HIV testing on campus

I really do not know what exactly I am allowed to post right now because I am waiting to get permission from one of my interviewees. I have now learned that never again should I be in this position. If ever someone does not want you to use information in your story, find another source. This is all advice I learned from Professor Nicholson today after making my mistake. Hopefully, everyone can learn from it. Once again, I will repeat the lesson I learned. Never ever let someone tell you what you can or cannot use in your story.

Even though I made this mistake, I am happy with my work today. There was a free and anonymous HIV testing at Syracuse University. It was held in the Department of African American Studies in Sims Hall. Senior African Americans Studies student Asha Best was in charge of the event. Today's event, Red Alert, is a part of Best's week long AIDS/ HIV awareness campaigned called Project Red. The testing was available to both students and the community. There are different types of testing such as confidential and anonymous. Anonymous testing, which was used today, is done with a code number. Only information such as zip code, gender, date of birth and race are collected. Anonymous testing is always free. Rapid tests were used today to give the test takers their results. The finger prick test took about ten minutes. The event started at 10AM and ended at 2PM. At the end, 37 people got tested. Best planned all of the events in Project Red. Tomorrow there will be a remembrance vigil at the Jabberwocky Cafe. Saturday there will be an art exhibition and a film screening at the Community Folk Art Center. And, on Monday there will be a fund-raiser. This event also ties into World AIDS Day which is this Saturday.

Finally, I would just like to say I really enjoyed covering this story. I learned a lot from it. For the first time this semester I took great risks. I went into doing a story that I knew would cause some difficulty. I was not able to talk to students getting tested because the event was anonymous. Also, some of the people I interviewed told me I could only use the information I received from them only for class purposes. Although I am only using it for class purposes, the blog makes it more complicated. I know I made a few mistakes today but I'm OK with it. Today has taught me so much about what I need to know to be a successful broadcast journalist.