Half Way Through the Fellowship

It’s not an easy ask to sum up a whole month’s activities and learnings in just one blog entry but I will try my best to say whatever I can. For the convenience of the readers as well as that of mine, I have divided my blog post into three parts: Pre-Poynter phase, Time at Poynter and the Post-Poynter scanraio.

Pre-Poynter phase

The first week of July was a bit dull and there was very little activity in the city. People were planning to take outstation leaves to make the best use of this long weekend. I stayed back home reading books and newspapers most of the time. I went to a downtown park on the night of July 4 to see the spectacular fireworks show. It seemed people had been waiting for this event for the last one year.

This week I was supposed to interview the governor of a Southern Sudan state. This gentleman was on a visit to Houston in a bid to woo American investment for his state. I did a lot of research to prepare questions for him. I made the list and took it to the editors who asked me to revise the questions again and again. Here I learned that a journalist has to ask the questions that interest his readers and not only himself. I talked to different people in the newsroom to have an idea of what American population wants to hear from a Sudanese official.

This strategy worked out well and it turned out to be very a good interview. The concerned editor came to my desk and appreciated my work. Even the Sudanese governor found it hard to believe that I had been in the US for hardly two and a half months. He said “though you have come here recently you think like Americans.” These were the very words that made me believe that I had done my job properly.

The rest of the week was spent on preparing for the Florida trip. Despite Katie’s suggestion to leave laptops home, I decided to bring mine to Poynter. My laptop has been my long-tested best friend during the long and boring discussions at seminars and training workshops. In such situations, I log on to my email account and interact with my friends and pose as if I am taking notes.

I was expecting a repeat of these experiences at Poynter but there was something totally different in store for me.

Time at Poynter

It won’t be an overstatement if I say that I learnt more at Poynter Institute in 6 days than what I learnt in my newsroom. I really mean it. This learning process did start on the day we reached St Petersberg. I talked to Gary Weaver at length, over the dinner, to get an idea of what I had missed during the orientation seminar. Then there was Jonathan who I had been waiting for long to meet. He treated all of us like the head of the family. In fact, we are the Friendly family expanding every year.

Every session at Poynter was amazing and taught important lessons to me. The level of interest was so high among the participants that Poynter faculty found it difficult to practice what is professes. I am referring to the fact that Keith Woods couldn’t even complete half his presentation during the stipulated time period. Paul taught us it’s imperative to decide the subject matter in a way that it can be covered in one session. Keith definitely followed this rule but what can one do when everybody is so charged up and involved.

Keith taught us through examples how to make news interesting and readable. He taught us ten golden rules which I think are applicable in every situation, irrespective of the country, medium and the language of reporting. I am trying to apply these rules in the story that I am currently working on. This gels with my training goal to write good leads and news stories.

Receiving my certificate from Sherine

Paul and Mitchell conducted the sessions in an excellent manner. They filled us with confidence to the brim. They are not only teachers, they are wizards. I would often be awe-stricken and mostly silent in the presence of senior journalists, scholars and academics in my country. But now I think I can express myself loud in any situation. If I can hold a training session in the presence of Paul and Bill I can do the same in the presence of everybody.

One thing that I learned, rather discovered at Poynter was that I can be a good coach as well. It was the pat on my back from Paul that did wonders. I think this is the focus of the whole program. The fellows must pass on whatever they learn here to as much people back home as they can.

The sessions about new technologies, multimedia and The News University created an interest in me to explore these venues more and more. I can’t say that I learnt the use of these during the sessions. But I can safely say that these sessions made me cognizant of these wonderful tools, technologies and resources available to journalists.

Last but not the least, it was the session with Roy Peter Clark that has left indelible imprints in my mind. I feel myself equipped to teeth, courtesy of the 50 tools he handed over to us. I always thought I can’t change my style as my writing habits are deep embedded in me. But now I think I can refine my writings with the help of these tools.

Post-Poynter phase

I returned to Houston on the night of July 16 (Thursday) and took an off from the office on Friday. Katie had told me that I could join office on Monday but just to keep people in the loop, I informed the editors at Chronicle about my plans. I remembered Paul saying that it’s good for reporters and editors to have cordial relations with each other. So, I started practicing this right away.

Memories of mid-term seminar

I had a long weekend at my disposal which I spent in recollecting the experiences at Poynter and going through the handouts once again. Besides, I read extracts from different chapters of Roy’s book. The more I read this book the more confident I became about improvements in my writing skills.

Right now, I am writing a column for Chronicle. I am following the simple rules described by Kelly McBride in her presentation. I have identified the focus and collecting as much resource material as I can. Once I have it I will organize it and try to carve out a piece worth reading.

In short, I can say that I have been halfway through the fellowship. I will spend the remaining time in practicing all that I have learnt at Poynter.

A hot June

Sometimes you have to pay for something done by others. This exactly happened to me when I covered a lecture delivered by a Pakistani politician Imran Khan on June 22. He spoke at a luncheon hosted by the World Affairs Council, Houston. This gentleman criticized the US policies in general and the military offensive against Taliban in the northern parts of Pakistan.

His point was that the operation be stopped right away, the Taliban brought to the talking table and pressed to hand over or drive away Al Qaeda operatives from the country. To him Al Qaeda people were terrorists whereas the Taliban represented a popular political movement.

I had a couple of questions to ask him publicly but I couldn’t as he would answer to only those submitted in writing. I tried that as well but he answered only a few of them (none them were asked by me) and left for the airport minutes after finishing the lecture. The story was published the next day. I reported exactly what I had heard him say. What followed were endless comments on the story. The readers were primarily condemning this politician, the reporter (me) and the editors who had allowed the story to run.

Some of these comments were so abusive that I cannot reproduce them here. Quite amazingly, none of them had any reservations against the World Affairs Council that invited this politician to speak on this topic and the charged audience that gave him a standing ovation at the end of his lecture.

My purpose for narrating this incident here is that it let me learn some lessons, most of which were not so pleasant. I realized that people who make comments are not always the most serious of the readers. Many of these people were not aware of the difference between a news report and an opinionated piece. They could have differed altogether with the politician, challenged his logic and established their own point. I myself do not agree with what he said.

But from these comments it seemed they want newspapers not to report anything that doesn’t appeal them. If this had been the case, the history of journalism would have been devoid of reporting on many scandals generated by controversial statements.

These observations will be very helpful to me as I plan to write more and more for my home publication’s online edition and develop interactive platforms for readers and writers.

I discussed this topic with Jeff Cohen, Executive Vice President and Editor of Houston Chronicle as well. What he said was also an eye-opener for me. He said it’s not always true that the most viewed and the most commented stories are the most popular ones. Watch out advertisers, here’s another reason to ruin the new business model for online publications.

Last week, I worked on a story that helped me hone my interviewing skills and add authenticity/accuracy to my work. The Islamic Da’wah Center is hosting a traveling exhibition that honors contributions of Muslim scientists during medieval ages. They have placed the model of a glider used by a Muslim engineer in 875 A.D. to take the first piloted flight in history.

I referred to this flight in the first few lines of my story. The editor looking over this story asked me to quote some authentic source on it as the event organizer’s claim was not sufficient to establish this. I went back to the organizers and asked for such reference(s).

They did not have them handy and had to work on them. Quite interestingly, the news coverage of this exhibition in the cities where it was held earlier had not mentioned any source that it was a Muslim scientist who took the first piloted flight. Now, as I have quoted a source, I believe my story (yet to be published) will be more creditworthy than those already published.

I had to re-do the story as my editors said it should carry quotes that attract the readers. They were correct as I realized some of the people who I talked to had stated the obvious. Some were repeating things that had been published in the past. I had no idea as I am new to the place. From now onwards I will sift through the archives and try to have a grasp of issues that I intend to cover.

I got a quote from Joanne Herring King, a well-known celebrity who is also a member the event committee managing this exhibition. I would like to share this quote with others through this blog.

She said: “The exhibit highlights the work of good Muslims. There are good and bad people in every religion. But the good work is often obscured by the smoke created by the wars waged by the bad people.”

With Joanne Herring King.

I had many things to share with her as she had been very active in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. She was honorary consul general of Pakistan and Morocco in Houston at that time. Joanne was the lady who convinced US government with the help of US rep Charlie Wilson to approve aid and weapons for Afghans in their fight against Russians.

Julia Roberts played Joanne in the movie Charlie Wilson’s war. The role of Charlie Wilson was played by none other than Tom Hanks