Commentary By Melanie Patterson

The North Jefferson News



Last week, a news reporter got a taste of her own medicine. I was that reporter.

It all happened at Bryan Elementary School when teacher Robin Brower invited me to come for a visit with her class. The reason for the visit was so I could talk with Brower and the students about starting a newspaper.

It started off the normal way. I interviewed the teacher for a few minutes. I took some photos.

Then the students, who were in fifth grade, got their chance to interview me.

That’s a very rare thing for me. The last time I was interviewed was in 1999 when my Army Reserve unit returned from a seven-month deployment in Bosnia.

There were several TV news reporters there when the bus rolled in. One of them asked me for a few minutes in front of the camera.

Although I said yes, I really didn’t want to do it. But I knew how he felt since I was a reporter too.

It was perhaps the worst interview in history. I saw it on the guy’s face as I answered his questions.

I didn’t even try to look for myself on TV because I know he either recorded over me or used that tape to level up a wobbly table.

But it did give me an idea of how people feel when I’m interviewing them, which is always good to understand.

At Bryan Elementary, Brower introduced me to the students and asked if anyone had questions. At least six hands shot up immediately.

“How do you know what to write about?”

“What was your biggest story?”

“What do you do when you and another reporter find out you’re writing about the same thing?”

“How do you feel when you have to write about murders and other bad things?”

The students asked very good questions. Kids are naturally curious anyway. Add that with the direction and focus that Brower provides and she will have some fine young reporters on her hands.

I was not nervous when the kids were grilling me because I was comfortable with the topic. Also, I’m not afraid to say, “I don’t know” if that is in fact the case.

I’ve worked as a journalist in many capacities since 1994, from the time of developing film in the darkroom and pasting news pages together by hand like big jigsaw puzzles.

I’ve interviewed hundreds of people for many types of articles. One of my favorite interviews was on Thursday when the questions did not come from me.

I can’t wait to see the newspaper that the students write. Anything they come up with will be creative, interesting and no doubt very entertaining.