Access Denied

At our pre-budget meeting for the Daily Tar Heel today, I felt great walking in with an idea that could possibly turn out extremely well. The feeling only grew when surprisingly the features editor requested a multimedia that had to be done tonight. While I hate rushed projects, documenting the closing of an iconic movie theatre on Franklin St. closing seemed interesting.

Unfortunately, my documentation of an ended era soon met the same fate at the theatre. A person greeted at the door and took me to the owner of The Varsity once he heard my request. I feared this encounter because he was already ignoring every other press member trying to reach him, but I had every intention of fighting for my right to be there.

He simply said no. I could only video the marquis because they were having a farewell party in the lobby, which was a private engagement they did not want disturbed (I was secretly screaming that it's also something that would be great to document. Plus, a series of reactions and goodbyes would have been beautiful from the people who worked and supported the theatre for all these years.)

After devastating my cause, he just walked away, leaving me with the rest of the part goers starring at me. One told me the owner refused to talk any press after the last time the family lost a theatre. People hounded their phone lines and "ruined their lives" somehow. Since then, they haven't given an inch of access to the media.

I took my leave and returned my equipment to the office containing my editor. He called them jerks, which made me laugh and want to agree with that idea; however, I know that hatred or at least fear for the media people experience. It has reared its ugly head in almost every project I have done. People seem to think we're out to exploit them by creating a false image and auctioning it off to the highest bidder.

A lot of that, I feel, derives from the paparazzi hounding celebrities while hiding in secret locales and waiting for their next move. It's an image people have to banish from their minds when it comes to true journalists. At the same time, we have to be persistent with our causes yet respectful of their wishes and uneasiness. It's a fine line to walk, but we all have to do it if these needed stories are ever going to be heard.