NPR NextGenRadio is a fantastic program that I would highly recommend to anyone interested in bolstering their skills in broadcast journalism. While I was not able to conduct my interview in person, I still learned a lot about interview etiquette, audio recording equipment, streamlining questions, asking follow-up questions and coming away with a meaningful story.
In addition to improving my interviewing skills, I also strengthened my audio editing techniques. Even though I have used Audition in the past, Selena and Meerah offered sound advice in making cuts, rearranging segments to tell a succinct story and including crossfades to “glue” the segments together. During my session with Selena, I took a lot of notes and watched closely as she showed me different features of Audition that I would have never discovered on my own; I found this session to be incredibly helpful in expanding my audio editing repertoire.
One thing that was solidified this week was how well Meerah and I work together. Meerah was a fantastic mentor, and she was instrumental in helping me complete my tasks, keeping me on schedule, providing excellent edits in my audio and web story and instilling confidence when I couldn’t provide it for myself. Meerah is an accomplished journalist and mentor, and I can confirm that she is now the type of journalist I aspire to become.
Another thing this program taught me is how teamwork is essential in completing several tasks in a short amount of time. Without Doug and Traci’s leadership, constant communication in Slack and an organized schedule keeping us all on track, the mentee’s stories would neither be this polished nor published in the first place. I am so impressed with this program’s team and how dedicated everyone is in doing their part to tell unique stories.
