Tuesday was a long day for me- literally. I woke up at around 6 a.m. to attend a 7:30 a.m. press conference (though it really ended up being a 7:40 a.m. one). The purpose of this press conference was for local city officials to demand Prop. 1B funds from the state government. It was my first press conference, but I was accompanied by a staff writer, Blake Ellington, and we wrote the story together that same day. Basically, the only people at the press conference were government officials/people who organized it and a few members of the press.
The press conference took place at a parking lot at the intersection of East Stockton Blvd. and Sheldon Road, near a Highway 99 interchange. Commuters often park their cars at this lot to ride a bus to Sacramento. I'm quite familiar with this intersection, not to mention the amount of traffic in that area. As a reporter, the hardest thing for me was trying to hear and understand what the people behind the lectern were saying. Besides the cars whizzing through the intersection, there were also the sounds from the nearby highway. It also didn't help that some people didn't speak directly into the microphone.
In the evening, I was in a neighborhood where a shooting had taken place last week. I have a connection to this neighborhood because my old elementary school, Ellen Feickert, is merely a few blocks away from the scene of the crime. In fact, I used to ride the school bus past the street where the shooting had taken place.
For this story, I was supposed to get neighbors' reactions to the incident. The quotes would be added to a story written by staff writer Cameron Macdonald. The prospect of going door-to-door to people's houses didn't appeal to me. What I ended up doing instead was walking around the block: if someone was standing in front of his or her house or was out for a walk, then I would talk to that person. There's also a nearby park (coincidentally just behind my elementary school) where I also found sources. Normally, I feel a little comfortable going up to people and trying to interview them, but compared to knocking on doors, I chose "the lesser of two evils."
One of the things that I realized was that people seemed to relax and feel more comfortable, when they learned I attended Feickert or graduated from Elk Grove High School. This type of personal information isn't related to the story, but just casually chatting with someone can help build trust.
The press conference took place at a parking lot at the intersection of East Stockton Blvd. and Sheldon Road, near a Highway 99 interchange. Commuters often park their cars at this lot to ride a bus to Sacramento. I'm quite familiar with this intersection, not to mention the amount of traffic in that area. As a reporter, the hardest thing for me was trying to hear and understand what the people behind the lectern were saying. Besides the cars whizzing through the intersection, there were also the sounds from the nearby highway. It also didn't help that some people didn't speak directly into the microphone.
In the evening, I was in a neighborhood where a shooting had taken place last week. I have a connection to this neighborhood because my old elementary school, Ellen Feickert, is merely a few blocks away from the scene of the crime. In fact, I used to ride the school bus past the street where the shooting had taken place.
For this story, I was supposed to get neighbors' reactions to the incident. The quotes would be added to a story written by staff writer Cameron Macdonald. The prospect of going door-to-door to people's houses didn't appeal to me. What I ended up doing instead was walking around the block: if someone was standing in front of his or her house or was out for a walk, then I would talk to that person. There's also a nearby park (coincidentally just behind my elementary school) where I also found sources. Normally, I feel a little comfortable going up to people and trying to interview them, but compared to knocking on doors, I chose "the lesser of two evils."
One of the things that I realized was that people seemed to relax and feel more comfortable, when they learned I attended Feickert or graduated from Elk Grove High School. This type of personal information isn't related to the story, but just casually chatting with someone can help build trust.
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