Pocket Profile Experience: Saturday, May 25, 2024

Hannah Gaschler from Patrick Henry College

This morning, we completed our field recording for our “pocket profile” audio features. Last week, WJI staff divided us into 10 teams. This morning, each of us interviewed one subject, then we complied our own stories in the afternoon. My team spoke with a Ukrainian refugee and a woman at a church who has helped 140 refugees. Yesterday, staff of WORLD radio including Paul Butler and Harrison Watters taught us how to use the recorder and what sound to get. At our interview, I wore the headphones, held the mic, and monitored the audio levels. Another member of my team asked most of the interview questions, and the third member took notes and asked more questions. After the interview, we recorded ambient audio outside.

This exercise taught me how to use the equipment. I learned to focus on the audio levels and adjust the gain, as well as how to hold the mic and avoid distracting background noise. I found this a fascinating story. Our interview ran almost 2 hours long, and I wished we could have asked for more details. I tend to hesitate when reaching out to people or when conducting interviews, because I worry that I’m bothering someone. But the person we interviewed this morning had so much enthusiasm for her story, and it reinforced one theme I’ve learned this week. It is okay to ask sources to do things like explain something again or turn something off, even if it feels awkward. Our goal as journalists is to tell the story as best as we can, and our subjects share that goal.