I WENT TO THE NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING!! I WENT TO THE NATIONAL PRESS BUILDING!! WOO-HOO!!!

Yeah. I know those photos aren't too good. I had a really crappy seats and it's really dark on the top floor, but who cares?

Actually, honestly, it wasn't all that exciting. As part of NYLC, we went there twice- once to hear a really boring guy speak and once to have breakfast and talk to a press panel. 

(A panel = when you get a bunch of important people, give them microphones, and then let the audience ask questions for them to discuss.)

I'm not going to go over all that the boring guy said, just the one good part of his speech: 

"In Washington, the longer your title is, the less important you are."

In other words, the President is much more important than the Assistant to the UnderSecretary of Education. or a National Youth Leadership Conference Scholar.

At the press panel, we had 4 people-

a moderator named Nancy Ambrose ("When I was your age, I couldn't stand when people would go on and on, and I hate even more now." was the interesting thing she said.)-

Tom Bowman (a British guy who was nominated for a Pullitzer for some reason I don't remember.)-

Susan Mulligan (or Milligan. She's a political correspondent for the Boston Globe)-

and Ken Strickland (NBC Senate News Director.).

They got asked a really eclectic bunch of questions. Some people asked advice for how to become a journalist. Some people asked about the bloodshed in Zimbabwe, assuming that reporters must know everything about current events all over the world. Fortunately, these guys seemed to know a lot.

Anyway, here are THE VALUABLE LESSONS we gleaned-

Sunni= generally more educated       Shi'ites=generally more superstitious and religous

Iraq has all the resources it needs to become a powerful country- oil, land, US support- even water. But the problem is the people can't unite.

Journalism is a dangerous profession. Bowman met with a anti-US militia leader in a creepy empty warehouse in Baghdad. The scary thing was that the militia leader had initially been pro-US, but became frustrated that the US couldn't rebuild Iraq.

The situation in Zimbabwe is so bad that papers don't run the names of the reporters who report on the situation. Otherwise somebody might order a hit on the journalists.

Nobody in TV can do anything by themselves. All the people who work on a show or a story are spokes on a wheel, and the producer is the hub (the round thing all the spokes are attached to.)

Journalists work nights, holidays, weekends. 50-60 hours a week. (Oak Leaf Editors work 10-20 hours a week on the Oak Leaf alone.)

Ken Strickland says the Senate is the best beat in Washington. You can just walk through the halls of the office buildings and find the senators and their aids. Also you can easily find multiple sides to every story, something that's a lot harder to do in the White House.

Be aware of your backgrounds and views. They will shape whatever, you do or write for better or worse.

"The public sometimes sees politicians as cartoon characters, but as a reporter, you get to know the people."

Always have compassion.

The Internet is potientally a great thing for journalists. The problem is, there's no way to get any money, because you can access the websites for free.

WHEN TRYING TO GET A JOURNALISM JOB, EXPERIENCE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN CLASSES YOU'VE TAKEN. Potential employers are interested in internships and what you've had published.

Holding out for a paid job/internship is not the way to break into the business.

So go over to the Oak Ridger office right now and ask if there's anything you can do. If not, try the Observer.