worried about your grade this semester; I'm worried about how you'll do the day after your graduation.
No comments:
Post a Comment