Being the Beat Master: Final Reflection on the Perfect Distraction Beat

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Today I will be telling you what it was like being a Beat reporter and the hardships and tragedies that came with it.

To start it was actual challenging and a bit difficult at times to find information, but overall it was easier then I expected. With a normal deadline of 2:00 each day I would find someone willing to answer the question and then take their answers. Seems simple right? Well this part was easily the hardest; however, the only time this became a problem is on the last day of reporting.

The next part I had to worry about was taking their information and turning it into something that could fill up at least three hundred words. The reason this was not that hard was because I worded my questions in a certain way. The first question was “What are three distraction that bother you in class?”, followed by, “Why do these distract you, and how?”, the last question and normally the one that was not used as much was, “Can you give an example of times these distracted you?” Once you understand the normal questions you ask a person just write them down and set the order up for as much information as possible.

The last thing that needs to be down is finding a style. The style can be the hardest or easiest part depending on how some one feels. For me the style was somewhat simple to find, and I am not lying when I say all I did was sit down and think to myself, “Put words on paper, try to be funny, and hope for the best.” Once I understood my style I tried to center it around my reactions and responses to the main information given. I tried to make sure the information came first, and while I did want my humor to be there as well I knew that the information was more important. Now don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with making a joke the most important part to yourself, just remember that it’s the information you need to get across as well.

The project overall was enjoyable and if I could get myself to I would do beat reporting all the time. Maybe do multiple people each week, I don’t know. As always, remember to stay distracted; as long as you’re not doing anything important.