For six Walter Cronkite School students, adaptability was key in covering the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London.
Molly Smith, Kristin Couturier, Austin Controulis, Hayden Harrison and Fahim Rasul discussed their experiences covering the Olympics last summer for the March 4 Must See Mondays event. Tiana Chavez, a broadcast journalism senior, joined the panel halfway through upon invitation.
Despite the different assignments each student had, they all shared similar experiences on the trip. Many described frustrations with logistical situations, such as transportation, weather and access to sources.
“Because we only had three photographers, we had to be in a lot of different places at one time sometimes,” Smith, a journalism senior, said. “A lot of this was about cooperation for me, and that was kind of a big learning experience.”
The panelists said they had to learn skills they never previously used, such as covering press conferences and working from a list of budgeted stories. The reporters had different assignments, and when stories fell through, they had to scramble to come up with new ideas.
“I think it was such a once-in-a-lifetime kind of opportunity as a student to get to go over there and work with such big names and get the experience of reporting in a foreign country,” said Couturier, a graduate student who finished her degree in the fall.
The six students, along with 13 others, were part of Assistant Dean Mark Lodato and faculty associate Greg Boeck’s three-week summer study abroad trip. The group was made up of three photographers, eight broadcast students and eight digital media specialists.
Journalism junior Zachary Hillenbrand said he attended the presentation because he is interested in reporting abroad.
“Thinking on your feet is probably the best thing they had to learn,” Hillenbrand said. “Like they said, they don’t know where they are, they don’t know how to get around.”
The panelists said being able to add Olympic coverage to their résumés is beneficial, particularly considering the uniqueness of their experience. But several of the students said the skills they learned in London were more valuable than the prominence of what they were covering.
Smith encouraged students to take advantage of project reporting classes such as spring training and depth reporting.
“The value for me has not been in saying I took pictures of the U.S. Women’s Basketball practice, but it’s in ‘I reported from London on deadline and I turned stories around on the time difference deadline,’” Smith said. “That’s still impressive to a lot of people.”
The students’ work was published through Cronkite News Service. It was then picked up by other news organizations around the state.
The students also had the opportunity to experience Great Britain outside of their assignments as reporters. Smith captured a photograph of four of the students on Abbey Road, mimicking the iconic Beatles album cover.
Boeck said he is planning another trip, this time to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to cover the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
To view the rest of our Must See Mondays series coverage, click here.
Contact the reporter at kimberly.koerth@asu.edu
