Challenges in Reporting

Today, en route to Key Biscayne to interview a woman for our final story on the Brazilian immigrant community, Gabi and I got in a car accident.  Gabi attempted to break for a red light on a slippery road and skidded into the car in front of us.  Fortunately, neither us nor the passenger of the car we hit was injured.

Needless to say, we did not make it to the interview.  Although coincidentally, the woman we were supposed to interview drove past us and stopped and pulled over.  We talked to her briefly, and she agreed to reschedule later this week.

It’s certainly the biggest obstacle we’ve faced in getting a story this semester, but not the first.   Our most recent story required multiple trips to Homestead and several follow-up interviews before we were able to get the depth necessary for a good story.   Last week, a classmate found a typo in a soundslide that required us to re-edit the entire thing.

Although these challenges have been frustrating at times, it has taught us a lot about the time and effort that goes into good reporting.

I’m hoping that the rest of the semester goes more smoothly, but bracing for the inevitable road bumps we will encounter along the way.