My First Semester At Columbia Journalism School

So the reason I'm writing about my first semester is because the first class is always the hardest (yes it was the hardest, especially the writing portion, well atleast for me) and I want all of you to know that if you pass this class, you can move forward but if you fail, let's just say game over!

We started with audio

The reporting and writing class began with digital audio skills training. You must all be wondering what that is so let me get right into it. There were about 14 to 16 students in the class and we were all told to rent a Tascam (an audio recording device) from the J-School equipment room, prior to our first session. A week before the class started, we all received a syllabus via email informing us about the course schedule (yes in Columbia, class starts one week before so beware). For our first assignment, we all had to a one-minute "Vox Pop," which is where we ask a question to the public and record their answers on our device. We don't narrate the piece, it's just their answers and our question.

We had same-day deadlines. We started the day at 10 a.m. and left to do this assignment around noon. We had to conduct at least 3-5 interviews, come back to class after lunch and have our pieces edited and ready to go by 6 p.m. I sauntered around campus looking for people near the bus stop or on the benches to interview (never interview people who are walking or marching to the subway because like most New Yorkers they do not have time).

So my question was "who would you vote in the upcoming election and why?" and after doing the assignment, I wished I asked something else, like "what is your favorite cookie and why?" People would have had more to say and there would be some level of humor. I learned political questions don't make good "Vox Pops," because you need human element, reaction, color, laughter and nat sound in your audio pieces so it's best to keep them light-hearted.

Nonetheless, here is a link to my election Vox Pop (feel free to laugh at my struggle, remember you're laughing with me not at me): https://soundcloud.com/arooba-kazmi-300667947/kazmi-2020-election-mixdown/s-IiLRM

For our final assignment we had to do a 3-minute audio piece profiling an individual. But before we even got to doing the audio, we had to bring in two pitches to class. The reason we needed two is in case our first one falls through. The audio piece needed to include natural sound, anecdotes from the source and narration from the reporter. We also had to submit a script with our audio segment.

I did my story on the owner of Exclusive Pizza, Pablo Singh.

Here is the link to my final piece. https://soundcloud.com/arooba-kazmi-142455607/kazmi_pablo-singh_final-project/s-qRKpt

All in all, this assignment taught me three things: pre-reporting before pitching out ideas is critical, keep your pitches as brief as possible and kill your darlings because time is everything. So cutting down the actual audio and bringing it to 3-minutes was a challenge but I did it!

We went into video and multimedia

Now we skip over to the video aspect of digital skills training. For this class we did a ton of photography. We had to shoot photos of our classmates and strangers, which wasn't too difficult. The best part about this was posting our work on our private/public Instagram channel using the #cjszk2020 so we can review our work in class.

For one of our first assignments we had to take 200-400 photos of our classmates using a DSLR camera. See some of my shots below:

For another assignment, we had to go out and photoshoot a subject of our choice (any random person) so we can edit photos in class using lightroom. This barber shop in Washington Heights, Hill Cuts, caught my attention so I decided to take some photos here.

See my shots below:

For our final assignment in video, we had to choose a subject and create a one-minute video on them using our smartphones and we had to edit the video on the iMovie app. Here is a link to my final project: https://youtu.be/EtC37l_A_Tw

Now we move on to writing stories (by far the hardest part - I'm not being sarcastic)

Then the last part of this course was writing. Before this portion of the reporting course began, on the day of our orientation, (way before our official first of class ), we were asked by our professors to turn in three pitches. Our professor, Dolores Barclay, required all of us to write a total of four stories: a business story, a crime story and two stories of our choices.

Our class took place on Saturdays from 10am-5pm. Each session started with a brief lecture from our professor, followed by a speaker, an hour long lunch break and then the dreadful deadline drills. Sometimes we had indoor drills, where Dolores would read out facts from a news story and we had to type them up within 30 minutes and turn them into her or our adjunct professor, Alexis Clark, via email. Other times we had outdoor drills, where we had to go out, report, and come back and have a story typed up and turned in and ready to go.

For one of this drills, we had to go out and "find a story." Dolores grouped us all by location and each of us had to find their own story. The first group went to Times Square, another went to Columbus Circle and our group went to Lincoln Center. Unlike the other two places, Lincoln Center was dead on a Saturday afternoon but if I had not found a story, my game would be over before it began. (Side note: I don't want to scare you all but you all should know reporting is the first class you take in the M.S. program so if you fail it, you CANNOT move forward)

After walking aimlessly around Lincoln Center and pleading to Allah Mia (GOD), I finally bumped into two people who were putting up a shop kiosk at Lincoln Center (so yes I found my story and boy was I relieved). I interviewed them and described what happened in my piece and thankfully for the first time, I did well on a drill.

Below is a transcript of my story with edits and a source list (all stories, assignments and drills need a headline, source list - names of people you interviewed, their position and contact info):

Shop-kiosk Archie is home to Lincoln Center souvenirs

Shelves stacked with baseball caps, water bottles, mugs, black ballpoint pens, mini journals, key chains, graphic T-shirts, tote bags, magnets and postcards – all imprinted with Lincoln Center – fill a kiosk known as “Archie.”

The tiny shop just off of Hearst Plaza at Lincoln Center is opened every day with proceeds going to the cultural organization. 

“On a busy day, you can make up to $200 to $300,” said Cynthia Arriaga, 46, a part-time front house representative (what is this? A ticket taker? Usher? The average reader won’t know what it means) at the David Geffen Hall, who runs the kiosk with Joel Toribio, another part-timer at Geffen. 

“We had a teacher yesterday buy 25 postcards,” said Arriaga.

T-shirts, tote bags and cylindrical water bottles are $25. Umbrellas go for $42, keychains for $6, journals for $18.95, baseball caps for $22, baby onesies for $22. Buttons for $2.50, ballpoint pens for $4.50, mugs for $15, magnets for $5 and postcards for $1.

The Archie shop also serves as an information desk because it contains free fliers to outdoor performing arts events for visitors, tourists and patrons.

Arriaga, who has been working at the Lincoln Center for three years, said one day the business was slow and they only made $20 because they had very few buyers. 

Arriaga said the Archie Shop is only put out in the Lincoln Center during the summer season, because of weather and foot traffic. 

Toribio said that he enjoys working at Archie because he gets to see concerts, live music and dance festivals for free.

Arriaga said the purpose of the Archie Shop is “to give a piece of happiness to the tourists.” 

Source List:

1. Cynthia Arriaga – part-time front house rep. at Lincoln Center

2. Joel Toribio - – part-time front house rep. at Lincoln Center

So this was by far the hardest drill because finding a story in a desolated or a "not so pumped," area was difficult but thankfully I did it (I think it was divine intervention that resulted in my success - I pleaded to Allah Mia remember).

In addition to the drills, we had pitch meetings in class, where we discussed our story ideas and updated the class on our findings. Remember we had to write four stories in this class and each one needed to be between 500-800 words. Even though four stories may not seem like a lot, they turn into a big fat clump when you are working on two stories simulataneously and under tight deadline. The class becomes chaotic when your pitches are all thrown out and then you have to start from scratch again (yes this happened to me two times in a row so be prepared). But it's good practice because it will push you to seek out story ideas. Just keep asking yourself "so what," and make the reader care because if you don't care, the reader won't care either.

Although this class gave me sleepless nights and stress multiple times, I became a better writer and reporter. Even though till this day pitch meetings give me a lot of anxiety because I feel like I'm being judged by what I'm saying, they help me in speaking up and voicing out my thoughts.

Even though I completed my undergrad in journalism at San Jose State University, prior to this class, I never knew what a nutgraph truly was or the difference between a topic and a story was but now I know it all. I also didn't know that I needed to avoid jargon even when it comes to people's professions (see the highlighted edit by Dolores in red in my piece) and ask simplified questions so that I get simplified answers. (Remember the people reading your stories need to understand what you are telling them so keep it real and plain, DON'T be a vocab geek, seriously DON'T, we DON'T need any more of those at the J-School or anywhere else). Even when you speak, be clear, concise and be yourself. Don't go off on stupid tangents and don't be a know it all. Yes, it's an Ivy League School but we're all here to learn so be kind to each other, help each other and look out for each other and make the most of it.

I now know that good writing doesn't come from using adjectives but rather from using strong verbs. I also know that pitching is insanely difficult but ideas and angles are always crawling around you (EAVESDROP EAVESDROP EAVESDROP). I know that when we go out and report, we should NEVER ASSUME anything! Always ask questions, be observant and search your surroundings and above all BE CURIOUS!

Here's a snapshot of our class (let's see if you can spot me):