The Best Laid Plans...

First, two stories today on SLAC Today, one about an end-cap toroid magnet being installed at CERN that involved me calling Switzerland at 7:00 a.m. (damn time differences). The second is a short piece about SULI interns coming to work for the summer.

But tonight what I want to discuss is a story that ran several weeks ago. Though it turned out alright, there were a few nasty surprises along the way. In other words, the river was running low and there were a lot of portages that slowed me down (I'm still on a canoeing high...)

The story I'm referring to is a process piece from the Stanford Synchotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL, which I've blogged about briefly). Specifically the article was about arsenic poisoning and research to determine which natural substances inhibited its flow through the water table.

The process started innocently enough. A co-worker took me down the SSRL to introduce me to one of the employees who oversees the scientists using the beamlines. You see, SLAC and Stanford have nowhere near enough scientists and projects to even make a dent in the potential of the SSRL, so naturally scientists from all over the world visit to make use of its amazing abilities.

Anyways, the guy we were supposed to meet wasn't there, nor were the users of the beamline. No problem, we called the guy and figured we would set up something for the next day. Simple.

The next day rolls around, I call the guy, he informs me he can't make it that afternoon but he would inform the users I would be stopping by to talk to them about their research. So I head down there later that day and the users are clueless. Not only about my visit but about how to even begin explainging to me what it is they are doing.

Well now we have the beginnings of a problem.

Next day I call the SLAC employee again and he informs me it is that groups first time using the SSRL and there is a much more experienced group coming the next day that I should try. This is a little concerning because my editor is expecting something on her desk the day after, which is pretty quick turn around time. But he promises they are experienced and very good at talking to people like myself.

So again, I wait.

Next day rolls around, call the guy again, and again I can't reach him so I head back to the SSRL (and am beginning to be very glad it is only a few hundred yards away). Again, the two people there have no clue who I am or why I'm there. The scientists running the test samples tells me she doesn't speak good enough English to speak with me and to try the girl the next morning.

Well I'm becoming exasperated now and think she speaks English quite well and even has quite a lovely accent. But if she doesn't want to talk....

So I head back again the next morning to do an interview, learn about the science, background information, and spit out a story in one day. I feel determined to do this partly because I know I can, but also because it is only my third week or so on the job and I feel the urge to prove myself.

Again the girl down there has no idea who I am or that I was coming, but she is very nice and sits down to explain to me what she's working on. But, she informs me, I should really be talking to the girl who was there yesterday because the samples she is running are actually hers.

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGHGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!

Ten seconds later, I've calmed myself, and ask if we could please just go through it then. Fair enough she says, we do, I leave happy. I get the gist of the idea and feel I have enough to write about. So I sit down and a few hours later turn in a copy to my editor.

Whew! That was rough....

It's not over....

Editor comes back (remember a final draft needs to be done by the end of the day) and says my quotes stink, which they do. They simply provide information that doesn't need to be given in quotes and don't add any color to the story.

So what to do?

In the world of media relations the writers are often asked to draft quotes for their subjects who can then tweak it or work off of it themselves. This is usually either because they are too busy or think the writer may be able to state their main idea more articulately. So this is the route I take. I draft a short quote based on the gist of our conversation, and send the story asking her to either OK the quote, tweak it, or provide one in the same spirit.

I know some of the journalists are screaming out there (if anyone is even still reading this far down....) and I am sure my "boot camp" journalism instructor at Indiana is rolling in her bed this instant having nightmares about the words I just spoke.... But as I am learning, this is how journalism is practiced in the real world and sometimes there is simply no way around it.

But usually there is a way around it and there probably was. Either way, I didn't find it.

Anyways send it along and an hour later I get a heated reply saying no it's not alright and please don't quote me at all.

And now I'm really in trouble.

I head down to the SSRL to apologize and work things out. She informs me she worked for her school paper and just hates it when people make up quotes. Plus, it isn't even her research and doesn't feel right being attributed the credit.

This makes perfect sense, I apologize, she says its quite alright, and we sit down and edit the damn thing.

To make a longer story slightly shorter, the other scientists got back to me and edited the article but did not want to be quoted but the director of their research group kindly cooked one up for me. The result was an actually decent article that was a pain to get done but taught several good lessons.

Don't let deadlines push you to do stupid things.
Make sure people know you want to make up a quote first.
Talk to the people who are actually doing the research.
Talk conversationally first, don't be a reporter first.
Make sure they know you are in Public Relations and you're going to make them look good, and let them edit anything you write.
and Haste Makes Waste.

With these in mind, similar stories will hopefully never happen again. It's not my coworkers fault for not helping me my first time, I didn't ask for much help and he was headed on vacation. It wasn't my editor's, she needed a story to fill the next day's space. It wasn't the researcher's, one was uncomfortable talking and one it wasn't her reserach. It wasn't mine, I was just trying to do my job and do it well.....

...Of Mice and Men