This is the worst aspect of being a journalist, by far. Well, there are others I assure you, but transcribing is the pits. Yesterday, I transcribed an interview of a man who spoke English as a second language. He spoke slowly and it was much easier to write down what he was saying. Today, it is a native English speaker. It’s taking way to fucken long. It takes me longer to transcribe the whole thing than to actually write it.
It’s boring. It sucks to have to listen to yourself again, especially with the tape slowed, which makes you sounds like a drunken idiot. It feels like it is never going to end. A journalist’s hell is one where you transcribe a never-ending interview, listening to yourself ask stupid questions, about some boring topic for eternity.