By Synclaire Cruel
I had no idea what to expect when I first heard about the trip to Cuba. The Cuba trip was not just about learning the history, it came to be about the experience and how the way of life differs immensely from the U.S. Going abroad to a country that’s been massacred by the media for 50 years completely alters the view of the country and how world news is reported.
The mission of the weeklong trip was to dig below the surface of typical American media reports and find the richness of a culture that has been abandoned by in-depth reporting. American media have long painted Cuba as another dangerous third world country, lacking resources and equipment that are considered necessities to the American way of life.
In my short time there, I found that Cuba is much more than that. It is a vibrant country, proudly claimed by its citizens. I was entranced by the vibrancy of life there and how much could be captured by writing and footage. To be sure, producing material in Cuba presented challenges, such as locating specifically the main idea of story and then developing that idea through the correct writing format. Working with other members of the team, including fellow student Emily Pelland, videographer/editor Derrick Cheston, and journalism Prof. Fredric Kendrick helped overcome those obstacles.
It was an immersion reporting experience, which now serves me well in my internship with WBAL-TV in Baltimore as I work with a professional team to research and report communities that like Cuba in some ways, have suffered from a lack of in-depth coverage. The experience in Cuba also helped to sharpen my skills and better prepared me for quick, strategic, deadline reporting.
In Cuba, I learned how to create broadcast scripts and conduct interviews while in the field. I am working on a project to give a human essence to the 50 homicide victims after the death of Freddie Gray in the Baltimore area. I remember only hearing the numbers of victims per weekend, but never knowing any information about them, other than the usual “gang – related violence” tip at the end of articles. The goal is to allow Americans to see that these people are more than just victims, they had a life of their own that was tragically cut short. Giving personality to the victims will give their families another way of remembering their loved ones. These victims are more than just numbers.
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Working in Cuba: Morgan faculty and students Synclaire Cruel and Emily Pelland conduct interviews on Havana's famous Malecon.