How The Desk Covered Farpoint 2004

The Desk Does What The Desk Does... and lives to tell about it.

There is a scientific method to the way The Media Desk covers an event. There is a definite order of battle and direction to the routine. The Desk is a trained professional with years of experience and extensive formal education. It is well versed in the Five W's of Journalism and works to illuminate the event in such a way as to give the reader the feeling that they've been there.
Yes, there is.
And in this article, Dr Leftover will set down that methodology as it relates to the Farpoint 2004 Convention.
Well, it won't take a whole article. It will only take a paragraph.
Not even that much.

The Desk shows up, and goes with the flow.

Whatever seems to need written down or a picture taken. It does it.
The Desk takes a lot of notes, and even more pictures. For the current Farpoint article the Desk took sixty-three digital pictures and its fiancé took thirty-one. Of the total, twelve made it to the main story of the Con with a few more used for this piece. That's a lot of unused pictures, and the Desk had an idea of what it was looking for to use in the article when it took them. Some didn't come out, others didn't look quite right, some just didn't work with the flavor of the story. And there were a few that when the Desk sat down and looked at them it, it had no idea what the picture was.

But that is Journalism the way the Desk learned to do it. You get into the event, if possible, up to your neck, cover it as an event. Total coverage as much as possible. Then when it's over, see what stands out and what individual segment of the event defines the whole event.

With the Farpoint 2004 article there wasn't a single defining moment of the weekend, not even when the Desk sat down to dinner in the bar with its fiancé and a couple of friends and the chair it sat on collapsed under it. Funny? Yes. Memorable? Maybe. Definitive for the Con? No.
Then the next morning at breakfast we overheard the remark from the table behind us that came to be the banner headline for the coverage. It absolutely defined the weekend. It was a comment that could only be made at something like a sci fi convention. Nowhere else can you say something like that and have everybody, including the waitress bringing you coffee, know what you're talking about.
"I didn't do the Darth Vader themed macerana ."
Everybody at the Desk's table instantly agreed that that comment, by an unknown convention attendee, defined the weekend. That was it. One quick statement in a conversation about the dance late Saturday night set the mood for the entire thing and brought it all into focus.

With that one sentence the Desk had the format for the writeup. How it would be presented. Which pictures to use. How to bring it to the public at large in a way they could relate to.

Not everything had to be covered. Nobody cares how many people were in line for which star's autograph. What was the final total at the charity auction. How many artists had exhibits in the art show. Who started the jellybean fight between the Farpoint registration desk and the Shoreleave table. How many innocent people did the Klingons arrest for cash donations to their charity.
Some trivia is nice to know, but it really doesn't add anything to the overall article.
Gene Roddenberry got the size of our Galaxy right in the original Star Trek.
Romanian magazine writers have trouble with English verb tenses.
Four in one doubled chain mail is called King's Mail.
So we hit the high points, include just enough detail to get the point across, and keep it moving.

And with the Desk, it is never Objective Journalism. And neither is it the modern Subjective 'true feelings' Journalism. The Desk has always covered things in the Gonzo style, which means it is involved in the story, but seldom is the focus of the story. It rarely uses first person pronouns and had very few photos of itself at any events and NONE of it actually doing whatever it does when it is at work.
Well... now it does.

NOTE: Most of the following pictures were taken by the Desk's Fiancé and are used with her permission. picture opens in new window

the How To Picture Page

The Farpoint '04 Story

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Contact: Dr_Leftover(at)TheMediaDesk[dot]com PLEASE put Farpoint 04 in subject line due to SPAM.
[NOTE: Farpoint, Star Trek, etc, and all related identifying names and marks are properties of their respective owners. All individuals represented are private citizens and real names are not used by the Desk. The Media Desk is not affiliated or otherwise attached to any of them. The Media Desk is a registered fully qualified domain operating as a Journalistic outlet. Opinions expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of anything affiliated with the Farpoint Con. ]

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