02-24-2005, 01:30 PM
Okay, 2 weeks ago, my proposal for my second story for journalism class was due. I'm on the arts and entertainment beat, so I can only write about things that happen in either the theatre or the art gallery.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any interesting news that week (in fact, this has been a very large problem for our newspaper - there's just nothing exciting happening on campus) and so I wrote a proposal wherein I proposed that I would investigate the auditions process for our school's theatre, as we've had some very competetive auditions this year.
I wrote a whole proposal, complete with planned sources and all that. I semi-deliberately made errors on the proposal, in the hopes that it would be rejected. Hell, I even put in a warning that, because I had participated in some of those auditions, and had not gotten into any of the plays, I was thus liable to be percieved as having an agenda. Despite my attempts to explain the ethical problems with the story, it got approved.
Fast forward to last week. I find out that I'm failing my theatre class, which is taught by one of the professors that I'm supposed to interview. My Liability-of-Percieved-Agenda rating grows even larger.
Fast forward again to this past Sunday. The auditions for the next show are suddenly announced for Thursday night. And now I'm FUCKED. No student sources are going to want to talk about the auditions for fear that what they say might be used against them, and I don't want to interview any of the professors, because I don't want them to think that I'm looking for ways to take advantage of the system (because I had planned on auditioning.)
Making matters worse, I'm pretty much forced to choose whether I intend to be a journalist or an actor, because participating in something that you are investigating is a huge violation of journalistic ethics, but, on the other hand, the upcoming auditions might be my last chance to do theatre. (because it's incredibly difficult to get parts if you haven't done any shows at the school by sophomore year.) On Tuesday, I again warn my professor that there are serious problems with the article, but he won't give me an extension because it would leave me with less time to re-write the article.
And tonight, on the eve of the deadline for the article, I get the final nail in the coffin. I find out that the cast is an almost uniform mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. After two weeks, I have no proof that there is a bias in the auditions. I have no testimonies of anyone who felt discriminated against. Thus, if I write the article, then it's technically libel. If I don't write the article, I get an 'F'. I am just plain screwed.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any interesting news that week (in fact, this has been a very large problem for our newspaper - there's just nothing exciting happening on campus) and so I wrote a proposal wherein I proposed that I would investigate the auditions process for our school's theatre, as we've had some very competetive auditions this year.
I wrote a whole proposal, complete with planned sources and all that. I semi-deliberately made errors on the proposal, in the hopes that it would be rejected. Hell, I even put in a warning that, because I had participated in some of those auditions, and had not gotten into any of the plays, I was thus liable to be percieved as having an agenda. Despite my attempts to explain the ethical problems with the story, it got approved.
Fast forward to last week. I find out that I'm failing my theatre class, which is taught by one of the professors that I'm supposed to interview. My Liability-of-Percieved-Agenda rating grows even larger.
Fast forward again to this past Sunday. The auditions for the next show are suddenly announced for Thursday night. And now I'm FUCKED. No student sources are going to want to talk about the auditions for fear that what they say might be used against them, and I don't want to interview any of the professors, because I don't want them to think that I'm looking for ways to take advantage of the system (because I had planned on auditioning.)
Making matters worse, I'm pretty much forced to choose whether I intend to be a journalist or an actor, because participating in something that you are investigating is a huge violation of journalistic ethics, but, on the other hand, the upcoming auditions might be my last chance to do theatre. (because it's incredibly difficult to get parts if you haven't done any shows at the school by sophomore year.) On Tuesday, I again warn my professor that there are serious problems with the article, but he won't give me an extension because it would leave me with less time to re-write the article.
And tonight, on the eve of the deadline for the article, I get the final nail in the coffin. I find out that the cast is an almost uniform mix of freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. After two weeks, I have no proof that there is a bias in the auditions. I have no testimonies of anyone who felt discriminated against. Thus, if I write the article, then it's technically libel. If I don't write the article, I get an 'F'. I am just plain screwed.