This week in J198, we were asked to gather footage about an event or issue in Bethlehem. Since we live in the Lehigh bubble, it was difficult to come up with a topic for a story. After some thought and research, Andrew and I decided to do a story on the cell phone ban, which outlawed talking or texting on a cell phone while driving. Although not a new ordinance (it was passed in May), it is new to Lehigh students who have just returned from summer vacation.
We set out to talk to the Bethlehem Police, who couldn't speak with us. The Moravian College police couldn't speak to us either. This was the first time I encountered an issue like this. Although I haven't done many news stories, I've never had such a difficult time getting the job done because of legal issues regarding media. We were finally able to make an appointment to meet with Chief Shupp, the head of the Lehigh University Police Department, to learn a bit more about the ordinance and how it has affected driving in Bethlehem. Additionally, we spoke with some Bethlehem citizens to see how they feel about it.
I haven't really done many journalism projects like this before, so it was very interesting. The filming and editing wasn't exactly new to me, but the interviewing and researching was. I found out early on in this class that the interviewing aspect isn't my forte, but I really enjoyed piecing together the B-Roll with our interview footage and audio to create a news piece. I look forward to filming and editing more stories like this over the course of the semester!
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