"Beat Devolpment"

I entered Patricia Gallagher Newberry’s classroom a little nervous the first day of class.

Although I’d written news stories over the course of my college career, I knew JRN 421 (“Beat Development”) was going to be different. It was going be tough.

After I chose the Miami “Fine Arts” beat I started to feel a little more confident. After all, I went to Cincinnati’s School for the Creative and Performing Arts for high school. This was my turf! I could handle this.

Well, I had a lot to learn. As I began generating story ideas and contacting potential sources, I realized that succeeding in this course wasn’t going to be a piece of cake.

Between working a 40-hour week and managing other class work, fitting in interviews and writing time became a challenge. I found myself at the mercy of sources’ schedules – which never seemed to fit mine. I motored from Newport, KY to Oxford before work most days, my digital recorder in tow, hoping each time my source wouldn’t stand me up. It didn’t always work out.

Scoring the important interviews did turn out to be the most challenging part of “Beat Development.”

While I may have set up meetings weeks in advance, I definitely spent my fair share of afternoons checking the time on my cell phone, re-checking notes, and never getting the story.

The absolute necessity of having a back-up plan for those situations was the most valuable lesson I learned in this class. I found that when a well-researched, carefully crafted interview goes off without a hitch and leads to a good story, it is the most rewarding experience a writer can have – and blowing a deadline due to poor preparation is the worst.

As a result of taking this class, my interviewing confidence has grown, my organizational skills have increased, and I have learned the value of getting out from behind you desk and hitting the street to get the best news.

--Veronica Strickler
Dec. 11, 2007