Many people read newspapers but how many knows how it feels to be a reporter? Sometimes I wonder how do reporters remember their subjects' words and later able to write lengthy news from the conversations.
Well, I got an experience of being a 'reporter' once in my early years working in a local institution of higher learning. The chance came by accident. Our institution's sole reporter cum editor for our newsletter resigned abruptly to join an advertising company, which I guessed at that time paid him too well for him to refuse. I was working with the institution for about nine months when one day I got an instruction to move to the Vice-Chancellor's office. I was given less than a week to move to the new posting.
On the day I reported to the Vice-Chancellor, after some niceties, he told me in one short sentence that I had to produce the newsletter, by hook or by crook, within ten days as there was an event during which a royalty was to be conferred an honorary degree. A staff was assigned to show me my new workplace, which was a small and dark room in the basement. When I went in I saw papers and photos strewn all over the room.
But what are the steps to 'produce' (or is it publish?) a newsletter. After enquiring from the sole photographer at the PRO and a few staff at the institution's publication department, I started by gathering the news items. The next day I was summoned to the press conference by a few scientists on their 'invention' (?) of a serious disease test kit. There I was standing among the mainstream print and electronic media writing notes on whatever were told or said by the scientists. I felt ecstatic to rub shoulders with reporters and to talk to them.
After that I type the news and whatever articles that are to be published. I also drafted the editorial piece for the big boss to check and approve. The typed materials are then sent to the Publication Department for typesetting. After three days, the typeset pieces were given to me. My next task was then doing doing the layout. This is where the 'cut-and-paste' process happens. I would cut the typesetted materials and try to lay them out according to the spaces (or columns) of the dummy pages.
Once all the materials were arranged according to what I feel was a good page layout, I apply the glue to them and paste them onto the pages. I then send the dummy pages to the Publication Department agian for making a 'printed' page layout. I have to checked the layout once and once i give my clearance, the Department staff shoot the pages making them camera-ready copies. I aslo mark the location of photos on the dummy pages and choose the appropriate photos.
After that the printing were done bu the Department and the printed newsletter were sent to the PRO for distribution. You can imagine my feeling of joy when I see my hard work comes out and there is also the joy of having my name printed as the newsletter "Editor"!
After three-and-a-half months, when they moved me to another department when a proper editor/reporter was appinted. It was a good experience despite the job was a one-man-show. And to add colour to my short stint as a news(letter) reporter, I had inadvertently - in one issue - put the photo of our PR Officer full-faceportarit-size on the same page with the group photo of our ViceChancellor and his officers. I insert the PR Officer's photo just to fill up the vacant spot due to insufficient length of the written news. The PR Officer's photo was large and very prominent on the page while the Vice-Chancellor's was very small in a group! Imagine the tongue-lashing I got from whoe else - the PR Officer!
Hey I was a reporter once and I was an editor too! I was a one-man-show reporter!
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