In conceiving the idea for my final story I wanted to use my own experience at the White House’s College Reporter Day as the base, as it was one of the largest learning experiences I had throughout the semester. My own reflection on the day’s events left me wondering more about how political news today is crafted, especially since almost all government action is accompanied by a press release. I was also curious about how fellow attendees felt about the day and wondered if they had any of the same questions or experiences I had. Ultimately, I wanted to know how to strike a balance between accepting PR material and how to conduct my own journalist work.

I first reached out to a number of fellow students who attended the White House College Reporter Day and asked them if they would be willing to speak with me about their overall experience and answer a few questions. I received several replies and conducted interviews over email, I then selected the two students who gave me the best replies as my main sources for the story. I also reached out to Stacie Sherman, I really enjoyed her visit to class and it was clear that she was very knowledgeable in covering politics, so I thought that she would also be a very credible source. I interviewed her over the phone where I asked her about the nature of covering politics and the relationship between journalism and PR.

I felt that creating a traditional feature story would be the best way for my sources voices to be heard as they made up the bulk of my research and were really the driving force behind my exploration of the topic. As I began to report more, the story definitely began to focus on the use of press releases in journalism more than I intended. However, I decided to keep this change as I felt that it was an important topic and is something that many young journalist must learn to balance when beginning their careers.

I learned a great deal about the political process this semester in my experiences both in and outside the classroom. This course served as a good reminder and refresher of the finer details  of the American political process, a topic which many Americans are either misinformed or uninformed. I found our class discussions and readings about campaign finance to be particularly enlightening as it is often a hot news topic during campaign season, but is often presented within the mainstream media without sufficient background information. I also really enjoyed being able to observe local government in action, and being able to report on one community throughout the semester. I’ve learned that the importance of  local government is often overlooked, but it is just as important and also just as interesting as what is happening in the statehouse, or at a national level.

I hope my readers will learn the importance of reporting accurate and balanced information, especially when it is in the realm of politics. I also hope that my story encourages readers to think deeply about where their information comes from, and what messages or biases a story or press release might have.

This course was a great learning experience for me as I had always been curious about political reporting but I had no real experience in the field and did not know if I would have the proper mindset to cover such important topic thoroughly. If anything this course taught me that I do have what it takes to be a political reporter and it has been the catalyst for me to continue to refine my skills and further explore the area of political journalism.