Taking Journalism Seriously

The following is an editorial written by Alex Rasmussen.

Journalism is becoming an increasingly important topic; the public must stay informed. The students in the Bobcat Beat class at MHS are learning essentials skills by writing and interviewing a variety of subjects every week. If these students get the feeling that people won’t respect the ambition they have for a story, they lose faith in their own reporting ability.

Recently, as the Senior Editor of Madison High School’s student run newspaper,  I had the potential opportunity to interview the Utah-based rapper, JTM as well as Drake Bell and many local music artists. My Junior Editor, reporters and I were extremely excited to interview them and get the inside scoop on their beginnings in the music business.

After contacting several of the event’s organizers, we were referred to Brandon Brooks, the manager of JTM, to arrange a date and time for the interview and to ask if he could get us a minute with Drake Bell. He and I decided that I would post advertisements on the Bobcat Beat Instagram story and post the interview on the website in exchange for the interview and access to the concert. He told me that he would get in touch with me later to determine a time and place. 

Three days later, the concert came and we still had no word from Brooks. When I called him, he frantically told me that I needed to realize that this “wasn’t the best time,” and that I needed to call him the day after the concert at 8 am to get the interview scheduled. 

I went to the concert that night, my favorite artist was Drake Bell; JTM and Jay Warren were pretty good, too. I woke up the next morning at 8 to call Brandon, and there was no answer. A few minutes passed by and he texted me, “One moment! Just on the phone.” We texted back and forth about the future interview until 8:34 a.m., when he left me on read without an interview scheduled.  

We, as the editorial staff, feel that throughout this event we were never given the respect and responsibility that should have been as a legitimate news organization. We hope in the future that people will realize that we represent a huge portion of this town and the community. It is a responsibility that we take very seriously and need access and information to be able to keep our readers informed.