What I Know Now

Jan 5 and 6

 I have learned to not take pictures in fancy buildings, hang on in the subway or you will fall, if someone gives you sarcasm…give it back and you will get your way, free books are awesome, the view from Hoboken New Jersey is beautiful, the empire state building is better at dusk, hostels aren’t full of murders, you CAN find places to work out and even make a project out of it, grand central station is worth sweating your ass off trying to get there speed walking for 20 minutes even though you started there in the first place and just didn’t know it,  AND if some random creeper starts talking….keep walking.

We get to the hostel and to my surprise it is fun and CLEAN! As clean as a hostel can be. I am pleased. On the way to eat dinner (mmm NYC pizza) a creepy man comes up to me and says “YOU!!!!!!!”. I was trying to come up with my first attack move because this man obviously wanted to kill me, but he soon walked away. Apparently I should stop watching TV too because I have mean world syndrome. According to cultivation theory the reason I believe everyone is out to get me is because I watch too much TV. I blame it on the fact that I am a realist and I know that last year there were 32 random murders in this city (according to Forrest Baird) and I have promised myself to not be one.

 January 6th.

 I was too excited to sleep. I would drift off for an hour or two and wake up hearing the night life just waiting for me outside my window! But I stayed in my warm bed and forced sleep until 7am NY time 4am Spokane time. First time on the subway in this city was an interesting one. All the subways were full and when 3 girls got on and the rest of the group realized we wouldn’t fit my mind decided in .5 seconds that if those three girls get lost i want to be a part of that adventure. .2 seconds later i was leaping across a gap and somewhat tackled a classmate to get on the subway as the door was closing. I waved goodbye to the rest of the class with some hope we would get lost and have an adventure. Unfortunately we were all smart girls and figured out where to go to catch the train to New Jersey.

New Jersey was similar to New York, especially considering they are just one hop across the water from each other. Our first media trip was to John Wiley & Sons which is a publishing company located in Hoboken. With name tags waiting for us we took a fancy elevator up to the 7th floor where we were taken into a conference room. THE VIEW!!!! As I go through my brain I can’t seem to find a word to describe it. The building was on the water and you could see the empire state building from the large windows. I guess a good word would be motivating. Motivating to get me out of Washington State and into a city with a fancy office and a view like that one! John Wiley & Sons provided coffee and bagels. That is enough to make sleep deprived jet lagged students happy. We learned a lot about the company and internship programs and publishing in general. They have been publishing for 204 years. Kris Kliemann the vice director of global rights talked with us about her job which has a lot to do with publishing rights. The most important thing that they taught me was to find a company that fits you. It’s funny because when the meeting first started I was thinking to myself the whole time that I could work here. But they taught me that when looking for a job don’t think whether or not you could work there but whether or not you want to work there.

Our next adventure was attempting to find a book publishing fair we were invited to. Once we found it we went into another conference room where a panel of publishers from penguin, Hachette, and random house filled us in on everything we need to know to be a publisher. Plus, FREE BOOKS! Hachette has published many well known books such as James Patterson novels, The Lovely Bones, and the famous or infamous, depends on who you are, the Twilight series. The discussion leaders stressed very heavily on internships and cover letters.

Jan 7^th

Today I have learned lessons to last me a lifetime. For instance, if I want to shorten that life time don’t try jumping off a building in NYC after a snowstorm. The amount of garbage bags that have not yet been picked up will break your fall and you will live to see another day of the life you apparently dislike. I have also learned that a C on a restaurant in China Town doesn’t stand for Chinese. It actually stands for seriously nasty, dirty and unsanitary restaurant. Look for restaurants with an A sticker on the windows. It’s much more promising.

Today seemed to be filled with near death incidents. While down in the subway I watched a rat run around looking for food and when the subway came racing towards the rat, he stood on his hind legs and watched it. I’m guessing he lived because he was in the middle so we will consider this NEAR death and not actual death.

Enough about death! Today was amazing. It snowed all over the city as we took the subway and walked to Columbus circle. We walked through the Time Warner building on 6^th avenue where we saw the offices of truTV and CNN.

So far I have learned quite a bit. Being A journalism major I often hear that I won’t ever get a job because this market is going downhill. This trip has told me differently. We went to The Smoking Gun which is a News website that posts legal documents, police mug shots and arrest records on a daily basis. However this does not even begin to cover what The Smoking Gun really does. With only 4 employees the reporters find something in these arrest or police stories that just don’t seem to add up. They find the missing link and research it until they have something interesting to report. When we were told that their fourth employee beat out 585 other applicants my fear of never being able to get a job swarmed in. We started talking about how to get hired and I couldn’t believe how over enthusiastic he was about being able to write a lead. I thought to myself, hey I can do that. I guess I never realized how many tools Whitworth has given me as a writer to find a career and get hired.

We have also gone to publishing companies and a public relations company. One woman we talked to at Ketchum PR made me excited to be in the major I am in. I realized that even though I have a lot of work left to do before finding a career, I have also done many things in my life to prepare me for a career that I will be happy in. It seems to be a very common agreement between all the companies we have visited that internships are more than important but necessary to get anywhere. The scary thing is that they all seem to say when they are looking over internship applications they look for other internships on resumes. This seems to cause a problem. How do I get an internship if I need a previous internship to be even considered qualified?

While in NYC my mean world syndrome is at its max and I was terrified to give my camera to someone to take our pictures in fear he would just start running with it. To my fortune the man I finally asked didn’t run. Maybe NYC isn’t so scary. However to this man’s misfortune every other person decided to trust him to and he ended up taking everyone’s picture. 30 Rockefeller center was just what I imagined, except the part where Tina Fey walks out of the building and asks me to be her friend. Maybe tomorrow.

Jan 10

Monday morning we woke up and went to Bloomberg News. This was a strange place. The offices were see through. EVERYTHING was see through. The company’s mission is to create a working environment that feels integrated no matter what level you are at. No one actually has offices. There are big rooms with many desks and conference rooms. They often change desks. CEO’s desks are next to bottom of the barrel employees. As interesting as it sounds it is actually somewhat creepy. I think they are creating an environment where you become an ant…they have cameras everywhere. You’re only privacy is in the bathroom, if that. However, there is free food!!! I also found it interesting that a company that tries so hard to be “united as one” is named after one man a very rich man. The hierarchy here cannot be hidden!

After Bloomberg we went to the NY times. We talked to a man that was head of the graphics department. He explained to us that there are 30 members in the graphics department and their work consists of maps, graphs, and diagrams. While this visit confirmed my want to never work for a newspaper I realized the important role graphics play in a newspaper. The focus of the graphics is to clarify story and it really does help.

Jan 11

This morning (Tuesday) we went to ProPublica which is a non-profit organization that hires investigative journalism. It was a fascinating org. because even though they are privately funded by the Handlers the deal made with the Handlers is for them to have no part of the organization so that it is independent and isn’t persuaded to report on one side of the political pendulum. Therefore this leads to straight and trustworthy reporting no matter what your political stance is. This company has made me realize I don’t want to work for a PR firm but rather in a PR department of a company or organization I am passionate about. The director of communications for ProPublica really believed what they organization stood for and I believe that is why he is successful in his career.

Jan 12

Today was the first time I have been legitimately frustrated with a New Yorker.  I went to starbucks for my favorite passion iced shaken tea unsweetened. When I ordered the drink the lady looked at me like I was crazy when I said unsweetened. She thought I didn’t want the lemonade in it but that is half the drink. After a long 4 minutes of arguing and me trying to hold myself back from jumping the counter and making the drink myself an employee finally told her that there is such thing as ordering the drink unsweetened. There is a point to this story, the more I am in the city the more I believe I could handle living here. I don’t mind arguing with anyone to get what I want. I can get used to this push and shove environment.

            Today we went to Saatchi and Saatchi which is one of the world’s leading advertisement agencies. This is the kind of company I want to work for. They believe in making their clients advertise their products as something for people to fall in love with, something they can’t live without. The Erin Lyons, the lady who gave us the tour, not only cussed but she told us about the company’s Keggers on Fridays. Hello awesome working environment. On the more serious note one of the Associate Executives told us all about the work life and for some people working long hours, sleeping, eating and breathing your job may not be ideal but it is exactly what I am looking for. I really appreciated the honesty of the two people we spoke with at Saatchi & Saatchi. Most of the companies we have visited have been promoting themselves almost more than giving it to us straight forward. However, this company explained the good, the bad and they ugly. This made me realize how awesome the company is but also to pull out my media criticism skills while on this trip. I need to realize that even though places we visit are being very helpful they are also pushing their missions on us and selling their business so we write good things.

Jan 13^th

Some say patience is a virtue. I say patience is for the west coast. When I was younger my dad would always tell me about how I need to have gain more tolerance for the awful task of waiting. It didn’t matter whether I was waiting for the microwave to finish warming up my hot chocolate on a winter night, waiting for a fish to take my bait, or waiting leave my small town of solitude, patience was never my forte. 

Some people think certain traits of a personality are negative. Through my time in New York City I have realized that no personality is wrong, it just might not be living in the right place. Who knew that my impatience would help me fit in with this metropolitan area? I don’t wait for the little white man walking signal before crossing the street. I don’t wait for the next subway because that one might be too full. I don’t wait for check at the dinner table and I sure as hell don’t wait while assholes cut me in line. To survive in NYC you become one of those assholes and you enjoy it. Which I did.

The more places we go the more I realized how I am drawn to the entertainment and broadcasting side of journalism more than anything else. TV Guide was an interesting visit. Never in my life have I picked up a TV Guide and thought how awesome would it be if I worked there. Yet when we left TV Guide it was all I could think about. I mean if this is my chance to meet the one and only Leonardo Dicaprio I should take it. Right? The Journalism aspect of a place like TV Guide would be a fun starting job to gain some experience. However it did seem to me that I found their jobs more interesting than they did.

We also we went to Associated Press today. It wasn’t as interesting as I was expecting but I did learn some useful things. They really stressed on diversity throughout a company. They believe that the more diverse the company the more people they can reach. I believe I should apply this to my writing. The more diverse I become the more people I will be able to reach.

Jan 14th

Today we went to WNET which is a public TV station that is affiliated with PBS. It was interesting to learn how PBS affiliation works.  They are so focused on culture and learning. At one point that brought up the kid show Arthur, which I still watch. I realized how important different parts of media are and how they all play a part in one big media world. Some media informs us of the news, some is for entertainment but PBS is a type of media that helps us learn.

We also went to FAIR which is an action alert network.  FAIR stands for fairness and accuracy in reporting. They try to call attention to non-journalistic factors that affect media. They produce a magazine, website, blog, and have a radio show. Janine, the program director we talked to, really stressed how we need to be aware of the fact that journalists work within institutions and we need to know those institutions to be aware of biased opinion. When we first walked in the lady told us that FAIR would be the ugliest office we visit, which was true. It may have been the ugly office or the fact that the coffee I was drinking from starbucks reeked of rotten milk but I definitely wouldn’t ever want to work at FAIR.

Jan 17

10 years later I have finally felt a real impact of 9/11. Yeah I watched it on the news for a week straight in class and I wrote a 10 page paper about 9/11 and media last spring but never have I truly felt the pain these terrorists brought our country. While at the newseum there were exhibits on a lot of different important parts of media but the best were the 9/11, Katrina, and Pulitzer Prize exhibits. All three of these exhibits brought so many emotions out in me. I would say that growing up I have been sheltered. The only part of my life these events affected in my life were the front pages of local newspapers and the seldom moments I watched the news. I can honestly say I had no idea the impact and danger the people of New Orleans went through. It made me sick to my stomach to think of children on rooftops for days waiting for rescue while I was living my life without consequences. Even though senses of guilt rushed through me as I walked through these exhibits it made me realize how important the news is. If I would have actually read these stories instead of skipping to the sports page I would have known the true struggles New Orleans residents were dealing with and the same with 9/11.

Another exhibit that brought the insides of my stomach to twist and turn was the Pulitzer Prize exhibit.  This exhibit displays all the Pulitzer Prize photos, as you can imagine it is a room full of love, passion, courage, hope, fear, and so many other emotions. One picture grabbed my attention right away. At first glance you see a setting of dead grass and two big black birds. When I looked closer I realized that the second bird wasn’t a bird at all but a child, a tiny, crouching, starving, black boy. I felt my tear ducts burning and all of a sudden my cheek was wet with a tear. Always bragging about how I am not much a crier I wanted to look away, wipe my tear, and forget about what I saw but I just couldn’t. I have no idea what story lies behind this picture. I didn’t need to know. The picture itself said enough.

This is the impact of media. I can only hope that I can someday reach out to someone with my own work in the media. Whether that it telling someone about a surviving cancer patient, the Seahawks winning the super bowl (in my dreams right?) or tell the story of a courageous man who gave his life for another, I want to let the world know what is happening outside of their own life.  

Jan 18

            Today we went to C-Span which stands for Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network and it is an American cable television network owned and operated by the cable industry. C-SPAN airs non-stop coverage of government proceedings and public affairs programming.

 I thought it was pretty funny when we told Brian Lamb we went to FAIR and the first thing he said was, “Journalism is in the eye of the beholder, no matter how fair someone tries to be you still have a background that puts opinion in your reporting”. At that moment I realized that he was right. Even the lady at FAIR explained that they have a liberal background. For the most part I have always been pretty aware about the background of the media I read, watch, or listen to and I apply that knowledge to what I am learning from that form of media. However, I have never really thought how my own background applies to my writing. Even though I will never be able to fully avoid my own opinion I need to be aware of them and try for the most part to leave them out of my reporting.

            We also went to PBS today. PBS is an American non-profit public broadcasting television service. PBS has 354 member TV stations in the United States. PBS is partially funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. PBS’ shows include Masterpiece and Frontline which are two high rated series. To earn some extra revenue PBS also has a subsidiary called National Data cast which offers data casting services via member stations.

            While at PBS the President Paula Kerger visited with us. She was truly an incredible lady. She represented everything PBS stood for in every way possible. She was caring, intelligent, and powerful. One thing she told us really stood out to me as a communication major. “Communication is so much at the center piece of life”. When people hear that the word communications is in my degree I often feel that I am not taken as seriously. One person once told me that I was the typical NCAA athlete being a communication major. When Paula told us this it made me realize that my degree is worthwhile and it is important., I am learning skills to last me in a lifetime in a variety of career opportunities.

Jan 19

Today we went to Eagle Publishing and met with Harry Crocker the Regnery Press Editorial Director and Jason Mattara the Editor of Human Events magazine. Regnery Press is a publisher that specializes in conservative books. Harry said that they publish books that are contrary to those of mainstream publishers in New York. It was founded in 1947 by Henry Regnery and since 1993 they have been a division of Eagle Publishing.

Human Events is a weekly conservative magazine. It was founded in 1944 by Pulitzer Prize winning Washington Post editor Felix Morley, Frank Hanighen, and Henry Regnery.  The name comes from the first sentence of the United States Declaration of Independence. Jason told us that he is the youngest editor of any political publication. He continued to explain that DC is a place full of opportunities for young people. This would have excited me if I was the least bit interested in politics. However, I am not so hopefully there are other places out there that are excited about us younglings.

I really liked Harry Crocker, he was laughing at almost everything he said and was very passionate about his job. I laughed when he told us that republicans like to shoot the wounded. Like most comedy it’s funny because it is true. The right really does love to attack other people on the right especially the weak. I learned that if you’re going to be a republican you better be ready for survival of the fittest.

Later that day we visited with Marcellus Alexander the executive vice president of television and president of NAB which is the National Association of Broadcasting. I really enjoyed our time with Marcellus. He was funny and had a bright outlook on journalism majors, which is more than I can say for some others. The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association representing the interests   of for-profit, over the air radio and television broadcasters in the United States. They are also known as the NAB. They represent more than 8,300 terrestrial radio and television stations and also broadcast networks. /Since broadcasting is what I want to go into I really listened and appreciated the advice he gave us,. One of the best things that I think he told us was that the best broadcasters are the ones that are knowledgeable. I realized that I need to know what I am reporting so I can be an affective reporter.

Marcellus also showed us a blooper reel of reporting which made all of us laugh. After taking a TV broadcasting class I began to second guess my career choice. There were so many times I cursed, laughed, and or messed up when the camera was rolling. I now know I am not the only one.

Jan 23, home

            The rest of the trip was fun and I learned a lot more valuable things to last me a life time. The trip was so entertaining and I learned more than I ever thought I would. Going on this trip I planned on figuring out the kinds of jobs I would want to apply to and the ones I wouldn’t want to. There were so many awesome companies that we visited that I would want to work at. I love this major because it is diverse and can be applied to so many different parts of media. Some of the places we visited I realized I wouldn’t ever want to work there but for the most part I realized that to be successful and happy in a career I need to find a workplace I can be passionate about. This trip confirmed that I have chosen the right major for me and I am headed towards a career I will be with. I feel very fortunate to have had he experiences I did while in New York and Washington DC.

Impact of the Media

10 years later I have finally felt a real impact of 9/11. Yeah I watched it on the news for a week straight in class and I wrote a 10 page paper about 9/11 and media last spring but never have I truly felt the pain these terrorists brought our country. While at the newseum there were exhibits on a lot of different important parts of media but the best were the 9/11, Katrina, and Pulitzer Prize exhibits. All three of these exhibits brought so many emotions out in me. I would say that growing up I have been sheltered. The only part of my life these events affected in my life were the front pages of local newspapers and the seldom moments I watched the news. I can honestly say I had no idea the impact and danger the people of New Orleans went through. It made me sick to my stomach to think of children on rooftops for days waiting for rescue while I was living my life without consequences. Even though senses of guilt rushed through me as I walked through these exhibits it made me realize how important the news is. If I would have actually read these stories instead of skipping to the sports page I would have known the true struggles New Orleans residents were dealing with and the same with 9/11.

Another exhibit that brought the insides of my stomach to twist and turn was the Pulitzer Prize exhibit.  This exhibit displays all the Pulitzer Prize photos, as you can imagine it is a room full of love, passion, courage, hope, fear, and so many other emotions. One picture grabbed my attention right away. At first glance you see a setting of dead grass and two big black birds. When I looked closer I realized that the second bird wasn’t a bird at all but a child. A tiny, crouching, starving, black boy. I felt my tear ducts burning and all of a sudden my cheek was wet with a tear. Always bragging about how I am not much a crier I wanted to look away, wipe my tear, and forget about what I saw but I just couldn’t. I have no idea what story lies behind this picture. I didn’t need to know. The picture itself said enough.

This is the impact of media. I can only hope that I can someday reach out to someone with my own work in the media. Whether that it telling someone about a surviving cancer patient, the Seahawks winning the super bowl (in my dreams right?) or tell the story of a courageous man who gave his life for another, I want to let the world know what is happening outside of their own life.

I Could Live Here

Today was the first time I have been legitimately frustrated with a New Yorker.  I went to starbucks for my favorite passion iced shaken tea unsweetened. When I ordered the drink the lady looked at me like I was crazy when I said unsweetened. She thought I didn’t want the lemonade in it but that is half the drink. After a long 4 minutes of arguing and me trying to hold myself back from jumping the counter and making the drink myself an employee finally told her that there is such thing as ordering the drink unsweetened. There is a point to this story, the more I am in the city the more I believe I could handle living here. I don’t mind arguing with anyone to get what I want. I can get used to this push and shove environment.

 Today we went to Saatchi and Saatchi which is one of the world’s leading advertisement agencies. This is the kind of company I want to work for. They believe in making their clients advertise their products as something for people to fall in love with, something they can’t live without. The lady who gave us the tour not only cussed but she told us about the company’s Keggers on Fridays. Hello awesome working environment. On the more serious note one of the Associate Executives told us all about the work life and for some people working long hours, sleeping, eating and breathing your job may not be ideal but it is exactly what I am looking for.

 We ended up spending the afternoon shopping in SOHO and eating an amazing dinner in Little Italy.

Maybe I Won’t be Unemployed Forever

So far New York has been an interesting place to visit; maybe even a possible move here is in my future. The fast paced life style would be something to get used to but maybe that is what I enjoy so much about this city. I never know what to expect or what is around the corner. For instance today on the subway a woman played her keyboard and sang la cucaracha. Two minutes later we were bartering with shop owners in China Town.

So far I have learned quite a bit. Being a journalism major I often hear that I won’t ever get a job because this market is going downhill. This trip has told me differently. We went to The Smoking Gun which is a News website that posts legal documents, police mug shots and arrest records on a daily basis. However this does not even begin to cover what The Smoking Gun really does. With only 4 employees the reporters find something in these arrest or police stories that just don’t seem to add up. They find the missing link and research it until they have something interesting to report. When we were told that their fourth employee beat out 585 other applicants my fear of never being able to get a job swarmed in. We started talking about how to get hired and I couldn’t believe how over enthusiastic he was about being able to write a lead. I thought to myself, hey I can do that. I guess I never realized how many tools Whitworth has given me as a writer to find a career and get hired.

We have also gone to publishing companys and a public relations company. One woman we talked to at Ketchum PR made me excited to be in the major I am in. I realized that even though I have a lot of work left to do before finding a career, I have also done many things in my life to prepare me for a career that I will be happy in.

Overall the trip has been exciting and given me confidence to someday be a successful career woman.