A Journalist's Journeys

Yesterday I went on three shoots. The first was for a news story I am working on about making bike lanes on Mass. Ave. I went to meet with the lawyer involved in the lawsuit that says the bike lanes won't make it any safer for Boston bikers to ride.

The second, (and most exciting!) was yesterday afternoon. My partner and I get a call on the way back to school that there is a protest in front of the Bank of America in Coply Square. We RAN and arrived first on the scene :) We got awesome broll and some really powerful interviews. This was my first protest and my first "live, at the scene" reporting. It was such a rush!

The third interview was at the Prison Book Program all the way in Quincy. I am currently working on a documentary about the Prison Book Program which is a non-profit that has inmates write letters to them requesting books and then the volunteers send them the books. Yesterday I think my partner and I may have gotten the name of our first inmate interviewee. I really want to go to the prisons and interview a prisoner who has been personally affected by this program.

Also, my travel show I am creating, producing, and hosting is this Thursday. Stresssssssss.

I will upload videos of all these things as soon as they are edited!

Best

Me and a guide on the CBS lot during the infamous Emmys interview

For four years I have been staying up to date on current events, reading a mass amount of textbooks, conducting interviews, shooting packages, and editing video. But when do you make that transfer from a student to a "real" journalist? For me, it was this past September at the Emmys. I flew to L.A. as a reporter for my school news station, WEBN, to cover all the action. My second day there I was at an interview when my producer called me: My Producer: "Maria, I've made an executive decision and cut _(name omitted)_ from the show. You need to be at the CBS lot in 2 hours to interview "X". Hurry up this interview so you can get there in time." Me: "Ok. I'll try my best. Who is "X"? My Producer: "I don't know. I'm stressed out. figure it out." With no time to go back to my hotel and google "X" and no Internet on my cell phone (first purchase as a "real" journalist- a blackberry, or Iphone, I don't discriminate!) I rolled into the CBS lot literally knowing nothing about my interviewee. I pulled off the interview without "X" knowing a thing. Having a successful interview without any preparation isn't something you can learn in class or through a text book. You just have to go through it and if you succeed that makes you a "real" journalist.