Carry your portable recording device all the time. Your greatest podcast will happen when you leave your recording device home. So don't miss out on a great story. Tod played a clip from a journalist who had his recording device on him. On September 11th when the towers fell, the journalist didn't record the towers falling. Instead, he interviewed a man who was hitting golf balls. When the journalist asked the man why he continued to golf while the sirens blared and the towers fell, the man replied that there wasn't anything he could do. Tod highlighted that this journalist got an awesome story because he had his portable recording device on him.
Golfer-boy sounds like a total moron to me. Talk about too wrapped up in yourself to care about other humans. Here's a life lesson from me: after 15 years in the military and being part of many operations around the world I can assure you that when there are massive piles of people dying around you, there is always something you can do. But I digress...the point about having a recording device on hand is weell taken.
I own a little iRiver T10 and while I'm not in the habit of carrying it everywhere with me, I've always like the idea of doing on the spot stuff as it occurs. I've just never had the guts to pull it out and stuff in someone's face.
Good reading via Podonomics.
I should add that the guy in the piece that Tod played was really choked up about what was going on. When he said that there wasn't anything he could do except golf, he was near tears. The golfer guy was pretty emotional. My post didn't do the piece justice because you could just sense the feeling of hopelessness from this guy. His only form of normalcy in the midst of chaos was to do what he does best - hit golf balls.
Tod said that that piece never made it to air. It was a great piece of journalism, yet the audio wasn't approved to be played over the airwaves. I don't remember the reason why, but I can imagine that with the towers falling and the questions becoming who and why, a story about someone golfing couldn't compete with the spectacle that took place that day.
Hence the reason citizen journalism, especially podcasts, is so darn important. We can all finally tell our own stories without filters, without rules and without the fear of repercussions.
Posted by: Leesa | June 26, 2006 7:08 AM | Permalink to Comment