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A beat, in reporting, is a journalistic feature that focuses on in-depth on a specific topic- sports are common- but there are many kinds of beats, really. The Journalism 2 students were asked to select a beat to report on for a week. Here’s my personal thoughts on beat reporting.
It was definitely a challenge, especially for my first few days. I did the so-called hallway beat. Essentially, it was me in the hallway, asking people why they were in the hallway. It was actually fairly interesting, believe it or not. I found out a lot about where people go to (It is a lot more than bathrooms and lockers.)
I found that, by the end of it, teachers were far less receptive to my questions than students. Most teachers seemed to have an attitude problem regarding the question I asked, while the students were (usually) at least curious, and if they wouldn’t answer, it is because of the phenomena I talked about- the hallway vagabonds. It was a serious challenge to upload content by the end of each class. Sometimes, I felt like I was writing to fill up the 300 word requirement. Actually, I definitely did that. I’m doing it right now, in fact.
Teachers were giving me glares if I did ask them. I felt guilty, but I wasn’t doing anything wrong. This is for a class! A class! And yet I wasn’t really allowed to ask the questions that I needed. And that’s okay. Beat reporting was a challenge. It just wasn’t for me. Sure, the hallway beat was interesting, but the novelty wore off by the end of the week. Truthfully, there just isn’t that much to report on in the hallway. Seriously, though, can somebody tell me why people roam around the hallways with nothing to do?
