Vox Pop
With the sunshine on my side and about 30 Greenpeace protesters on the roof of the Houses of Parliament beside me I decided it was time to run the gauntlet of the dreaded vox pop. For my story assignment in college this week I decided to ask people on the street if they thought that Greenpeace’s demonstration was effective – not something I was relishing given what happened last time I did a vox pop…
A little context: I did a vox pop in Cavan for the Anglo-Celt during my last week there. It went ok – on a sunny day it’s much easier to get people to stop and talk. One person gave a very passionate response to the question of whether town councils should be abolished. Some of what he said would definitely be libel if we had printed it – rumours about a councillors – so it was edited a fair bit before going in the paper.
After it was printed he denied that he had said any of it, luckily I was using my tape recorder that day and not relying on badly scribbled notes. You can see what he we put in the original article here.
When it was clear that he had said it all and he was aware of the tape recorder – quote: “I’m not telling you who I’m talking about when that thing is on” – he asked for space to apologise in the next edition.
To my surprise I found it easier to coax a response from busy Londoners than from people on the streets of Cavan town. It was interesting and a little exhausting – my smile had frozen onto my face by the time I had spoken to over 30 people.
It was great to get out and be at the place where the news was actually happening. A nice mix of thoughtful responses and people not listening to the question but giving their own take on the important point in the story. The papers and the individual clearly diverge on what the news is…
Some Greenpeace propaganda:
