Topic Refinement

I was one of the people who signed up for a pitch presentation date just before that approach was cancelled and we were assigned pitch presentation dates. I had signed up for the 5^th of February, so I thought I had enough time to work on my pitch presentation. I was going to write it and practice for a whole week. Unfortunately, my hopes were dashed when I logged on to Moodle and saw that I had been assigned to present on the 29^th of February. I panicked for a while, then I realized that I had to work on it….fast. I was upset at first, since I have a terrible fear of public speaking and I felt like I did not have enough time to do the assignment properly, but  I look back now and I am actually grateful.

The pitch presentation exercise helped me to refine and decide upon my topic, in record time. I knew I had to present something feasible and I did not want to look stupid in front of a group of people. I sincerely believe that if I did not have to do the pitch exercise, I would still be struggling with my topic. My refined idea happens to involve two of my favorite things – Human rights and the media. I pitched to the On the Media podcast, and my episode will present information gathered on DUI arrests and how they are reported by the media. I will take a look at the impacts of media reporting on all the people involved in these cases and I will also present my answer to the question: should the media report DUIs? In my pitch, I only cited one main incident, but in my final podcast I will be drawing on several case examples to formulate my narrative.

I am glad to say, I now look forward to putting together my podcast episode.