It was the second week of classes at St. Patrick School in Bay Shore. I remember sitting in Mrs. Canonico’s eighth grade English class when the principal’s voice came over the loud speaker asking that everyone take a moment of silence. I remember thinking that I must have forgotten some religious holiday, or a ‘this day in history’ lesson. Sadly, I hadn’t. After...
Learn MoreCommunity Journalism at Newsday has two primary elements, hyperlocal and real-time. The hyperlocal element keeps me in my car most of the day (one weekend, for example, I had to cover a story in Northport and Albertson (travelling ~30 miles within 60 minutes of one another) and real-time means I need to file quickly. One of the key ways I accomplish this is by heavily...
Learn MoreDid I do enough research? What does my source look like? Where do I park? Am I too early? Am I too late? This is the panic attack I have in the car on my way to many stories. No matter how much research I have done I have a fear of blanking out, forgetting a face, forgetting a fact, or when a subject is sensitive, putting my foot in my mouth. I did a story last week at a...
Learn MoreA blog post by one of my former professors, Barbara Selvin, spurred a lot of debate last week. Professor Selvin wrote about some of the hurtles Stony Brook School of Journalism students need to go through in order to navigate the University Media Relations department. A response from Interim Media Relations Director, Lauren Sheprow, caused an uproar in student, former...
Learn MorePromo for my department at Newsday Monday was a day of adventure for me. On my first day at Newsday I invited my boss to get in the car with me, tried Sushi (and other Japanese foods) for the first time and took a camera through Schmitt’s Farm’s Haunted House… all of which seems benign on the surface. My boss offered to take me and my Suffolk...
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