In the maelstrom of change involving the profession and practice of journalism in this first decade of the 21st Century, it is important to define, and even to defend, certain accepted standards that must be upheld by reporters regardless of their mode of information delivery. For the benefit of on and practice of journalism in this first destudents in the Journalism Program at State University of New York at Oswego, Linda Loomis is conducting a sabbatical research project that involves collecting information from professionals who have won either the Writer of the Year or the Rookie of the Year award over the past decade in the New York Press Association’s annual Better Newspaper contest.
Loomis is gathering information relating to these top writers’ career goals, interview techniques, reporting strategies, writing practices, and ethical concerns and practices. Her methods involve initial surveys followed by interviews with the respondents. As each reporter’s contribution is developed, it will be posted on the Web sites of the Center for Community Journalism at Oswego and on the site of the student practicum for students in the major. Information from all respondents will be synthesized and analyzed to find common elements and concerns, and a teaching resource for students will be the final product of the research.
INTERVIEW WITH JON CHATTMAN
On the Fault Line Between Tradition and Innovation
Jon Chattman is working on the edge, bridging the expanse between journalism as it was practiced in the second half of the previous century and as it will be practiced in the new millennium. Having been educated at Pace University in the skills, practices and professional ethics of traditional journalism, he now leads the way in the media revolution.
Always a man of independence and innovation, Chattman, who won the New York Press Association Rookie of the Year award in 2000, says the best opportunities for the kind of writing he wants to do is no longer in the print media—it’s online.
Chattman is not alone in his assessment of the changing role of traditional media. American Press Institute, in its 2006 Newspaper Next: Blueprint for Innovation report, claims massive changes are already taking place “…driven by a fundamental transformation in the connection between humans and information.”
The report predicts that services and approaches that do not even exist yet will evolve to meet consumer needs. “The Internet is alive with experimentation as innovators try to guess at these new solutions. But these have only scratched the surface of the possibilities, and the pace of change will only quicken.”
Chattman says he has always been interested in being an experimenter, even when he won the top rookie award as a reporter for the Rivertowns Enterprise in Westchester. When he left that job, he made the transition from print writing to print editing. “While I was editing, I missed writing but didn’t want to go back to the kind of stories I had been covering, That’s where thecheappop.com came about,” he says of the New York City-based pop culture Web site he created in 2005.
“I've always been a tongue-in-cheek writer and have always been obsessed with pop culture. I'm a fountain of useless information, so the writing just comes a lot easier when I write about what I know. I think readers are turning away from print because it's so easy to pop on their computers and read the paper before going to work or school,” Chattman says. He describes his own day: I wake up, make breakfast, eat it and drink my coffee in front of my computer. It's cheaper, and it's easier. In a world of short attention spans, the Internet is king.
Chattman says right now he’s working two full-time jobs—one that has him busy during the day, and his nighttime and weekend endeavor, thecheapop.com. Check it out to see Gwyneth Paltrow walking, Keanu Reeves carrying a garment bag, or a lot of people wearing moustaches. The release of “The Book of Bert,” a pop-culture humor book co-written by Chattman that profiles great stars with great mustaches, was another prominent feature of the site in April.
Thriving on the creative energy generated at Cheapop, Chattman says, “It’s nice to be my own boss in terms of the content on thecheappop. I seek out talent, set up the interviews, and either assign the stories or do them myself. Someday, I hope to be able to make a profit on my own Web site.”
Chattman also works as the editorial director for iTVX , where he is listed as the “driving force overseeing all content and breaking product placement news at iTVX.net” and as a “contributor of original creative content.”
In this time of evolution and revolution, Chattman is one of the people in the lead as journalism and technology intersect online. He’s taking chances, having a good time, and learning as he goes. But he’s certain of one thing: The Internet is already the source of choice for people who want instant information, and online readership is increasing every day.
“Internet—info at your fingertips,” he declares.
RETURN TO TOPJON CHATTMAN’S ADVICE:
Take chances, seek advice, be true to yourself
When Jon Chattman didn’t like the restrictions placed on him by editors, when he saw his writing becoming mundane, when he longed for more excitement in his career, he took a chance. Drawn to the potential and novelty of the Internet, he abandoned print and is riding the wave of innovation known as the World Wide Web where, in 2005, he launched a pop-culture reporting site, thecheappop.com.
The job Chattman holds to make money while he invests his energy in Cheappop is writing and running a Web site for iTVX. These ventures follow his early years as a reporter and editor. “But journalism doesn't pay the bills,” he says. “I've yet to find a job that pays in the field. That's something I wish my peers and professors in college told me beforehand!”
“I see print surviving, but it will be mostly online. Most magazines won’t survive. Most print will be read on the Internet, not on paper,” Chattman says. “More industry dollars and ‘sense’ will shift to online editions.”
For students and novice journalists, the shift means learning the technological skills that are fundamental to Web publishing. But it also means a shift in philosophy, a way of thinking about news and information that seems intuitive to those people who are already participating in virtual communities, posting blogs, and making quick choices about which streams of information they will follow, which content is personally important to them.
Chattman recommends internships as essential training for all journalists. He advises students to give thought to their own strengths and to identify their passions. “Best bet is to write what you like for free. Then hope someone pays you to do it,” he suggests. “Then, hope someone pays you to do it. In other words, reach out to outlets and see if they’d take you on for a couple months pro bono. It could lead to a job in the future.”
As for ethics and standards in the new age of media, Chattman’s advice is the same as it would have been when he was in college and the SPJ Code of Ethics was “drilled into” him: Be honest. Be true to yourself. Write what you love.
RETURN TO TOPINTERVIEW WITH SARAH DANIELS
Writing about grief with compassion and respect
The routine police report lands on Sarah Daniels’s desk, and she reads the bare facts: a 14-year-old boy has been killed by a car while riding his bicycle. She feels a terrible tug of sympathy, followed by the realization that her job entails telling the story, flushing out the facts. She finds the family’s telephone number and punches in the digits.
“Making that telephone call was the hardest thing I had ever had to do,” Daniels recalls of the 2004 accident. She asked the boy’s mother if the family would like to have an obituary in the local newspaper. “I was surprised when she said yes and invited me to go to their home to talk with her,” Daniels recalls. The reporter’s next step was to contemplate the ethical position of her role in the story.
Daniels says she thinks that in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics “every principle is equally important and none should be minimized or ignored.” With those standards in mind, she applied the rule to “Minimize Harm” in approaching the accident story. Within that principle is this practice: Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance. Daniels says she considered the humanity and anguish of the family at every step of her reporting process.
“People deal with grief in different ways. I respected this family’s bereavement enough to know that it was their story, not mine. Whatever they had wanted at that time would have been the deciding factor in how I would proceed.”
Accepting the invitation to visit the boy’s home, Daniels followed cues from his mother during their conversation, eventually asking if the family might want more than a routine obituary. “I think the family looked at the opportunity to tell their son’s story as a kind of memorial to him, as a way of sharing with the community what a neat and talented and loving kid he had been,” Daniels says.
By being present as a respectful and compassionate person first and as a professional journalist second, Daniels assimilated the details that would serve as a written memorial for the family. The story also became part of the package that won her the Rookie of the Year award in the 2004 New York Press Association’s Better Newspaper contest. But she wasn’t thinking of prizes the day she sat with the deceased boy’s mother.
When the interview ended, she returned to her car and simply sat for a long time, letting the impact of the story settle in her mind and heart before returning to the office to begin to write. “I was blown away by how generous the family was with me throughout the entire process,” Daniels says.
The story in the Brighton-Pittsford Post Oct. 6, 2004 ran with the full support of Alex Buettner’s family, and the headline reflected his mother’s words: “Grief is the price for love.”
Daniels says it’s good for journalists to remember that they are dealing with human beings on the emotional as well as the intellectual level. No deadline or byline can trump simple consideration or compassion. No story is more important than maintaining professional standards. “I go through a mental ethics check list with every story I write,” she says.
RETURN TO TOPSARAH DANIELS’ ADVICE:
A passion for the profession
Attention to detail means everything in journalism, says Sarah Daniels, who won the Rookie of the Year award from the New York Press Association in 2004. At that time, she was a reporter for the Messenger Post Newspapers in western New York. She now reports on education and writes general assignment stories for Patuxent Publishing/Tribune Company in Maryland.
A grammar-geek herself, Daniels recommends that same status to students. “You won’t get very far without the ability to write well-structured, grammatically correct stories,” she says. “And a lackadaisical attitude won’t result in either success or satisfaction.”
Noting that there are “easier and more lucrative careers” Daniels says, “Be sure that journalism and news are your passion.” As a lover of people by nature, she says few careers are as personally rewarding as that in which your job is to talk to people in your community and tell their stories. “This is not a career choice for shrinking violets.”
Having a passion for reporting means not only enjoying the work, but also wanting to talk about it and learn more about the best ways to do the job. Daniels continues to have great conversations with Rick Woodson, who was her mentor at the MP newspapers.
“Rick and I talk about everything having to do with news. He brings decades of experience and rich insights to our conversations about what’s in the news and how it’s getting covered and what could be done differently—done better.”
As new methods of information delivery evolve, Daniels has faith that the basic values of a well-reported story will remain. Everything outside of the largest national newspapers (Wall Street Journal and The New York Times) will become hyper-local if her sense of the future is correct.
She uses as an example a situation in Howard County, where high-density housing is a common living standard. In one townhouse community, power was lost five times in a period of nine months. Because the junction box was buried beneath a resident’s driveway, it meant five incidents of having the driveway dug up while repairs were made. “Now, that’s a situation that doesn’t have wide reader appeal,” Daniels says. “But to the residents of that community, and to the woman whose life was disturbed so dramatically and so often, it really matters.”
Daniels’s main beat these days is as education reporter for the Howard County Times and the Columbia Flier, sister newspapers of the Baltimore Sun. The school system in the area is comprised of a host of lower division schools feeding into 12 large high schools. The Howard County School System has an operating budget of $661 million and a capital budget of $100 million.
“It’s big. But for me, it’s one story at a time,” Daniels says. “Covering education puts me into the community, puts me in touch with children. I just love telling their stories and showing readers how excited the children are about learning.”
Daniels says winning the NYPA Better Newspaper Contest Rookie of the Year award was a great honor and a boost to her resume.
“Still,” she says, “It’s good for us all to remember that a journalist is only as good as her last story.”
INTERVIEW WITH JOSEPH RYAN
Superpower Wordsmith Honors Language
Routine story: an automotive plant is about to be shut down, adding to the growing roster of abandoned manufacturing facilities across the Northeast. Joseph Ryan, staff reporter for the Star-Ledger Newspaper, gets the assignment. But for him, there are no routine stories. So, what could have been another report of lay offs and economic discouragement becomes a narrative that illustrates the changing culture of Linden, N.J.
In 2003, when Ryan won the New York Press Association Writer of the Year Award for his work at the Riverdale Press, he was quoted in the NYPA contest publication as saying: “I write as if I’m unraveling knots. I ask myself how to get into the story, how to craft the lead. I begin to play with words, pace the floor, untie the knots inside me.”
In unraveling the knots in the closing of New Jersey’s last automotive plant, Ryan thought readers needed some statistics about the rise and decline of a manufacturing economy. He also thought they would be well served if he helped them to understand the big picture of the region, to put this crisis into a larger context. So, “Shifting Gears: Workers See Economy at Crossroad as Line Slows to a Halt in N.J.’s Last Auto Plant” begins with an anecdote from the 1930s.
Tracing the history of the land itself, Ryan pulls forth the power of all the literary devices commonly used in fiction, and he builds his journalistic narrative with a strong foundation by honing each word, phrase and sentence with care. The text flows with alliteration (…rise from fallow fields), metaphor/simile (…collar as blue as burning butane), description (…whose red curls pop out around his baseball cap) and well-chosen quotes. Important economic statistics are woven into the narrative in ways that do not interrupt the flow of the story.
How does a reporter who earned a degree in communication and worked as a bartender and juvenile detention center counselor after graduating from Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, learn to write with super skills? Ryan credits his mentor, Bernard Stein, former co-publisher of the Riverdale Press in the Bronx, with helping him recognize the gravitas of journalism. “He taught me to respect the power of my words,” Ryan says. “He taught me to cut through bureaucratic language and to write for my readers, not my sources.”
In “Shifting Gears,” Ryan applied that lesson about cutting through bureaucratic language in this way:
When GM official refused to say the plant was closing but admitted it was idling, he asked, “Will it start building cars again?”
“We have don’t have that determined,” the officials said.
Ryan reported it like this: Wednesday is the plant’s last scheduled production day. General Motors has refused to say the faculty is closing. There are no plans, however, to restart the assembly line.
When Ryan’s story hit the newsstands, he knew the autoworkers did not like it. “They wanted a story about the death of manufacturing and how it would lead to the death of the American economy. But that’s not necessarily the case. The point of the story is that economies change, and that’s not always bad,” Ryan explains.
The principal put forth in the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics as “Act Independently: Journalists should be free of obligation to any interest other than the public’s right to know,” resonates with Ryan.
“Too often,” he says, “ journalists write for politicians, lawyers, bureaucrats and the CEOs they cover. We often slip into the language of the campaign or courtroom, subconsciously asserting ourselves as insiders.”
But journalists are not insiders; they are observers and reporters. “We should write for outsiders,” Ryan says. Journalists must translate legalese and campaign-speak so readers can understand and care about issues that affect their lives and their communities.
“Our words have power,” Ryan says. “We need to wield them carefully.”
RETURN TO TOPJOSEPH RYAN’S ADVICE:
Write like a superhero: find strength and power in words
Joseph Ryan leaps routine stories in a single bound, and other journalists can replicate his superpowers if they pay attention to their writing. He says the strongest stories are those forged in the fire of the rewrite because it is at the revision stage that ideas can be honed into powerful words, sentences, paragraphs and stories. Many great ideas end up as mediocre stories simply because reporters don’t spend enough time on the details of editing and revising their work.
When Ryan was named Writer of the Year by the New York Press Association, he said he had a passion for telling people’s stories “honestly and gracefully.” He said he is constantly working to become a better writer and, recently, he has recognized the value to journalists of having good technology skills. Journalists of the future must prepare themselves for convergence because employers and readers are looking for news and information in a variety of media. Print publications will still be around in 2020 if Ryan is correct, but there will be fewer of them and they will be smaller in circulation and in size.
“Diversify your skills,” Ryan advises novices in the profession. “Learn how to shoot and edit video, create sound clips and post to the Web.” He says these skills are necessary even for those who aspire to be “ink-stained” reporters because every print product will probably also have a Web presence. “Good writing and reporting are not enough for success anymore,” Ryan says.
Having started his newspaper career by helping people at the Highbridge Community Center create and publish a hyper-local newspaper for residents of a densely populated nine-block area of the Bronx, Ryan is convinced of the indispensable value of local news.
“It’s our job to help people understand and care about their communities,” he says. “When we write about people, we thrust them into the public eye. We need to always choose our words carefully. But that’s especially true when we are writing about regular folks, people who have not sought public notice or scrutiny.”
When he was hired as a reporter at the weekly Riverdale Press, Ryan discovered that even a metropolis like New York City is comprised of a network of communities. Recognizing and writing the stories of people in neighborhoods, writing about people, not issues, helped him put together a portfolio that won the Writer of the Year award in 2003. He credits his publishers at the Press, Richard Stein and Pulitzer Prize-winner Bernard Stein, with helping him develop his writing and reporting skills.
“Every rookie reporter needs a mentor and an editor,” Ryan says. “If you’re lucky, as I was, your editor will become your mentor. But if your editor is a lousy mentor, seek out someone else and learn from that person. You can choose your mentors, but you can’t always pick your editors.”
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