Generation J Committee Blog

Hello again

Hi everyone. Sorry for my short absence from the blog. I've been bogged down as region 11 director and in switching jobs quite often (as I fill in for ladies on maternity leave). We have at least two new bloggers to introduce: Jenny Blandford and Aeisha Little. Please know that I am looking to gather a multitude of voices on this blog -- if you are interested please e-mail me at sonyanews at mac.com.

The hardest thing I've ever covered: Eight Belles

Note: This is a continuation of "Covering the Kentucky Derby red carpet...then Eight Belles"

Immediately following the Kentucky Derby, it was my job to get back to Churchill Downs's barn area and speak with the connections of the 19 losing connections with the help of my co-worker, Mike. This year, it was different, because the filly Eight Belles had broken down and was humanely euthanized on the track.

Like I said in the previous post, I covered the same "post race aftermath" last year, and it was great. This year, not so much. Walking on the track last year, I could hear the loud roar of the crowd from the grandstands. This year, people stood in disbelief of what had happened moments earlier. A great silence hung overhead.

As Mike and I walked to the barn area, we hung our heads and kept saying, "I can't believe this," or "what a shame," or "how, why did this happen," or "this is a huge blow." I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach. I mean, horses break down every single day--on and off the track, in training or on the farms. I have seen numerous horses breakdown while watching races on television or in replays but never experienced it in person, first hand.

And, with Eight Belles breaking down, it could not have happened to a nicer trainer than Larry Jones. He became one of my favorite trainers last year while training last year's Kentucky Derby runner-up Hard Spun, who I became a huge fan of and look forward to his career at stud.

Last year,  Jones was tickled and beaming with proudness after Hard Spun's runner-up finish. I could only imagine what he would have said of Eight Belles had the circumstances been different. I mean, the 20 three-year-olds in the Derby are the best in their crop of 35,000 and each earned and proved they were the best by racing in the 1 1/4-mile classic.

Standing outside Barn 43, where Jones and owner Rick Porter's Fox Hill Farms was left with an empty stall was tough. I stood there in disbelief and was saddened. When Jones finally came out of his barn office, he simply shook Porter's hand before pulling him in for a hug. Jones paced up and down the shedrow, his head hung and only the top of his white cowboy hat visible.

After being shooed off by police and security guards, I continued to talk to the other connections, but the sadness and loss of Eight Belles was felt throughout the barn area. Other trainers, including Barbaro's trainer Michael Matz, had nothing but encouraging words and sympathy for Jones, Porter, and anyone who worked with Eight Belles.

It has taken me a few days to accept what happened with Eight Belles and the Thoroughbred  industry in the national spotlight, it's going to take me some time to get past. But, life goes on and so will Thoroughbred racing. I will continue to attend the races, cover this sport, and move on, knowing Eight Belles will not be the last horse I see, or hear of, breaking down.

Covering the Kentucky Derby red carpet and then...Eight Belles

I wish I could say covering this year's Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) on May 3 was as great as last year, but I cannot.

This was my second consecutive year covering "the greatest two minutes in sports" for Thoroughbred Times, an international newsmagazine based in Lexington, Ky.

To recap my day, beginning to right after the Kentucky Derby, here goes...
I left Lexington for Louisville, about a 75 mile drive, around 7:45 a.m. Once I arrived at Churchill Downs, my co-workers and I settled into our assigned area in the Auxillary Press Room.

My assignments from my editor via email was to cover the Derby Red Carpet and two undercard graded stakes races. I already knew what my main magazine story assignment was--talking to the connections of the 19 losing three-year-olds. I had the same "post race aftermath" story last year and loved every minute of it.

Covering the Derby Red Carpet was a lot of fun. Our videographer even handed me a microphone and filmed all the interviews. So, I had two firsts in one--interviewing celebrities and being captured on film, which was later posted to our homepage. I interviewed the likes of Taylor Dayne, Joey Fatone, Brad and John Hennegan, and trainer Carl Nafzer, who conditioned 133rd Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense last year.
After covering the Red Carpet, it was back to the press center and onto covering two undercard graded stakes races.

Before I knew it, it was 35 minutes to post for the 134th running of the Kentucky Derby. Like last year, I stood in the tunnel and watched as each of the contenders and their trainers passed less than ten feet in front of me on the way to the track. I whispered "good luck" to jockey Rafael Bejarano aboard Anak Nakal, I smiled at trainer Barclay Tagg as he led Tale of Ekati and he smiled back, and was amazed out how awesome Eight Belles, the only filly in the field, looked with trainer Larry Jones leading her. Little did I know at the time her life would end approximately five minutes later after running one of the most powerful races of her short career.

After hearing "My Old Kentucky Home" being played throughout Churchill, the horses
soon loaded in the gate and they were off. I watched the Derby down by the rail next to the connections of Big Brown. As the field turned for home, I saw Big Brown advancing on the turn and new at that moment he had this year's Kentucky Derby won. The field passed in front of me once more and the long road to the Derby was over.

The connections of Big Brown began immediately celebrating and then, that's when I saw it...the equine ambulances flying by.

I turned to my co-worker, Mike, and said, "Oh s***. Oh no...what happened?"
Obviously, from where we were, you couldn't see anything except for Big Brown's connections celebrating.

As the jockeys came trailing back after getting off their mounts, we talked to a few jockeys, including Robby Albarado, who informed us Eight Belles, the runner-up, had broken down and possibly broken both of her front legs. Albarado described the breakdown as "the worse breakdown he has seen in his 19-year riding career."

For my experience covering the aftermath, including the reactions from the connections of Eight Belles, see "The hardest thing I've ever covered: Eight Belles".

Organizing sources

Lately I've been working on a crazy project: to organize and categorize all of my sources into one Microsoft Excel spread sheet.

I know, I know most of you out there will think it is just some crazy pursuit and one that takes too much time. But, I'll try to prove you wrong.

First, I got the idea during an investigative training course held at my paper - the OC Register. One of our speakers and teachers was the amazing reporter Ron Campbell. He works in business - but he's pretty much our paper's best computer-assisted reporter. He'll take weeks to work on most stories - but each one is highly researched, highly interesting and most of all - based on figures he's found buried in data but told through real people that drive his stories home.

His training showed our group how to organize sources, phone logs and other data - things he said are critical to running a professional investigation. I'd always thought my sources were organized - nothing like the scribbled example sheet he showed of  a reporter's usual, disorganized source list.

And then I went back to my desk. I found sources anywhere and everywhere. I had names and numbers written down on stickies, scraps of paper and other documents. I figured, hey, I have nothing to be ashamed of - I just switched beats in November and my Irvine sources are much better organized than my new tech sources. But no! I found those sources in three different Word documents by topic (and some on the wrong sheets), in old e-mails and on my phone.

Well, I've already told you what I've been doing as a result of this mess. I've made an Excel chart and started entering sources. Already I have a database of over 350 sources. Many I had forgotten, many I am missing e-mails and cell numbers for and many of the new tech companies I am covering - I do not have one regular person I talk with about the company. This has been very time consuming, BUT I now realize Campbell's words to be true - I don't have the time to NOT organize my sources. Already my chart has helped me find people to talk with - and slowly I'll continue to add new sources and to add information for the sources already on my chart.

Favorite journalism movie quotes

So I thought it would be fun for us all to share our favorite moments or quotes from movies about journalism.

My quote is from Superman - the original movie. Sure it's a bit overdone, but Lois' reaction is hardly ever mentioned but makes me laugh about covering politics. It also reminds me of how we should not ever just investigate one elected official - but all of them.

I'm such a Superman freak that my computers are named in his spirit - my computer, an iMac, is Superman; my laptop, a G4 15-inch, is Lois Lane (she came first, btw); and my iPhone is Jimmy - as in Jimmy Olsen the photographer.

Superman: I'm here to fight for truth, and justice, and the American way.
Lois Lane: [Laughs] You're gonna end up fighting every elected official in this country!

Shift change

I always thought the phrase, "change of shift," sounded really redundant when taken out of context.

Anyway, for the past year, I've had the early morning shift of the paper. I wake up every day at 6 a.m. to report to the police station and make the morning checks.

The thing is, I'm 26 years old, single and still into the nightlife. I've honestly always been a nightcrawler. When I went to college, I took one class that started at 8 a.m., and I ended up failing it and having to retake it. Afterward, I never took classes before 11 a.m.

When I was on Guam, my shift was from 2 to 11 p.m. My happy hour was midnight. That was my shift for two years.

So after six years of waking up after the morning rush hour, I've had to adjust to waking up well before the traffic begins to bottleneck; before the morning dew has dried up; before anyone else starts work. Granted, I do know there are a lot of broadcast folks (and some 24/7 newsroom operations) that wake up at odder hours. I was just hoping that I'd get used to my schedule after a year. But this morning was as groggy and lazy as the first morning.

So what kind of schedules do you folks have? Is it a 9 to 5er? Is it a late shift?

Stuck in the habit

When my editor is reading my work, I have a tendency to sit behind him, reading over his shoulder and doing some "backseat editing" (I guess you could call it that... kind of like backseat driving).

After copy editing for a few years, and doing amateur editing for years before that, I find it's very hard to break the habit of editing.

My siblings stopped letting me read their school papers years ago because I would fix grammer, sentence strucure, spelling mistakes. No matter how good the high school essay I can always find one typo or missing comma and that drives them nuts. Friends in college gave me their papers to read for just that reason.

But now that I'm a writer, I find it's hard to drop the editing side. I miss being able to fix someone else's work, question their motives and sources and cut for size. I miss being able to mess with the design if I need to, or fixing leading to make a story fit.

My own writing doesn't get the same attention to detail. I'm too close to it. I can write something and sit on it for a few days, then go back and question my own motives and sentences. But rarely is there time for such critique. Giving up control of your work is difficult to do. I recognize I'm a bit of a control freak, but then so are so many writers who hand over their work with confidence to editors. I fear the editors will miss a mistake, or make something incorrect.

How do writers hand over their works with confidence, even on tight deadline? Will I ever get used to it? And how to make my own writing mistake-free so that I don't have to fret over what happens to it?

I guess patience and trust will come in time, but for now I'll be the one standing behind my editor, pointing out mistakes I missed the first time around.

Determining an agenda

Somehow, the media often knows news first.
Much of the reason behind that is people tip us off. Reporters are frequently getting calls from the public letting us know when something's going down.
But we can't forget to ask ourselves why they call.
For big things, like insider information or crime or legal troubles, we have to think what the caller's motive is for tipping us off. Why does this person want the public to know?
Making a phone call or writing an e-mail is not difficult, but people generally are lazy and won't put in the effort unless they think they get something out of it.
Not everyone, I hope, has a motive. I like to think there are some nice people in the world who believe in the public's right to know and in aiding the media, but I am not so naive that I think everyone is just trying to help us out.

So... how to tell the difference between a friendly heads-up and someone trying to stir up trouble or take someone else down?

I make every attempt to research the caller if possible, and think about what they have to gain from public knowledge of their tip. Sometimes the only solution I come up with is that they just want people to know, but sometimes there is definitely a little sinister something in a caller's mind when they pick up the phone to dial.

How much is too much?

I've been a reporter for only a few months now and when I got a work cell phone the first thing I did (after turning it on of course) was put the number on my office voice mail so that contacts could reach me when I'm not in the office.

Being available all the time was great in the beginning. But as I've done more articles, more readers have been calling the number listed with my name to ask questions or comment and because it's my work cell I nearly always answer.

But no longer. As of today, my cell phone number is not on my office voicemail. I'll still give out the number, but on an individual basis to people I need to speak with for work.

The phone annoyed me for the first time when I got a call very early on a Sunday from a reader asking a question I didn't have an answer for. The reader was adamant they needed an answer right away but I couldn't help them. If they had called on a weekday I would have been able to track down an answer, but the weekend is no good. The phone call woke me up when I much preferred to sleep in, and the reader (and I) were frustrated I couldn't help.

A couple days ago I took my work cell phone with me to a step aerobics class because I was expecting a call from a source a few minutes after the class ended. However, about 20 minutes into the class, with my heart going and sweat dripping, I noticed that the phone light was blinking. I grabbed the phone and rushed out, thinking that the source had called early. And was it the source? No. It was a reader with a really simple question.

So that was my breaking point.

I'm still available to readers through e-mail and my office phone, which I answer when I'm there and always return calls as soon as possible. But I don't need to be available to everyone all the time, 24 hours a day. And especially not at the gym, or on a weekend.

Anyone else have stories about this problem?

Rethinking and renewing

It's a new year and time to renew my committment to the SPJ blog!

So, what has everyone been doing during over the holidays? Any resolutions?

Sonya in her last post asked if we have any New Year's resolutions. Well, I do.

I recently got a job as a reporter covering local news and city council and have resolved in the next year to get better at my job, and to ask for more feedback from my editors so I can improve quicker.

I also have a small list of goals to reach by the end of the year.

Any one else have concrete resolutions or goals for the new year?

New Year's Resolutions anyone?

It's that time of year again!
Everyone thinks up to January 1 how they'll eat less, exercise more and write friends more often. But, maybe we should plan out resolutions for journalism.
I've been thinking about what I should work on the most next year and I think I'll resolve to be a better writer, online reporter and broadcaster (for those web videos).
Any other resolutions?

Getting rid of notes

Yesterday I spent several minutes with my audio recorder, thumbing through 99 recordings of past interviews and erasing them off the machine. I know, I was lazy and I should've just deleted them a long time ago.

Usually I wait a week after the date my story is published until I either throw away a notebook or erase the recording. I think a week is good enough time for all parties involved to respond to any concerns regarding a story. If it's a particularly sensitive story, I wait a little longer.

As far as computer notes, however, I generally end up holding on to them the whole time. It's nice to have a rolodex of past quotes to rely on, even though I rarely ever use them.

So I was just wondering how long you guys take before deleting recordings, or throwing away notes in general?

Hello again

Hi everyone!
So sorry for the long time you've waited for something from us gen jers.
I've transitioned to a new job at the OCRegister, as a technology reporter through March, and I've also been elected as SPJs region 11 director. But, neither of those changes should have prevented me from blogging for all of you.
It's time, therefore, for me to catch up with all of you. Please share your biggest frustrations and joys lately in the journalism field. Here are my thoughts:

I think right now is a great time and a difficult time for young journalists.
My joy is that with all of the revolutionary journalism models, us young ones are given a big chance to try new things and prove ourselves.
My frustration is that with everything shifting in the journalism world (that includes print, broadcast and online) we young ones are looking to managament to show the way - show us what we should be doing. But, even management is confused on what direction to lead the staff, putting some of us in very difficult positions.

What we're not doing

How many of us actually read our own publication, watch our own program, or listen to ourselves on the radio?
Not as many as one would expect.
At my last job, every 6 months or so an editor would remind us to read the newspaper. It's painfully obvious if someone hasn't been reading it - they won't know which stories get second-day heads, or that we've been running a contest promo for the last five days, or a myriad of other things that one can learn by staying updated on what the company is doing.
Keeping up with daily publicatons (shows, etc) can be challenging, especially if it's a large area where there's a lot going on. But knowing what your colleagues are doing is priceless, and will pay off when editors realize you know your stuff.
And you don't have to read every word of every piece. A quick morning skimming of hot topics, even just reading heads and decks, will give you an update on the city and information about your colleagues. You'll know who's putting in more stories, and what the well-written stories look like.
Also, you'll learn the style of other employees and know when they've done something great so you can compliment them (a little deserved ego-boost never hurts). And if you're just starting out you can learn from the headlines or articles you're reading to improve your own work.
So never underestimate doing your own daily research. This little act can really pay off and is impressive, because most people forget to keep up with their own company's work.

Match-up as a mentor

New Jersey Pro President (and Generation J Committee Chairwoman) Michelle Maskaly recently reminded SPJ members that Mentor Match-Up program helps to promote great journalism by introducing journalists with varied backgrounds and experience levels.
Need some guidance? Not sure if you should stay or go? Want to help an aspiring journalist get a start?
Please consider becoming a part of the program. Also remember that you can both sign up for an older mentor and as a mentor yourself to younger journalists.