One week down

One of the great things about this IHSPA program is the fact that I get to go through a lot of new experiences.

I teach in a suburban school. I live in a suburban community. I grew up in the burbs. Back in my days as a full-time journalist, I spent nearly all of my career at a suburban newspaper.

Needless to say, the trappings of suburban life have pretty much been my experience through most of my years on Earth.

When I've crossed Carroll Road into Indianapolis, I've also been used to being "the little guy" at big events.

So, it's been a little bit of a culture shock for me.

I've had a handful of profile-type stories assigned to me this week, and one event. One major urban trend that I've heard about, read about but not really experienced is the local food/urban gardening movement. There just isn't a lot of emphasis on either in suburban culture. This week, I've worked on two completely different stories that tie back to the same topic. I suddenly know more about a topic that I had next to no knowledge of four days ago.

One of the most important things for a reporter to do is to break out of the myopic mold of seeing things the way they are in our own little bubbles and see the world around them. In the classroom, I try to coach my reporters to see this. So many students have their own definitions of what is "news." To some, what they see on the national news is news, but not the big story happening right in front of them. To others, news is only what's going on within their own social circle -- news is what only interests them.

One concept I've tried to push with my students is the idea of news being local (for those whose concept of news comes only from CNN and the national news), and the idea that news isn't just what you care about (for those who don't see the world outside of their social circles).

In a week, I've had to become an expert on something I knew practically nothing about before, had to see something that's not in my own little concept of the world as being a pretty important, trending story just a few miles to the west. In a word, it's broadened my horizons. What is newsworthy is what matters to your readership. And that's a great lesson to take away from this week.