Behind the stories from Haiti

It was the last day of the convention and after checking out of our hotel and grabbing breakfast and coffee at Starbucks, we made our way to Planet Hollywood for more session before we had to return to Indiana. For our first session, Stephanie and I along with Professor Joe Coleman chose to attend "Haiti Earthquake: Covering the Tragedy with No End in Sight," where two journalists shared their experiences of covering the earthquake.

Jacqueline Charles covered Haiti as her beat and works for The Miami Herald. She speaks creole and when her plane landed in Haiti she was met by the president and his wife. Her dedication was amazing - when she couldn't use her phone or email, she sent stories in via text message. Also, it was really great to hear from someone who covered Haiti before and is still covering the country.

The second journalist was Carrie Kahn from NPR. She told us that she sent her boss an email that said "I'll go" after the earthquake hit an the next thing she knew, she was on a plane to Haiti. Her bravery impressed me. Not only did she volunteer to go, but she had no connections when she got there and didn't speak the language.

But I think the biggest thing I learned from these two reporters is that when we as journalists go to areas where there has been a disaster, we need to understand the culture of the place and know that the problems it faces are usually more complicated than just the disaster.