New York Times reporter in da house

The journalism department at UMaine started a new program this spring. They invite seasoned reporters to come to school for two days and visit with writing classes. This is a nifty idea that I whole-heartedly support.

This year's guest was Abby Goodnough who heads up the New England (sans CT) bureau for The New York Times. I thought being such a chi-chi paper she'd have a pretty cushy job. Not so much. She is responsible for finding stories in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island that would appeal to the NYT reader. Believe it or not New England isn't a huge national news source!

Her day consists of scouring news sources to see if there is anything earth-shattering going on. She writes about 20 news stories a month for the NYT. While she prefers to write feature stories she also has to do such things as gather audio and blog if it's a timely news piece. She has had to deal with the issue of convergence and admits she and other reporters often complain about it. No doubt she has to do more these days when covering a story than she did in 1995 when she started at the NYT. Back then they had a neat-o program where you worked as a clerk for two years and then the head honchos at the paper decided if they wanted to hire you on as a full-time reporter. They don't have anything like that these days, kids.

And while she has a company car and they pay for her gas to travel for work, repairs, and insurance, Abby says that the paper is looking into discontinuing this program to save $$. Even little 'ol MPBN has company cars! Wowee!

In any case, my students were surprised that she spends sometimes up to FOUR WHOLE DAYS reporting and writing a regular feature story. She doesn't just sit down and write a story the night before it's due and uses her friends and mom as sources. They also realized they may be a bit more prepared for a job in the media these days then the decade before them. I harp to my students that they need to know more than just writing....but that knowing how to write is the most important factor. If you don't have a good story than the video, slide show, blog, and audio clip will seem silly.