News writers from McKinley High School’s Pinion visited the Civil Beat newsroom in Kaimuki in October to explore, compare and get ideas for their own newsroom. The visit was exciting, and the Pinion staff was shown how to prevent situations and how to create a future for their own journalism class. The kinds of ideas that The Pinion got for their newsroom is to be organized, to be a comfort zone and to have a lot of space for ideas and writing.

Those presenting were Alia Wong, who was a long time intern at Civil Beat before landing her position as a reporter, and Eric Pape, who is a deputy editor and a watchdog at Civil Beat. Pape has also worked as a journalist on five continents with publications such as Newsweek, The Daily Beast, The Los Angeles Times and Foreign Policy.

The Civil Beat  newsroom was organized yet chaotic; everything was neat except for the desks of each writer. It showed how busy they were. The Pinion staff took notes on how to make their newsroom look more sophisticated.

Pape advised students on how to become a great news writer. He said that if people need “to pencil out your ideas, it’s good to get off the computer.”

Writers are often stuck to the computer. Pape said that by getting off the computer, one could pencil out your ideas anywhere. A person can pencil out their ideas on post it notes, a whiteboard or anything that one looks at everyday to remind them. Wong also explained how they each have their own personal space to work, allowing them to get comfortable and get their work done.

Pinion videographer Austin Watkins asked Pape what to do when the person you are interviewing does not want to talk to you. Pape replied saying that he should convince them that he is serious with his work, show them that he is experienced and try to be vulnerable. He also advised that whenever someone interviews someone else, they need to make sure that they are prepared. Know everything about their topic, be competitive, humorous and sensitive.

“Have a game face, be professional and be sensitive,” Pape said.