Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the Democratic National Convention at the Pepsi Center and Invesco Field in Denver while interning for Reuters. For most of the summer, I was running errands; moving boxes and equipment; or helping photographers by holding their microphones while they interviewed delegates and other prominent political figures. But I also got a chance to really explore the perks of being a journalist.
One of those perks was an all-access floor pass inside the convention center. It gave me a number of different vantage points inside the building. On Monday, I stood right by the stage in front of the front row during Michelle Obama’s speech. On Tuesday, I was across from the stage on the camera stand with the photographers during Sen. Hillary Clinton’s speech.
That night, the other interns and I showed up at a party where we heard Fall Out Boy and Susan Sarandon were supposed to appear, but we found neither when we arrived. Instead, we looked up to the stage and saw Moby and his band performing. We showed the CEO of the club our press credentials, and asked for an interview with Moby. She arranged it, and the footage – which I recorded – was up on Reuters’ website the following day.
On Thursday morning, I woke up around 5:30 a.m. for “pool duty,” which meant riding around with other tired print reporters, photographers and cameramen in Obama’s motorcade, following him wherever he went in the hopes of catching some sort of major news story. Later that day, when Obama made his historic speech at Invesco Field, I sat in the same section as Sarandon, Hayden Panetierre and Anne Hathaway.
On the way out, we ran into Winfrey, Kanye West and Mary J. Blige, who were all trying to crowd into an elevator with their respective entourages. Patti and I posed in a picture with Winfrey and some of Obama’s staff members. But the celebrities and VIPs were not the only perks I encountered – I was also struck by all the accomodations (at no cost) available to the press, such as how each of the tents that surrounded the Pepsi Center had its own unique press lounge. One provided simple food and drink, as well as souvenir mints and hand sanitizer. Another, sponsored by Captain Morgan, hosted an open bar. Another gave hand, neck and shoulder massages, and had a Nintendo Wii you could play with. One even had an oxygen bar .
Journalism isn’t always a glamorous field to work in, but if I needed another reason to want to be a journalist, my week in Denver provided it.
Shai Goller is an English and studio art major and a designer and a cartoonist for The Diamondback. He can be reached at sgoller@umd.edu.