Finding My Voice

Today in our journalism tutorial Marie set up a press conference. We had to ask our volunteer interviewees enough questions to enable us to write a story about them. For the most part we only had five minutes and were allowed to ask five questions each.

Our press conference was a very sedate affair, no shouted questions, no camera flashes, no pressure. And I struggled. I really had trouble coming up with questions that were open-ended enough to gain material to use in an article.

I've always admired the journalist who can think on his or her feet. They ask a question, listen to the answer and quickly analyse it to figure out the next question to ask or point to refute. I worry that I don't have the analytical mind to be able to do this. Or I worry that I'm just too polite. How many times in my life have I met someone, listened to their views and decided that I totally disagreed with them but have just nodded and walked away? Is it because I don't feel that I can adequately argue my point or is it because I just don't want to make a scene? 

During our lecture this week, some of us (the rest do it next week) had to present a story pitch to an editorial board. We had to find a news story that we wanted to report, identify why it was important in terms of news values, ethics, etc and then speak about it in front of the class who were playing the role of the editorial board for our chosen media outlet. 

While researching my story pitch, I'd emailed the senior reporter of the local newspaper for some information. During our email exchanges he wrote about the perils of the press conference and recounted how he'd asked the Premier an important question during one such event. The Premier apparently decided not to answer the question and went off on a tangent instead, forcing him to keep asking the same question until he had something that resembled an answer. He says he then spent nearly all of the next week defending claims by the Premier's senior media advisor that he'd misrepresented the Premier's remarks. He advised me to remember that journalists in training need "courage under fire" in these situations, especially when, as he found on this occasion, other journalists were quite happy to sit back and watch him go it alone. 

It's a good point to consider. If I want to be a voice for the voiceless, I have to speak up, possibly even shout. Since being at uni, I've learnt that people there are prepared to listen to me. They may not agree with what I have to say, and I have to be ready to back up what I do say with evidence (political science, PL1001!), but they will listen. Maybe this is exactly what I need?

I've already surprised myself at how many times I put my hand up and speak during journalism classes, I even to do it in political science lectures now, somewhere I feel less confident in my abilities. I've always believed I'm much more articulate in print than in person, which is possibly a slight problem for someone doing multimedia journalism, but I'm at the point now where I don't care about embarrassing myself, if people want to teach me, then I want to learn. 

I figure I've got things to say, and I'll be standing up to say them. I'd just appreciate it if they'd give me a few minutes to collect my thoughts, I've still got my L-plates on.