Keeping it Real at Voice of America

By Dean’s Intern Lizzie Decker at Voice of America

DeckerPhoto1One of the funniest moments I have had while interning at Voice of America was sitting in on an interview with gun advocate Michael Hammond. At Voice of America, we were producing a documentary series about the aftermath of the Parkland, Florida shooting and we needed a pro-gun voice. We found Michael Hammond, who was a leader of the Gun Owners of America organization, pretty much the second tier gun advocacy group to the NRA. The interview started off strange to say the least. Before we start an interview, we also ask the subject to state and spell his or her name so we can be sure their name is correct when we transcribe the interview. He refused to give his name and his reasoning was that Borat always asks his subjects for their name and he didn’t want to end up on Borat. My boss, Beth Mendelson, says in all of her years of filmmaking, she had never had any object to stating their name for the camera, let alone be paranoid they were going to end up in a Sacha Baron Cohen piece. The rest of the interview was equally as odd, but it was definitely the weirdest, most off putting way to start off an interview. By far, one of the funniest moments I’ve had so far during this internship.