Broadcast Journalism

Podcast

I started the podcast "People, Politics, and Perspective" as an outlet to explore my interests in various political, social, and cultural issues, particularly related to social justice. In each episode, I discussed with an expert/guest their opinions and views on a divisive or controversial issue.

While writing traditional news articles, I often felt like I couldn't fit everything my sources had to say into my writing, and podcasting gave me an amazing way to share the full perspectives of the incredible people I get to interview. My podcast was my first foray into audio as a medium for storytelling, which came with its own challenges, including an intense learning curve for how to edit audio, which I used Adobe Audition for.

For my very first podcast episode, I chose to talk about a cultural moment that was very much on every minds at that moment: the Barbie movie. My guest was Dr. E. Michele Ramsay, an associate professor of Communication Arts and Sciences and Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Pennsylvania State University, Berks College. We discussed everything from modern feminism to the movie's cultural influence as well as some of the political backlash from right-wing commentators.

In my second podcast episode, I chose to deviate from my normal series, "People, Politics, and Perspective," to do an episode related to my feature article on racing. I interviewed four-time U.S. road racing champion Michele Abbate, who, in 2015, became the first woman to win the Lindley Bothwell Driver of the Year award in the award’s 66-year history. She currently races in the professional driving category Trans Am TA2 and is the only woman in her class. We discussed her career, how she began racing, the cost to compete, and why she and her husband dedicate their lives to the sport.

In episodes two and three of "People, Politics, and Perspective" I wanted to do a two-part series on a political issue that was very personal to me and that I cared about: affirmative action. As a Chinese-American, middle-class girl I often saw a lot of resentment around me within my community for race-based affirmative action policies. A Chinese boy in my freshman year Ethnic Studies class even accused me of "hating my own race" for sticking up for the policy.

Because of my experiences, I wanted to have a conversation with another Asian American advocate for race-based affirmative. In came Sally Chen, the education equity program manager at Chinese for Affirmative Action (CAA), a civil rights advocacy organization focused on defending the interests of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community. We discussed many of the misconceptions surrounding race-based affirmative action in college admissions and why diversity is important in a learning environment.

At the same time, I also wanted to acknowledge that there were genuine criticisms of affirmative action. I wanted to give voice to that alternate perspective in the second part. For this, I interviewed Bertrand Cooper, a freelance writer who had written an article for the Atlantic called “The Failure of Affirmative Action” where he called out affirmative action policy for its failure to admit students from lower-income backgrounds. Our conversation began with affirmative action and the Supreme Court's decision to strike it down, at least on the basis of race, but it quickly morphed into a broader discussion on how to make education more equitable and accessible for all.

Fashion is a major part of how I and many others express themselves, so I was curious to discuss the sustainability of the fashion industry with Dana Chin, a fellow Carlmont student who designs and sews her many of her own clothes and gets others second-hand.

Since February is Black History Month, I wanted to do an episode on how Black History Month and ethnic studies in general was under attack from accusations of trying to indoctrinate children with critical race theory. I invited Susan Anderson, the history curator and program manager at the California African American Museum for an engaging conversation on the importance of marginalized narratives and the damaging effects of erasing people's history.

I joined journalism because of my interest in politics and the ability to cover current events firsthand, so for this episode, I deviated from my usual format of inviting a guest for a conversation to instead do a breakdown on the 2024 election season, explaining everything from the Republican primaries to former President Biden's State of the Union address.

Video Production

Video production was the most foreign type of media to me when I joined journalism, having little knowledge of how to work a camera that was not an iPhone and how to use video editing software. Now having produced two videos, I feel much more confident utilizing cameras and Adobe Premiere Pro to create visual stories that complement written pieces or are strong enough to stand on their own.

For my first video, I produced it with a partner so we could get multiple angles of our school's annual heritage fair, which celebrates the diversity and multicultural nature of our community. I learned how to operate a tripod for the first time and had to react quickly in order to capture the movements of each performance at the correct angle.

For my second video, I ventured on my own to create this video on how a local cherry blossom festival held great significance among the Japanese American community and how it both preserved and showcased Japanese culture. Through this video, I learned the importance of B-roll and matching the video to what the audio is talking about. Initially, I had over 20 minutes of footage, an overwhelming amount to edit into a 4-6 minute video, so I had to be decisive in what soundbites and clips I included.