Interviewing NK about the election

This past weekend I got out to North Kildonan to interview residents about the civic election. I have to say I was a bit nervous considering it was both Friday and Saturday evening. However, once I got going, it got easier to approach people.

I started out at Dollarama, but found no success. So I ventured on across the parking lot of the mini mall that had a Safeway, Carlton Cards, Rexall and a Subway. My intent was to approach people who didn't look too busy and might have time to chat about politics. Some people had no idea what I was talking about or had no opinions on it. Then others, especially the older demographic had tons to say about the ward they live in and what they hope to see happen at city hall.

One of my favourite interviews was the lady who worked at Carlton Cards, she was so friendly and since the store was pretty much empty aside from one other customer, she was open to answering my questions- and gave pretty good answers.

My one struggle with interviewing people in a ward I rarely ever spend time in was that once I did get someone to talk, it was a hard for me to cut them off after one or two sentences. I really enjoyed listening to them talk about their community and what the city could do to improve it.

Now when I edit my pieces for radio, I'll have a better understanding of the area and be able to put together a nice profile of North Kildonan.

What is journalism?

What is journalism? Woah, that is the big question.

At first this seemed very large in scope when I thought about it. I'm a journalism major, shouldn't I just know the answer? Maybe.

I know there are so many ways to answer this. There are so many types of journalism and so many different ways to tell a story, and that's what I think journalism is: the business of finding a story that needs to be told. How did I stumble upon this answer? Well, read on my friends.

I started writing and getting published for the first time in high school. With vigour for the written word and endless school spirit, I had the chance to write bi-weekly for the Portage Daily Graphic as student beat reporter, alongside my best friend. I have to admit, it wasn't always easy having our vice-principal edit our pieces...but we knew our role was to update the town on the goings on at school. We were the source for information. It's always, what's the story, what's new?

And then came university! I started writing for the Uniter in my first year at UW right after high school. I have to admit, my first attempt at writing a piece for the arts section didn't go over so well. He then suggested I try writing for the news section to gain some more experience. Though it wasn't the arts section, it was campus news and still the newspaper. This was information that students needed to know. I felt privileged once again having the opportunity to go out and get the facts. What's the story, what's new?

Now here I am in second-year CreComm as a J major. It's no longer just campus news. I have to admit, during my interview for getting into the program, I was unprepared going in. I thought I did so well on the entrance test until I found out the grammar section was my weakest point (I thought it was the easiest part). And then I was told to read more. Read more? I thought to myself afterwards. But I read so much! Maybe it was because when Duncan asked me why the U.S. election was relevant I said because Obama was a Democrat and Clinton was Rebublican...oops. Thank goodness for Canadian Politics class after that!(And apparently I don't take constructive criticism very well).

My experience has made me realize that in journalism constructive criticism is important. So is having the ability to get the facts out there in a timely fashion. Like the old saying goes, "the news never sleeps". As I sit here writing this blog, watching CBC news, and prepping for class in the morning I'm finding out the story, what's new?

Journalism is always the quest for telling that necessary story.