She Said: A View from the Democratic Convention

For many years, I’ve been active on the news and political scene. I’ve had all sorts of experiences, talked to people with divergent views and written stories while under rocket fire. Whether I was using a pen and napkin, a keyboard or the lens of a camera, the challenge was always the same – finding the best way to share the experience with readers.

In all this time, and through all the experiences, I have never attended a political convention. This is the year that changes!

I have accepted an opportunity to work with the Democratic National Committee Convention in Charlotte on their specialty media team. In that capacity, I will support reporters from around the South, including the campaign swing states of North Carolina and Florida. It’s a chance for me to see the convention from behind the scenes, to help other writers and a chance to share that experience with my community.

Part of our convention team effort is to support the rise of new reporting mediums, such as news blogs. It’s not news that reporting has changed. The cost to send a reporting team to any event can be prohibitive for a news outlet, especially in this new world of 24/7 reporting. In these changing times, citizen reporting and blogging can offer a cost savings to news outlets, while still providing readers the information they want.

Patch News understands this, and I am excited the news team is committed to providing its readers convention insight and commentary. From the convention floor (and maybe from a few of the many hosted parties that will take place next week), I will share my experiences and those of the metro Atlanta delegates to the convention with readers. My reports from Charlotte will be a combination of hard news and commentary.

In addition to sharing with you the viewpoints from conventioneers, I get an opportunity to share the experience with my family, many of whom live in Charlotte. My nephew, a reporter for his high school newspaper, will join me at President Obama’s nomination speech. He, like all writers, will struggle with sharing the experience with his readers. But we will struggle with our writing side by side and the amazing chance to tell a story.

Along with this blog, you can follow me on Twitter (@flowersliz) and on Facebook.

See you in Charlotte!