Our Guest Speaker

Kevin Cloe, a guest speaker for our Journalism class came today and talked to us about what it means to be a journalist. He spoke about what we write about, who is going to read it, and gave us tips on what to remember while we our reporting our stories. One of them was about quoting.

"All reporters have a different take on quoting," Cloe said to all of us. This was very important as we learned to understand what kind of ways we could do exact quoting.

He told us that most reporters or journalists record what a person is saying or just try to make it as accurate as possible if no recorder is available.

When he was told about reasons why some students took this journalism class, some said that they took it because it was either their passion or they thought it was interesting. One student said that they did it because they wanted to expand their writing skills because, they too, are writers.

Cloe acknowledged this comment and said, "If you enjoy creative writing, you will be challenged on what to write down and have all the facts." This is true in the sense that being a journalist is mostly about all the facts and if you don't have your facts straight, you are pretty much screwed.
As the students continued to listen and ask questions, Cloe told them what is important in writing the stories to how each position all work together to make a great newpaper. The last thing he had said to the class was, "Be prepared to work!"

Dannie Malleo
WHS
Wickenburg, Ariz.