I am an over thinker. The kind that can’t sleep because her brain works like a wikipedia page with endless links.
My brain when I’m trying to sleep
– XKCD.com
Just last night I had a conversation that went from the cost of a male alpaca* to the potential for goat trafficking in South Canterbury. The fascination with farm animals may have had something to do with a recent class trip to The Timaru Herald and their swanky newsroom.
Beautiful corporate chairs.
Six budding journo students and this terrified one followed the stone river patterned carpet up to Timaru’s information hub. A whiteboard table dubbed Eileen, frosted glass, and contemporary conference room chairs suddenly threw deadlines and story pitches into a new category of serious.
I could really screw up here.
My wiki-links brain spends far more time considering syntax, word choice, and every possible writing structure than deadlines allow. The safety net of the uni newsroom disintegrated as the reality settled in: filing late in this newsroom had the potential to stuff up an entire newspaper.
“I love deadlines. I love the whooshing noise they make as they go by”
– Douglas Adams.
In his book Excellence in Online Journalism: Exploring Current Practices in an Evolving Environment David Craig quoted NYtimes.com editor Carla Baranauckas on newsroom pressure. It accurately sums up how I felt entering this hive of hard news journalists.
“It’s always a bit of a tug of war because you always feel the pressure to get something done quickly, but at the same time, you don’t want to publish anything you’re not sure of.”
That uni deadline of 1 weekly story was a luxurious memory when surrounded by newsroom pros who churned out stories daily. I quickly learned that there wasn’t any time to mull over whether the word ‘amalgamation’ was too pretentious – just get the story done.
Working to tight deadlines finally delivered that adrenaline rush I’d been told about particularly with radio.
In a radio team of 6 my classmates and I threw news pieces together for live broadcasts within hours. Writing to strict time pressures taught me one major lesson: Take snacks because you will not have time to eat a proper lunch.
My super awesome radio team pulling a news bulletin together with ease – May 2013
The second lesson I learnt was that the most pressure didn’t come from my team or superiors but from me.
I wanted to get it right. Not just the facts but the delivery as well because I had talked to the people who were quoted and I knew they would read or listen to what I produced. Their trust was placed in me to fairly represent what they said and that made me nervous.
Balancing this responsibility with the time demand for quick, accurate news is a pressure Craig notes:
“The standard of excellence for breaking news that emerges from interviews doesn’t stop with strict attention to accuracy. It also means pressing beyond factual accuracy to thoroughness and context.”
This was a skill I noticed in Timaru. At the intimidating morning meeting around Eileen’s glossy surface, story ideas triumphed or sunk embarrassingly, but one reporter remarked she really had to finish her feature that day because she knew her interviewees were waiting to read it and she wanted “to do it right”.
Journalists don’t just have to write to deadlines; they have to do it responsibly.
*Some investigative journalism reveals that you can get a North Canterbury male show alpaca for only $20,000. I’ll have two.
such great hair.
via twistedsifter
tua ia e daniela 
