Starting Over

I wrote recently about the challenges of reporting. Yesterday, I encountered another. Originally Gabi and I thought Tina’s story (detailed in my last post) was a great Brazilian immigrant story. However, after interviewing her and talking to our editor, we realized that it did not solidly tie into any of the Millennium Goals, and although it is an interesting and inspiring story, it is not a good fit for MillenniumBeat.

So, last night we were back to the drawing board. A stressful place to be with less than three weeks left in the semester and deadlines and finals approaching.

Luckily, Gabi’s dad helped us out with the name of Brazilian man who immigrated illegally and has struggled with health issues and making enough money to support his family. On Tuesday we will be interviewing his wife, a manicurist in Miami, as well as his son who works as an electrician.

Although it is frustrating to have to abandon a story (and nearly two hours of interview footage), the purpose of this class is to provide good content for MillenniumBeat, and we hope our current lead will provide that.