My week with Metro Edmonton.

I did a short, one-week internship with Metro Edmonton this week! It was a great way to get back into the journalism feel of things since my last internship was back in June and I’ve mostly just been vacationing since then (though I consider my SYTYCD blogging/interviews to have that journalism-y feel to them as well).

Anyway, I had a lot of fun, met and spoke with some nice people, got out and about in the city and the community, and got some clippings that I’m happy to showcase in my online writing portfolio! I also got nice reviews from my editor. Yay!

I did at one-two stories a day, along with multiple little briefs, as well as streeters. And I also took my own photos for one of the events, which reminded me how I want to get back into more photography too!

This week, more than ever, I was reminded of how the media industry is a small world. It seems like you see the same people – newspaper or television reporters, camera people and photographers, at all the same events that you go to cover. And once you actually figure out the names of those people you constantly see, you find that they’re not even strangers really because you recognize their name, you recognize their byline, or you’ve seen them on TV. Everyone’s pretty interconnected. One good example is that I met a freelance photographer who had also graduated from the same program as me, and had did his internship at the Journal as well, just like I did. He also told me he does freelance work for a photographer who was my photography teacher last year. And one of my Metro co-workers also graduated the same year as he did, and also from the same journalism program. Small world right? But definitely neat and interesting, and it has it’s advantages.

But at the same time that made me think how that small world and interconnection could really hurt someone who maybe has the wrong attitude at an event, or made a mistake of some kind. Because if you rub shoulders the wrong way with someone, chances are they could very well have graduated from the same program as a guy who could eventually be the editor of some tv station or newspaper that you end up applying for a job at. And maybe you don’t get that job because said editor remembers his friend who mentioned that so and so was unprofessional or what have you.

Anyway I’m not saying any of the above stuff happened to me (because it hasn’t, I’m pretty friendly and nice with everyone I encounter at media events, and in general), but that’s just an alternative scenario that popped into my mind this week as I kept seeing the same people covering the same events as me.

The media industry being as small as it seems, with everyone somehow knowing everyone else, means that as a reporter, or as a journalism student in general, you just shouldn’t be douchey to anyone because word of your douchbaggery could travel fast and to someone important.

Then again, who, no matter what field you are in, wants a bad reputation anyway right?

So be nice. Thank people for their time. Make sure you let people who have helped you in some way, know that you appreciate it. And so on and so forth!

Linda :)

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