ROLE MODEL EXTRAORDINAIRE

I was nineteen when I stepped into your newsroom. Yours was a print medium. I remember my very first day.

I was still a student and green as the grasses of Afram planes. I was one of two interns you had picked to work in your newsroom, Public Agenda.

My expectations were high, so was my anxiety. Yes, I have been in class for about a year and a half, and I have worked on a number of news writing assignments in class; but now I was in a real newsroom and my blood was hot.

Everything felt foreign, I thought, as I was sitting at the computer I had been assigned. I was trying to act normal, but you still sensed my apprehension and urged to relax.

We had a brief editorial meeting after formal introductions were done. My colleague and I met our seniors. During the meeting, you outlined specific expectations and a list of newsworthy assignments to be covered.

I remember asking myself what I was going to do that day to standout. Almost instantly, you handed me some press releases to rewrite into news reports.

I did that successfully. When the day ended, I didn’t expect you to hand me my first news assignment, to be covered the next day. [/su_column]

Was I to do so with a senior reporter? I asked and your answer was, “NO. You go alone” You observed my confused look for a while and then added, “we don’t do that here. Everybody goes on assignments alone.”