Day 25 (Weds., June 23)

One of the coolest things about the internship is the many chances to learn. On Wednesdays most of the 20 interns get together at the West Wing (yes, it's called like that) Conference Room at the Dallas Morning News and talk about many issues regarding journalism. Last week we talked about ethics and making ethical decisions. Today we talked about how to break news. After the meeting I went on an assignment to a Ford dealership. I was there to shoot an 18-year-old who beat 9,000-plus contestants in an essay competition to win a 2005 Ford Focus. Knowing I was going to shoot this, I felt it was going to be complicated. Why? Because it's usually a publicity stunt. I mean, thank you to all you big corporations that make the dreams of high school students come alive when you give them a new car, but are you doing it for their benefit, or the company's benefit. Anyways... So, I get to the dealership and see exactly what I expected. Camera crews! I don't dislike the members of other media outlets, but they sure make it hard for me to like them. Take for example the two media cameramen who were there. They were not there to tape the news. They were there to, sort of, create the news. I say this because they were telling the young lady to pose and do different things for their cameras. The award presentation went on twice, because one cameraman was not ready to record. So this "candid" moment journalists should be looking for went out the door. T.V. news does that and I hate it. Why are the cameramen going to such events and having people pose and/or act for their cameras. If you showed up late, then you did not do your job. Don't make the news!!!!!!! But that wasn't really what pissed me off. What really bugged me was to see a still photographer from the competitor paper asking for the young woman to pose as well. I think this photographer went over the line when he asked her to put her hand on a specific part of the car, so that he could get a good photo. On the above photo you can see a cameraman telling the young lady to get closer to the car while a photojournalist (if you can call this photographer that) took photos of this "scene". I have issues with set-up photography. This was a hard assignment because I wasn't really able to get a good "candid" moment as other media personnel were telling her how to act. This goes along with ethics talked about last week and it takes me back to the great ethics discussions in my journalism classes. Particularly with Ed Bond at Los Angeles Valley College, Roger Vargo at Los Angeles Pierce College and Linda Bowen at Cal State University, Northridge. Thank you professors for making me an ethical photojournalist.

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