Journalism assignment

Interview

I interviewed with my close friend’s father online that who was all too willing to talk about a scandalous event that had occurred in the community when he was young. At that time, the then mayor of the city was taking bribes from different companies so that they could have favorable outcomes in the bidding of city construction and supply tenders. Apparently, by the time people caught wind of this, it had been going on for two years. The issue could not be solved quietly because the press got wind of it and dragged the name of the city through mud thus soiling its reputation.

After the story became public, the state government ordered that a check be conducted upon all the projects that had been carried out in the city within the two years. The outcome was that the constructions were discovered to be substandard and most had to be brought down resulting in a wastage of public funds. The follow up story on the newspapers dictated a city of ruins as buildings were brought down to avert the risks that they posed to the community. Luckily, there had been no accident from a falling building that could have cost human lives.

I was comfortable talking to the man because he was willing to speak out against what he felt was an injustice that had been performed on the city. From the experience, I learnt that people will always remember what they felt was an injustice against them by those in power. Further, they will speak out against such practices if they feel that it would help avert future occurrences. As journalists, we are entrusted with the role of airing the stories of such people and that is a role we should carry out.