On
the homework portion of this exercise, one person missed their deadline
by 38 minutes. And that's a zero-point grade -- yes, an even-worse grade than a simple fact error.
That's because the worst thing we can do in journalism -- even worse than
getting a fatal -- is to miss a deadline.
A newspaper can't go to
print with blank spots in the pages, and a 30-minute newscast can't to
to air without content that fills up all 30 minutes.
(And
if you're working for the 11 o'clock news, a script isn't of much help
after midnight -- or even at a few minutes after 11.)
That means in the
media business, you can never miss a deadline.
In journalism, turning in something, anything
that meets the minimum standard is critical. You can produce an
absolute piece of crap and as long as it's turned in, an editor can
still work with it and make it acceptable to use on air or online or in
print by his or her deadline.
An
editor can't work with nothing. And someone who turns in nothing won't
have a job for very long. Trust me, once I saw someone totally
brain-freeze and fail to file anything on deadline on a college
basketball game once. And it did happen just once, because the boss told
her not to bother coming back to the newsroom; she'd have her final
paycheck mailed to her, and she should just have her laptop shipped to
work in the same way.
It's that serious. We have to start building good habits now.
The penalty for you is a shitty grade, which stings. But I'd rather
have you learn a painful lesson now, when the consequence is just a
bruised ego. Not an ended career.
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