It's all about Access

I've recently felt struck by this thought: being a writer requires incredible responsiblity and integrity. A person endeavoring to write and report must be so self aware and reflective. They must be ever conscious of their own junk, the biases and set of assumptions they bring to any situation. An awful lot of thought and hard work goes into the relationship with one's sources. On the one hand, as Kramer pointed out, a strong, intimate relationship elucidates a higher level of understanding from the source to the reporter. However, these types of relationships can also be complicated by the fact that a reporter is also another human being. I struggled a lot with this idea during the reportage for my SIP. Living within an Amish community, I attempted to draw lines between Lauren-as-reporter and Lauren-as-person living with other persons. I found it incredibly difficult and discovered the infeasibility of trying to turn off any one side of yourself.

All of this has come to light for me for two reasons: 1.) I have been working on my comps essay which is about my struggles as an English major to acquire access to people and information, while fighting the desire to assume I have unlimited levels of access. 2.) I interviewed Michael Benanav, a reporter for the New York Times that completed an immersion journalism experience in Mali, Africa on a camel caravan. He fully admitted that the experience would have been impossible had he been a woman. As a white male he was able to gain access in ways that other people would not.

I find all of this so interesting and exciting. Reporting requires a lot of work that extends far beyond proper grammar and meeting deadlines.