On Wednesday morning when we all got ready to go to the Democratic National Convention, we knew our plan was in place; shoot stories, talk to Commissioner Chris Giunchigliani and cover anything that happens along the way.
Of course plans hardly ever work the way we want them to, especially in the dynamic setting of a national convention. And if on the first day here the issue was audio, the issue Wednesday was time. Here is how it all started…
We all took the bus from the Broomfield park-n-ride to Denver. Sandra and Ariel had their own work to do at the DNC headquarters, the Pepsi Center. Reid and I were supposed to meet Commissioner Giunchigliani as soon as possible at Sunset Tower. She and other Nevada delegates were scheduled to play bingo with some senior citizens, not for fun or because she may have missed Las Vegas, but because it was part of the delegates’ community service day. At the same time our teacher Charlotte-Anne was on her way to pick up our credentials for the day from a downtown hotel.
It all took a 180-degree turn when we got stuck in traffic because of an accident. The delay meant that Reid had to literally run half a mile to go get our credential, while Charlotte-Anne and I raced to catch Commissioner Giunchigliani, possibly some of the other Nevada delegates, at the bingo session. Reid got the credentials, but we arrived too late to catch the bingo game. The Nevada delegation had already left for the Pepsi Center.
Luckily, when the three of us eventually met again on 16th Street we had already come up with another plan; grab a quick lunch and head to The Big Tent, where folks from the blogosphere were reporting/blogging about the convention.
The tent was one of the hottest places on Earth, or as Reid described it a “sauna,” but we were able to see the folks from Google, Digg, Daily Kos and other leading web publishers, who worked hard to provide their audience with coverage form the political extravaganza in town.
While we were there we met Shaun O’Mac from BlogTalkRadio, whom we actually met at Denver International Airport prior to the convention. What a coincidence! He was very kind to us and allowed us to interview him while he interviewed us for his radio show.
After the short stop at The Big Tent we continued our way to the Pepsi Center and media tent No. 2, where we were able to relax and cool off before bringing some live stream video to our audience.
This time we were aiming at some live streams from the media headquarters in order to convey how journalists spend their time covering the events. We visited the media lounge, or break room, located inside the tent as well as a Japanese media group.
Soon enough, a Twitter signaled that thousands of anti-war protesters were heading our way, so Reid and I ran out the door with our cameras and phones in hand. Police vehicles and officers were starting to multiply quickly around the designated protest area.
The excitement that we would be covering police and riots took over, but to our disappointment it appeared that beyond a couple of people openly claiming it is best to make love and not war, nothing happened. The lead protesters seemed to have gotten tired of marching down the Denver streets and they refused to enter the protest area, which in a way sounded almost like a protest within the protest.
When Reid and I arrived back in the media tent, Sandra and Ariel were finishing up the editing of their stories and we were about to pack up and leave for the day. It was time to get back to the house and process all the information we have absorbed, and despite the lengthy bus trip (our driver got lost) we had great fun and looked forward to the next day.
Denitsa Yotova 