I recently began work on a film project for my English class. It has given me a new outlook on how difficult it must be to be a reporter in the field. It involved a couple of my group members and me grabbing the attention of people who were going to workout in our campus gym and proceed to get them on camera while they answered a few questions of ours. It was difficult to say the least. Of the 15 people we asked, we only got around 4 strangers to answer a few questions, and when they did, they were never too excited to be on camera while doing it. Luckily, we found a couple people we knew while filming, and they were a little more prone to saying yes to being on camera.
Tricia Tanaka reporting during an episode of Lost
I can only speculate on the annoyances that are involved with being a reporter. Not only do they have to ask people throughout the day to respond to a multitude of questions, they are also on a deadline. We have a deadline too, but it isn’t as severe of a consequence if we fail to acquire the footage. Having this as a career, those people could potentially lose their jobs if they do not come up with a sufficient story to give to their editor. Sometimes, reporting can be dangerous. I once heard of a story where a reporter asked a professional wrestler if he would admit that professional wrestling was fake. He then proceeded to punch the reporter in the face. Reporting is a tough and dangerous job, and it took me having to bother people with my reporting to figure this out.
The Lagniappe Life 