Covering the Pope is No Easy Task - Journalistic "Nightmares"

Barb Fraze, over at the CNS Blog, has posted a behind-the-scenes report on what a nightmare it can be to cover papal events.

Having covered World Youth Day in Toronto and in Cologne I can fully attest to what she's written. Whoever thinks it's somehow "glamorous" to cover a papal event hasn't had the pleasure of covering one. While it's certainly exciting, the logistics of trying to get to an event, take it in, interview people, and get back to write a story on it, are rather daunting.  In addition to the euphoria that accompanies such an event, there are the logistical nightmares of trying to get to a location at a given time, contending with the mass of people, the traffic, and actually filing a story. Many times traffic problems or security issues prevent you from getting to an event at all.

Neither my lap top power cable, razor, or clothing arrived in Cologne until a couple of days into my visit.

In Toronto, I remember during one papal event being corralled like horses into a gated area to watch a papal event.

I recall my worst journalistic experience during WYD in Cologne. As was typical, journalists that made it into a particular media pool - say to cover the Pope's arrival by boat - had to be on a bus at least 2 hours before departure. Then the journalists were taken to the boat, where we proceeded to sit for another hour, before being taken up river. Low and behold, once the Pope's boat came into sight, we were a good distance from it. Obviously, because he was on one boat and we were on another, there was no way to get close, to interview others (other than media), or to get a good photo. At the end, the journalists were taken to one side of the river, while the Pope was taken to the other, totally preventing the journalists from being able to get to Pope Benedict's arrival and speech at the Cologne Cathedral. How's that for planning?

Or there's the story of the journalists who were put on a bus to be taken out to Marienfeld for the Saturday evening vigil. For some unknown reason, they were brought to a military complex, where they sat for a couple of hours - without an explanation.

Or at the end of the Saturday evening vigil, there was the madness of hundreds of media personnel departing to get back to Cologne. It was late at night and we were told nothing other than to walk down a particular road. We walked, and walked, and walked, for an hour straight, not knowing where we were walking to, if anyone would be picking us up, or if we were walking all the way back to Cologne. Finally, after about an hour of walking, we entered a small village. There, some city buses finally showed up. You should have seen the mad dash as journalists ran to get on the buses. I've often wondered how such negative experiences color a journalist's story.

Given all of the security precautions being taken, and all the screenings, I expect that covering the U.S. visit will be much the same. We'll be prevented from bringing our laptops into venues. None of us will truly get close to the Holy Father. Our access has already been limited to one event per day. I'm guessing that given the realities of traffic, delays, etc. our access may be even more limited than that.

If you have a "papal coverage horror story" of your own to tell, feel free to share it in the comment boxes.

Comments

[A Future Pilgrim]

Maybe the best way to cover an event like this is to be part of the event.

Also, take only a carryon you won't have to worry about where your luggage is.

And the walking part of it should be expected, its a pilgrimage.