Jimmy Leow

You have to be bold (not sure if it is the same as thick skin), able to put up with some intimidating crowd, go without food, push your way through to get a good shot and finally, you got to be trained to hold your bladder overtime.

During the Bukit Selambau by election, I was there for nearly a week, covering several important events such as the nomination day, several ceramahs by different political leaders from PKR, DAP, MIC and MCA, a story about a temple waiting for the land transfer to their trustees, and polling day.

It was an experience which I was looking for indeed. The events took me further to understand what was responsible reporting and why there were instances people were misquoted by reporters.

Even when I was editing the footages I took, I realized that I need to let the public see what I saw and how I understood the matter at that point of time. Even at a slight change of sequence of the footage may project a wrong interpretation to the events. And that will come with consequences and a price to pay.

Reporters and videographers alike hold such high responsibilities to ensure things are not “twisted” to gain popularity for their company’s own gain.

My course-mates and I, Citizen Journalists, are lucky because we are not paid to write or video for anyone in particular, but only for the public’s view. We are not tied down with restrictions or favours, we tell and show it as it is.  And that is why, people are starting to take us seriously whenever we “speak” and that is the way it should be for all reporters and journalists.

Don’t you think so?

This entry was posted on Friday, April 10th, 2009 at 2:31 pm and is filed under Personal View. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.