Yesterday I had the good fortune to be invited to the Guardian Student Media Conference in London (I had the not so good fortune to be stuck on a crowded tube that shut down and to miss my bus back to Bristol, but that alas, is a different story). I was not entirely sure what to expect, the only journalism I had been to previously was hosted by the Houston Chronicle and directed entirely at high school students and dumbing down what it is that journalists actually do. As it turns out, they do not just sit around making up fabulous quotes from famous people and sticking them in with a couple of transitions. If I learned anything yesterday, it was this--as a journalist you must live for the news. Most likely the news worthy story is not going to pop up on your radar at 10 AM after you've had a nice shower and a hot coffee. It usually comes in the middle of the night, in some far off jungle in the Congo, and you have to get out of your nice, warm bed, run to the office, chase down quotes from people who either hate you for your insensitive, "objective" probing, or actually don't know what the bleep they're talking about, and then write an article for the morning paper. Because you know the Times, the Independent and every other bloody newspaper are rushing to do the same, and you can't be the last with the story.
The conference itself lended an air of glamour to the profession. The Guardian is situated in King's Palace near King's Cross Station (yes, where Harry met his train for Hogwarts) and in a building meant for a modern day king. Glass, sterile black and white, abstract sculptures and paintings. I have a feeling Alan Rusbridger's (Editor of the Guardian) office looks something like a thrown, where his majesty overlooks his two newspapers and website. Interestingly enough, the Guardian website is in the top five most viewed online newspapers in the world, right behind two Chinese, a Japanese and the New York Times! Apparently somewhere in North America 8 million people look at the Guardian website every day (I have a sneaking suspicion many of them are British expats), and to think I had never heard of the Guardian before, much less guardian.co.uk...
The Guardian has definitely taken the internet ball and ran with it. They have realized the importance of visual and audio support for a generation brought up on DVDs and IPODs. They have gone from a print newspaper to the documentary film business. It seems that a journalist today needs to know everything--photography, web design, video, blogs. I can only imagine asking Walter Cronkite "Mr. Cronkite sir, would you mind keeping a daily blog for our online viewers". Mr. Cronkite, who anchored through Kennedy's assassination and the Vietnam War would probably tell us to bugger off (if he were British, that is). But it seems now that journalists either get digital, or get sacked.
I won't bog you down with all of the sessions (art and music criticism, editing, commentary) or the posh food (mini burgers, portabella mushrooms and goat cheese, apple juice in wine glasses, I assure you as students we were all very pleased). The one thing I think the conference was missing was the lower orders. It is all well and good to hear from top Editors, from journalism professors and esteemed art critics, but what we really want to know and hear about are the experiences of the trenches, the people out there sweating away for the Congo stories at 2 in the morning, who have to keep up their blogs, their internet commentary, their video feed, and somehow, their personal lives.
Otherwise, the conference was a wonderful experience (as London always is) and certainly fired me up for at least giving newspaper a go...My work on the UWE newspaper and on PARN's e-magazine have really fired up a dormant passion for writing that died somewhere in my four years at Rice. I will still apply for teaching jobs in January, but (hopefully) the urge to write will still be there.
On a much different note, HAPPY THANKSGIVING! PAB and I are headed to France in a couple of hours, not to celebrate Thanksgiving, but a very early Christmas. At least the food will be good :) Love you all, enjoy your turkey (make a turkey and roll leftover sandwich for me) and see you at Christmas!
27 November 2008
09 November 2008
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