WASHINGTON — Being a reporter in Washington means expecting the unexpected. Here are some tips to help you prepare for the unexpected:
1. If you’re covering an event at the White House, get there 15 minutes before the start of call time. Before you can enter through the media entrance, a security guard collects all the reporters’ drivers’ licenses and calls each person up to the security gate, one by one. Even if you get to the media entrance on time – and I’m speaking from experience – you might not make it to the event. I was covering the Medal of Freedom ceremony and I arrived at the start of call time. There was just one guard calling names and in the end I couldn’t get inside the event because there wasn’t enough room in the East Room.
2. Get on any press email lists related to your beat, and do it within your first week. This will not only help you figure out what parts of your beat you’re most interested in, it will give you a head start in building contacts for stories. Once you’re on a press list, email the media contact and introduce yourself to establish a relationship. It can come in handy later.
3. If you and your colleagues are covering an event together, have one person set up a camera to get wide shots and good audio from the mult box. Have the other reporters get shots from the left and right sides of the room, and have someone shoot low-angle shots. That way everyone will end up with good audio (from the wide-shot camera) and each person will have a variety of angles to choose from for any particular frame of video.
4. Be polite and courteous to secretaries and assistants. Often they will be the ones you talk to on the phone to get in touch with a source, and if you can establish a good relationship with them, they will help you get interviews or give you tips that you might not get elsewhere.
5. Don’t be intimidated by big-name politicians. You’re a credentialed journalist and you have just as much a right to ask questions as the seasoned reporters. Learn from those who have more experience, but don’t be afraid to ask senators and representatives for interviews. Be persistent and polite. The key thing to remember is to do your homework on your sources so you can prove to them it was worth their time to sit down for an interview with you.