During my first few days working in Missourian, I knew many new things about professional news organizations. I also found that I still needed lots of practice if I wanted to become a professional journalist.
As to the things I learned, an accuracy check is definitely the most essential one. Before this course, I absolutely knew the importance of accuracy. I only thought that I could make my report accurate as long as I use the correct quotes and understand their contexts. However, in today’s interview, I found that it is easy for us to misunderstand one’s words even though we could transcribe it correctly. For instance, today I interviewed Sarah, a nice person, who talked a lot about her company’s products and new plans. When I checked accuracy with her, she corrected some minor misunderstandings. Though I was sure that I transcribed her interview without mistakes, I still misunderstood some of her words. This experience taught me that because I am not professional in some areas, I am likely to misconstrue somebody even if I do enough researches. Therefore, an accuracy check is indispensable before publishing.
At the same time, as a non-native speaker, sometimes I might use the wrong words. Because the meanings of some words are almost the same when translated into Chinese, but their meanings are slightly different. In the future, when memorizing words, I should remember not only the Chinese translations but also English explanations. In this way, I may avoid using words in the wrong ways.
By and large, I am satisfied with my works, but I still need to work hard to improve. I hope I could produce better stories in the following weeks.
Larissa Gao 