Journalism Reflection

The journalism unit in RLA was a lot of fun for me. Especially the fact that I got to work with a real news anchor and learn different interview skills. For my news interview, I decided to focus on the topic of the Holocaust. My angle was Steven Spielberg and the significance of the movie Schindler’s List, and my question was, “How might the movie Schindler’s List change children’s perspectives on the world and being open-minded?” I interviewed Mr. Elms, the eighth grade social studies teacher on C-side, and Mr. Burnett, a high school social studies teacher. I decided to interview those two specific people because I wanted to make sure I interviewed those who had the knowledge about the movie Schindler’s List, as well as make sure that it would be convenient for me to do. I first interviewed Mr. Burnett. I started off by saying (Attamimi, 0:04), “Thank you so much for doing this interview for me. So I’ll just be asking you a couple questions about Schindler’s List.” I then went to start my asking my first question, and as I listened to him answer my first scripted question, I was able to educate him a little bit. My scripted question was (Attamimi, 0:14), “How did Steven Spielberg articulate a vision as he created his movie Schindler’s List, and how do you think he executed such an incredible version of what actually happened?” When Mr. Burnett said (Burnett, 0:52), “He’s got a scene where the girl stands out in red, and you kind of follow her,” I then educated him a little bit about the little girl in the red coat and said (Attamimi, 2:27), “Actually, the little girl in the red coat was one of the things that stood out to me too. And we actually found a book about the person, the little girl in the red coat. And she’s still alive.” After giving this information, it allowed Mr. Burnett to talk even more about how art can be interpreted in so many different ways depending on which point of view you have. I then went off to interview Mr. Elms. One of the best responses I got out from Mr. Elms was when I asked the question (Attamimi, 5:36), “How might Schindler’s List change people’s perspectives on the world and prejudice?” And he responded to that by saying (Elms, 5:43), “I have a hard time imagining an intelligent person sitting down and not being changed. And being the same person afterwards that they were before.” I then followed up with the question (Attamimi, 6:32), “And going back to how people might have the negative side impacting their decision about whether they’re going to change or not, do you think the impact would be huge?” He then said (Elms, 7:02), “It’s hard to stand up for the kid who’s being bullied because you don’t want to be that person. However, perhaps, if you watched movies like Schindler’s List or Pay It Forward, and see people sticking their neck out for other people to try and make their lives better, perhaps through these experiences on film, you might reconsider for a moment and say ‘wait a second, I saw something like this, maybe there is something I can do.’” Overall though, I think the most interesting part about the whole interview process was how asking follow-up questions were a lot easier than I thought. Even if I asked the simplest question of “Why,” with the right knowledge and resources, I was able to ask a lot more insightful follow-up questions. For example, when interviewing Mr. Burnett, I asked my scripted question, which was (Attamimi, 6:45), “In your opinion, do you think that Schindler’s List is a movie where you can learn historically and morally, as well as learning without a textbook?” He then responded to that by saying the simple one-word answer of yes. But of course I wanted more, so I then went and asked (Attamimi, 6:58), “What makes you think that?” He then went on and talked a lot more about how the characters had nuance and how Steven Spielberg showed that what happened in Schindler’s List was a real human experience and all of the history is real. In conclusion, I thought that this journalism project was super interesting and insightful for me. I was able to learn about how the news network works, what a good interviewer looks like, and especially how the interviewer does not get an opinion. Therefore, the interviewer can not have a biased influence or opinion. These skills, I feel, can help me in the future especially if I want to get a major in communications. Even though this project was a little tough, it was a great learning experience.