Reviews Over Previews

This last week, I wrote my first article about an event that hadn't yet happened. Ya know what, now that I think about it, it still hasn't happened. Oof...

It was really weird writing the article. It felt more like an advertisement for the event.

Let me back up. The story I covered was Sterling College's Campus Activities Board's (CAB for short) Water Pong event this Tuesday night. It is basically Beer Pong but with water. I guess if you want to read the article yourself, you can do so now. [insert shameless plug: here]

Are we all caught up? OK, good.

As I was saying, it felt like I was advertising for CAB. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy to do so. I quite enjoy the events CAB hosts and I am friend with everyone who is a part of CAB. It just feels like it's not what I'm supposed to do. How can I report the news of something that has not yet happened? I mean, it was announced at the beginning of the semester, same as all the other events CAB has planned. Sure, I have a little more info than the announcement, but I feel like I could have been way more productive if I covered the event after it had already happened. That way, I would have been able to get proper photos (not just a picture of the poster) and quotes from both the CAB members as well as the attendees to get their feedback on the event's success.

I don't know. If you couldn't already tell, journalism isn't really my thing. I enjoy what is done, but I do not enjoy how it is done, not so much doing it but more with how quickly it is done.

I typically choose quality over speed. I live by a "do it right the first time so you don't have to spend time fixing and redoing it later" philosophy. I think journalism doesn't quite know what it wants: speed or quality. It is impossible to have both. It's like smoking meat. The more time the meat smokes, the better it tastes. If you're impatient and take it out too soon, the smoke doesn't cook it well enough. If you take it out too late, the meat is burned and no one wants any of it.

I can see the need to be the first to put out a story about a subject or event but I think the story needs to be developed enough so the readers have something qualitative to read.

I don't know. That's my weekly spiel. Thanks for coming to my TED talk.