If you had asked me at age 21, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” I would have said an international reporter.
BEN Television Internship
In the summer of 2005, I worked as an intern at London’s BEN Television, England’s first African TV station (They used my “American accent” to record VO’s.)
BEN TV was a small group of passionate people founded and led by Alistair Soyode. Among other unforgettable assignments, Alistair sent me to record a meeting with Olusegun Obasanjo, the former President of Nigeria. Alistair had a driving passion for telling empowering stories about the African continent.
July 7th Terrorist Attack
On July 7th, 2005, I road the tube (London’s subway system) to work as usual, except that when I arrived the office was empty. Alistair and his colleagues came into the room and told me that London had suffered a terrorist attack and that he was sending me home in a cab. Four suicide bombers had detonated explosive devices on London’s public transit system. I called my parents to tell them that I was ok before heading home.
The next day, BEN TV sent me to Kings Cross, a central transit hub and one of the four targets the terrorists had targeted in the attack. My role was to record the police commissioner’s statement, followed by a national moment of silence. I remember thinking, “I can’t believe I’m here.” The clock struck noon, and London stood still. The next day, a national newspaper, The Evening Standard, ran the story you see in the picture above. There I was, suddenly pictured in the press pool along side respected international journalists.
Why Build a Course for Broadcast Journalism
During my undergraduate degree as a Broadcast Journalism major at Georgia College, I had recorded city council meetings, public police training events, and campus crime. But nothing moved my humanity as much as that did.
After many years working in film, television, and education, I still appreciate and enjoy the craft of Broadcast Journalism. I find the work critical for the success of an open society, perhaps today even more than in 2005.
That is why we’re building a Broadcast Journalism course in EditMentor. We need young people to want to be journalists, and we need a curriculum that teaches not only jargon but the how, and more importantly why of reporting. Because we need an informed public.
Misha Tenenbaum
CEO EditMentor
