{"id":4166,"date":"2012-09-12T16:30:43","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T21:30:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/?p=4166"},"modified":"2012-09-14T14:17:38","modified_gmt":"2012-09-14T19:17:38","slug":"my-first-kmsc-gig-covering-the-president-of-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/4166","title":{"rendered":"My first KMSC gig – Covering the President of the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Claire DeRoin–
\n<\/strong>I figured that as a senior mass communications major I\u2019d maybe pick up a radio show, but instead, I picked up a gig covering the President of the United States\u2019 visit to Morningside College.<\/p>\n

\"\"It all started midway through the week. I was hanging out in The Collegian Reporter newsroom, a room full of Mac computers setting on counters side by side. A fax machine that occasionally spits out spam messages sat in the corner, neglected. I spent my time between classes in the newsroom, doing homework or chatting with other mass comm. students.
\nDr. Heistad, whom most students called \u201cDoc,\u201d poked his head in the room.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you heard? President Obama will be speaking here on campus on Saturday.\u201d There was a grin on his face.
\nAs the newly hired news director for Morningside\u2019s radio station, KMSC Fusion 93, I hoped I\u2019d be involved.<\/p>\n

Doc asked if I\u2019d like to co-host radio coverage with Nick Brincks, the resident radio guru. He was a junior and knew more about radio than any student I\u2019d met in the department.\u00a0I excitedly blurted out that I\u2019d love to be involved in any way, shape, or form.<\/p>\n

Throughout the rest of the week, there were plenty of e-mails between Doc, myself, Dave Madsen (the chair of the department), and Obama\u2019s press people.<\/p>\n

I was more than thrilled when, on Thursday, I received via e-mail a link to sign up for press credentials. I filled in my information and assumed that I\u2019d receive my e-mail confirmation in a few hours.<\/p>\n

However, misfortune has a habit of finding me. That\u2019s why I wasn\u2019t surprised when an e-mail came back from the press department, denying our list of people needing credentials. Instead of the 15 on our list, we\u2019d be granted four credentials max.<\/p>\n

After a bit of panic, I lamented the fact that I hadn\u2019t picked up tickets to the event. \u201cC\u2019est la vie,\u201d I thought before giving up hope.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, the department worked things out with the President\u2019s team and we were allowed just enough passes to have a fully-functioning staff.<\/p>\n

Alisa Christensen was to run the MCTV side of things, Scott Haas would be our main camera operator, Nick Brincks would run the KMSC equipment as well as hosting with me, and I doubled as the Collegian Reporter representative as well.<\/p>\n

On Saturday at noon, we began to set up our equipment. I was surprised at how easy this process was. We set everything up and there weren\u2019t really any hang-ups. Noreen, our media contact, helped us along the way.<\/p>\n

At 1:30, everyone had to leave the area for three hours so that the Secret Service could sweep the area. I had a momentary wariness of leaving expensive equipment setting out, but then realized that the area was probably being heavily guarded by people we just couldn\u2019t see.<\/p>\n

Finally, after a few hours of researching what we\u2019d do and what our game plan for the radio show was, Nick and I strolled down the mall to the media check-in table. Doc and Dave Madsen had just gotten their media passes, and said we might as well get ours, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cName?\u201d the man at the table asked. \u201cOh, Nick Brincks, right?\u201d \u00a0He looked down at his list of credentialed media members.<\/p>\n

Nick looked as confused as I felt. Did this guy know every person on the list? Maybe he recognized Nick from an interview a local news station did with Nick the night before.<\/p>\n

The man suddenly looked up from his list. \u201cWe aren\u2019t letting press in until four.\u201d\u00a0I knew something was going to go wrong<\/em>! \u201cWell, that\u2019s funny,\u201d I snapped. \u201cOur advisors just came back with their passes.\u201d\u00a0A look of guilt came across the man\u2019s face. \u201cWell,\u201d he paused. \u201cNo media are being let in until four.\u201d<\/p>\n

I turned and headed back for the newsroom before I said something stupid and got myself banned from the event all together. Nick followed as I stormed off. We\u2019d clearly just been discriminated against when the man saw that our listed media outlet was the college radio station.\u00a0 My jaw was clenched for the duration of the walk back to the newsroom.
\n\"\"
\nThe next time we tried for our passes was about 30 minutes later. The entire crew- Alisa, Scott, Nick, and myself- marched up to the table.<\/p>\n

This time, our passes were handed over after a simple I.D. check. I had a moment of temporary panic as the man looked at my license, looked at me, then looked back at the license. I was left feeling more anxious than the time a bouncer at a bar told me that I either had a fake I.D., or recently had a nose job.<\/p>\n

The man checked my name off of the list and his partner scribbled my name and the date onto the light blue badge. My heart pounded a bit fasted as I pinned the pass onto my blouse. My first press pass!<\/em> And a White House-issued one, at that!<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cDrop your bag on the ground there,\u201d a woman lazily said as I beamed at her.\u00a0I handed my camera bag over to a pair of men standing in the grass. They looked miserably hot in their suits, but were cheerful enough despite the heat. One of the men set the bag down on the ground and crouched over it. I was surprised at how thorough the search was. He checked every pocket and zipper. He turned all three of the cameras in the bag on, hit the \u201creplay\u201d buttons, and turned them back off. I was glad I\u2019d cleared my memory cards in advance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, you can head over and get the other scan done while I do this,\u201d the man said once he noticed I was watching. \u201cI won\u2019t let you forget this.\u201d<\/p>\n

I tossed my folder full of notes and research down on the next table. Alisa put her purse down. I was surprised at how gingerly the agent took out her things and then put them back in exactly as they had been. The man looked relatively unconcerned about my folder.<\/p>\n

The men with the scanning wands looked intimidating, but were much more pleasant than I was expecting. \u201cHands out,\u201d the man said cheerily. \u201cLike this.\u201d He held his hands up. I mirrored him. He waved the wand around in front of me. \u201cTurn around,\u201d he said. I did. \u201cAll right, you\u2019re good to go.\u201d<\/p>\n

I retrieved my camera bag and thanked the men who\u2019d checked it. I was thoroughly impressed that the agents were friendly and personable. They were not at all cold and robotic like I\u2019d been expecting.<\/p>\n

Once we were at our table, I looked up to the roof of Roadman Hall. There were snipers standing up there, looking through binoculars and holding their guns casually.\u00a0I jumped up. I had<\/em> to take a picture! It was only 5:00 and the President wasn\u2019t supposed to speak until 6:30, so I figured I had all sorts of time to wander around and take pictures. Alisa and I left our table and meandered through the crowd, looking for fun shots of the Secret Service or snipers. After a few shots, I heard someone at the podium. Alisa and I looked at each other in confusion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs this just rehearsal?\u201d I asked.\u00a0\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d she said, looking around at the other press.<\/p>\n

Since Morningside\u2019s table was right next to the White House Press Corps, we figured we\u2019d be able to pick up cues from them. However, the reporters sat around, looking highly uninterested. Some scrolled on their phones, some ate and chatted while others stared around, clearly wanting to be somewhere else.<\/p>\n

Madsen came over to our table in a hurry.\u00a0\u201cI just talked to Noreen. I asked if the President was going to speak at 6:30, and she said \u2018We are expecting the President much earlier.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

We panicked. Nick and I had planned out a half-hour preshow, complete with \u201croving reporters\u201d Katie Copple and Jihanna Hoss. (They had microphones, headsets, and were in the crowd with their general admission tickets.)<\/p>\n

But the President can pretty much do what he wants, so we hunkered down and prepared for his message.<\/p>\n

For an account of the President\u2019s message, check out my article at: http:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/archives\/4079<\/a><\/p>\n

After the speech, and our post-speech talk show, I left the press area to put my camera bag back in the MCTV newsroom. On my way back to the press area, I was glancing up and around, still infatuated by the snipers on the rooftop. I didn\u2019t see the men running towards me until they were about five feet away.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan we help you?\u201d one of the men demanded. This was the polite security man from earlier! Didn\u2019t he recognize me? I froze and the men continued to rush over to me.\u00a0\u201cI, I just dropped some things off in the studio. I\u2019m from the campus media,\u201d I managed.\u00a0The men immediately ran the wand over me. I held me keys up and turned around. \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d I offered nervously.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no readmission. Once you leave, you don\u2019t get back in,\u201d one of the agents said gruffly.
\n\u201cAh, do I need to wait here, or, I mean,\u201d I trailed off before cracking a grin and slowly letting my arms drop back down to my side. \u201cYou know, I\u2019m pretty unlucky, and I should have been expecting something like this to happen. No one will believe it! The crew will think I\u2019m trying to get out of moving stuff back to the studio.\u201d I laughed. It was a nervous laugh, but it was a laugh.<\/p>\n

After exchanging glances, one of the agents seemed to soften, but just a little. \u201cOkay, go ahead.\u201d
\n\u201cOh, wow, thanks. Sorry!\u201d I shrugged and bit my lip.<\/p>\n

One of the agents grinned. His partner gave him a disapproving look. Oops. I hurried past them before they\u2019d change their minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see you almost didn\u2019t make it there,\u201d another media member laughed as I hoofed it back to the KMSC table.\u00a0\u201cNo doubt,\u201d I said, laughing.<\/p>\n

He stopped and waited for me to enter the national media tent first.<\/p>\n

Part of me dared to follow him in, but the large \u201cL\u201d for local media on my press badge would have betrayed me. \u201cOh,\u201d I said, \u201cI\u2019m actually over here.\u201d I nodded toward our table.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe campus group? Very cool! Well, glad you got in!\u201d He winked before ducking into the tent.<\/p>\n

The rest of the event was pretty unsuccessful. The cameras, microphones, and all of the equipment which had taken hours to set up was torn down and gone in a matter of minutes. We carried our stuff back to the studio and I was left with my press pass and the shock that I\u2019d just covered the President\u2019s speech.<\/p>\n

Part of me couldn\u2019t help but think, \u201cAll of that stress and work during the past week to get access to the past hour?\u201d\u00a0It was worth it.<\/p>\n

—<\/strong><\/p>\n

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By Claire DeRoin– I figured that as a senior mass communications major I\u2019d maybe pick up a radio show, but instead, I picked up a gig covering the President of the United States\u2019 visit to Morningside College. It all started midway through the week. I was hanging out in The Collegian Reporter newsroom, a room…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":80,"featured_media":4168,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[203],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/80"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4166"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4166\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4175,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4166\/revisions\/4175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.morningside.edu\/thecr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}