Wishing there were 28 hours in a day...
Today marks the end of one of the most hectic but exciting weeks in my career as a student journalist.
The week began last Friday, when I received three amazing breaking news tips. That may seem only slightly hectic and exciting, but at our paper, one breaking news event per semester is the de rigueur standard.
Because it was the weekend and the information was very sensitive, I handled the stories instead of shoving them off to the less-experience reporters who mostly have only a couple of weeks reporting experience. The first involved rumors about the university president being banned from campus (to comply with his medical-leave status), and the other was a tip about the student government wanting to vote “no confidence” in the current acting president. The items were unrelated.
The third was of less importance, so it went to the back burner.
I spent the weekend waiting for official sources to get back to me, all the while hearing more rumors about the ban. Then, I spent every waking hour Monday getting the official word, finishing my story about two minutes before the paper was sent to print.
We decided to issue an extra edition of the paper for the second story, as well as to include supplemental information about this week’s Homecoming events. The student government Senate meeting happened, the vote went down and I ran back to the newsroom to type a story that was already past deadline.
In between all of that I had to deal with my usual duties as editor-in-chief. Plus, I’m moving into a new house soon, which compounded my time constraints. Oh yeah, I also had an essay exam in political theory.
Add in time for sleeping (not a lot, though), a few hours for lunch and my 15 hours of class per week and we still get one very exhausted young journo.
I assume this kind of multi-layered responsibility is indicative of most student journalists. I can't help but envy professional journalists and the simplicity being in the real world affords. But then again, I’m sure the working class envies we college folk, too. What should student journalists with a heavy workload expect after graduating? Is the career just as rigorous?
Whew.
~Dale Denwalt II