It was June 22nd, early morning Tuesday. I was assigned to find a feature story about the family of one of the victims of the massacre, at the doors of forensics. It was me as the reporter for the web, a paper edition reporter and my camera man. We were already half our way to the place when our boss paged the videographer’s radio. Change of plans. Two women had just been murdered in the other side of the city, and there was no other team available to cover the happening, but us. Double murder at one of the most dangerous neighborhoods in the capital city it is!
We got to the spot only 45 minutes after the happening. Policemen had just arrived and were starting to close the perimeter. The crime scene was completely exposed to the eyes of the neighbors, the mute witnesses whose doors were locked up for both the police and the press. The smell of blood was in the air. A sense of disconcertment was evenly shared. Then silence.
Different TV station logos started to show up and each would stare at the scene for a couple minutes before starting to take shots at it. As it is for the reporters, we were all waiting for the fiscal of the case to examine the bodies, so we could get the official information. And while we were waiting, we stared. What else could we do?
Forensics got the scene around 10 a.m. That is an hour and a half after the shootings. They were driving a pick-up truck, in the back of which laid a black bag. The distinctive, pervasive aroma coming from it could not be confused with anything else. It was no secret a corpse was hidden under that black plastic.
Still we wait, still we stare. We knew that trying to get any interviews from the habitants of the area was not viable. Their fear manifested in their horrified eyes and their only words out of their mouths: “We just heard the gunshots,” “we thought it was fireworks,” “I did not see anything.”
The bodies were finally removed from the crime scene at noon, and taken to forensics. Yet the fiscal of the case would not come out of the cordoned area to give official declarations. We had to get in and practically dance in between the evidence to get to him, and get our interview.
At the end of the day, I realized a one-minute-long news package could not completely absorb and project the intensity of such an episode. Since our experience is not to be taken as official information source, sticking to the fiscal declarations was all we got: very simple formulated sentences with very general information about two bodies, rather than two persons.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
Toughest Scene
As the days passed by, I was gaining acceptance as another co-worker around the office. I was treated as an employee, and performed as an authorized reporter for the newspaper. Two weeks into my internship I was not only responsible for a daily live-broadcast event for the web, but also for a news- package. I was to get the official information from the authorities, the interviews and opinions from the people involved, and later edit the package and publish it on the website. It got to the point I really wished they were at least paying for my transportation fees.
What I thank the most about the experience is the field work I was pushed to do. As a reporter, I was not to decide where to go or what news to cover, rather I was assigned to go out on the streets and encounter different headline events, mostly negative, crime-related news, and deal with them in a professional manner. Here is where I found the real challenge. I describe three of the toughest days, a couple examples of very heavy news I was presented to.
On Sunday June 20th, at around 8:00pm, a group of gangsters intercepted a public transportation unit. Menacing with taking everybody’s life, they pointed a gun to the bus driver and asked him to turn right into a dark, quiet, neighborhood street. One of the kidnappers shot the bus driver and his assistant, one of the gunshots encountered a little girl sitting in one of the front seats. The rest of the gang started to empty gasoline cans on the passengers. As soon as they all came out of the bus, they set it on fire, with its passengers inside. They looked as they burnt, they heard their victims scream for help, and even shot some of the brave ones who tried to escape from the flames through the melting windows. Fourteen people died almost immediately, consumed by the flames, including a 15-year-old and an 18-months-old baby girl. Three more victims died in the way to the hospital.
I was not on call to report on spot that Sunday, but I was to edit the images that Monday morning. It was for me one of the most traumatic situations of my life. The president could not but declare this assault an “act of terrorism,” which was condemned internationally.
And this was not the end of it. After covering the facts and showing the powerful images of that night, we were to work on the human side of the story, on hearing the testimonies of the people who survived and of those who lost someone in the cynic crime.
I was pushed to act up as a professional reporter, to keep my feelings and thoughts to myself, to cover them up with a mask of gentle empathy and serenity. I was to represent a non-partial agent, and get the most painful information from the victims, no matter what I had to do to get it. One of the hardest things I thought I would ever do.
Forensics had the toughest time trying to identify the bodies of the victims. They were unrecognizable, yet not charred to ashes; the accelerated decomposition process of the remnants was a problem. The chief of Forensics found it hard to deal with the families of the victims. These people would stay at the main doors of the building all day long, waiting on information of their missing relatives, on a confirmation that they were dead. I covered the story of one of those relatives, the grandmother of one victim and mother-in-law of another.
Here is a link of the video I produced that Monday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vrLGo2vau8
What I thank the most about the experience is the field work I was pushed to do. As a reporter, I was not to decide where to go or what news to cover, rather I was assigned to go out on the streets and encounter different headline events, mostly negative, crime-related news, and deal with them in a professional manner. Here is where I found the real challenge. I describe three of the toughest days, a couple examples of very heavy news I was presented to.
On Sunday June 20th, at around 8:00pm, a group of gangsters intercepted a public transportation unit. Menacing with taking everybody’s life, they pointed a gun to the bus driver and asked him to turn right into a dark, quiet, neighborhood street. One of the kidnappers shot the bus driver and his assistant, one of the gunshots encountered a little girl sitting in one of the front seats. The rest of the gang started to empty gasoline cans on the passengers. As soon as they all came out of the bus, they set it on fire, with its passengers inside. They looked as they burnt, they heard their victims scream for help, and even shot some of the brave ones who tried to escape from the flames through the melting windows. Fourteen people died almost immediately, consumed by the flames, including a 15-year-old and an 18-months-old baby girl. Three more victims died in the way to the hospital.
I was not on call to report on spot that Sunday, but I was to edit the images that Monday morning. It was for me one of the most traumatic situations of my life. The president could not but declare this assault an “act of terrorism,” which was condemned internationally.
And this was not the end of it. After covering the facts and showing the powerful images of that night, we were to work on the human side of the story, on hearing the testimonies of the people who survived and of those who lost someone in the cynic crime.
I was pushed to act up as a professional reporter, to keep my feelings and thoughts to myself, to cover them up with a mask of gentle empathy and serenity. I was to represent a non-partial agent, and get the most painful information from the victims, no matter what I had to do to get it. One of the hardest things I thought I would ever do.
Forensics had the toughest time trying to identify the bodies of the victims. They were unrecognizable, yet not charred to ashes; the accelerated decomposition process of the remnants was a problem. The chief of Forensics found it hard to deal with the families of the victims. These people would stay at the main doors of the building all day long, waiting on information of their missing relatives, on a confirmation that they were dead. I covered the story of one of those relatives, the grandmother of one victim and mother-in-law of another.
Here is a link of the video I produced that Monday.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vrLGo2vau8
Sunday, October 17, 2010
First Assigment: OH NO!
I started my internship with La Prensa Gráfica on a Tuesday, June 8th. That was exactly 3 days before the Soccer World-Cup began. So my first couple assignments had to do with this worldwide event.
My immediate boss, the multimedia chief, likes to challenge the new employees with not-so-easy tasks during their first week at the newspaper. I learned this the hard way. They had been collecting interviews of how much people knew about the World-Cup as an event. They wanted me to put it all together as an entertainment piece of three to five minutes long. We were talking about four hours of material and interviews to be reviewed and condensed in this piece. Material I had not previously seen. The piece was to be ready Thursday, to be published before the World-Cup kicked off.
I have experience as a video editor from the newscast at school, Live at Five. But I had never found myself with such an amount of material and so little time to produce a creative, dynamic, not news-related video. And as my first assignment, I wanted my piece to represent and showcase my abilities and capacity. It was a true challenge.
I worked on going through all the material that Tuesday afternoon. As soon as I got home I worked on drafting a production plan, and learned that sometimes your work cannot be ruled by a nine-to-five schedule. Next morning I was sent to a public event, to be broadcast live for the newspaper’s website. I used the afternoon to work on my video assignment. I was able to finish it in around four hours. I know it does not sound impressive, but I was in the process of learning how to use Sony Vegas 9.0, the editing software they work with.
My co-workers were incredulous; they said they had never seen an intern produce so well in a program they are still adapting to. The Chief of photography was so impressed he asked me if I would be interested in trying out for an editing position in his department. He insisted he needed someone with the “ability and readiness to learn” I displayed. I could not be but flattered, having to deny the offer for I have not yet graduated, and I am really not interested in working on slide-shows every day. But my boss was not impressed. She barely made any comment about my work, which I still think a little odd... But hey, it was okay for the sake of beginnings! Here is a link to the finished product. Yes, I know it is in Spanish; and NO, I am not about to subtitle the whole thing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeitHQyGdUw&feature=related
My immediate boss, the multimedia chief, likes to challenge the new employees with not-so-easy tasks during their first week at the newspaper. I learned this the hard way. They had been collecting interviews of how much people knew about the World-Cup as an event. They wanted me to put it all together as an entertainment piece of three to five minutes long. We were talking about four hours of material and interviews to be reviewed and condensed in this piece. Material I had not previously seen. The piece was to be ready Thursday, to be published before the World-Cup kicked off.
I have experience as a video editor from the newscast at school, Live at Five. But I had never found myself with such an amount of material and so little time to produce a creative, dynamic, not news-related video. And as my first assignment, I wanted my piece to represent and showcase my abilities and capacity. It was a true challenge.
I worked on going through all the material that Tuesday afternoon. As soon as I got home I worked on drafting a production plan, and learned that sometimes your work cannot be ruled by a nine-to-five schedule. Next morning I was sent to a public event, to be broadcast live for the newspaper’s website. I used the afternoon to work on my video assignment. I was able to finish it in around four hours. I know it does not sound impressive, but I was in the process of learning how to use Sony Vegas 9.0, the editing software they work with.
My co-workers were incredulous; they said they had never seen an intern produce so well in a program they are still adapting to. The Chief of photography was so impressed he asked me if I would be interested in trying out for an editing position in his department. He insisted he needed someone with the “ability and readiness to learn” I displayed. I could not be but flattered, having to deny the offer for I have not yet graduated, and I am really not interested in working on slide-shows every day. But my boss was not impressed. She barely made any comment about my work, which I still think a little odd... But hey, it was okay for the sake of beginnings! Here is a link to the finished product. Yes, I know it is in Spanish; and NO, I am not about to subtitle the whole thing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeitHQyGdUw&feature=related
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Getting an Internship
At the beginning of the summer, the idea of an internship was rather depressing for me. Do not get me wrong, I wanted to work, but getting an internship here in El Salvador is not an easy task.
To give a temporary position to a student is not convenient for the companies, for they have to invest money and time into teaching the student about their business, in the knowledge that he or she will not stay to work for them and by the time the student comes back to apply for a job, the same training would have to be necessary again. It is more of an expense, rather than an investment, this is how they see it. Therefore, to get an internship in a good media company, you must know someone in a high position to help you getting in. Besides this reality, there is the fact that paid-internships are completely non-existent.
I applied for an internship in various media companies as if I was applying for a job. Many said they were interested in learning more about the internship system, but requested me to wait for them to call. The phone did not ring. One of the most prestigious TV stations of the country said they could not have me as an intern, but they would love me to apply for a job as soon as I graduate. Some just did not answer back whatsoever. But two companies showed real interest in helping me to gain work experience, two very different media agencies.
The first one is a newspaper, one of the two most read ones nation-wide. They started a multimedia section for their web page five years ago, and they are still learning how to produce TV-like news content. I am talking about La Prensa Gráfica of El Salvador.
The second company answered back until I had already signed the internship contract with the newspaper. It is the office of the authorized correspondent for one of the biggest Hispanic networks in the United States, Telemundo. A small office with the head reporter and representative of the network in the country, Samuel Arias, plus two extra reporters, a videographer, two video editors, and a secretary.
I decided to take on both opportunities, for they are very different and would offer me a more complete field experience in news production. So I did, and I will share with you some of my experiences while working in both media outlets.
To give a temporary position to a student is not convenient for the companies, for they have to invest money and time into teaching the student about their business, in the knowledge that he or she will not stay to work for them and by the time the student comes back to apply for a job, the same training would have to be necessary again. It is more of an expense, rather than an investment, this is how they see it. Therefore, to get an internship in a good media company, you must know someone in a high position to help you getting in. Besides this reality, there is the fact that paid-internships are completely non-existent.
I applied for an internship in various media companies as if I was applying for a job. Many said they were interested in learning more about the internship system, but requested me to wait for them to call. The phone did not ring. One of the most prestigious TV stations of the country said they could not have me as an intern, but they would love me to apply for a job as soon as I graduate. Some just did not answer back whatsoever. But two companies showed real interest in helping me to gain work experience, two very different media agencies.
The first one is a newspaper, one of the two most read ones nation-wide. They started a multimedia section for their web page five years ago, and they are still learning how to produce TV-like news content. I am talking about La Prensa Gráfica of El Salvador.
The second company answered back until I had already signed the internship contract with the newspaper. It is the office of the authorized correspondent for one of the biggest Hispanic networks in the United States, Telemundo. A small office with the head reporter and representative of the network in the country, Samuel Arias, plus two extra reporters, a videographer, two video editors, and a secretary.
I decided to take on both opportunities, for they are very different and would offer me a more complete field experience in news production. So I did, and I will share with you some of my experiences while working in both media outlets.
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