Spreading the good word

Mark Schleifstein has certainly made a name for himself as a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. He has earned himself three Pulitzer Prizes, two of which were for his coverage on the Hurricane Katrina disaster in southern Louisiana.

His presentation to our Journalism 202 class, in written form, could be considered a “journalism bible”, second only to the Associated Press Stylebook, of course. He was a gold mine of advice because he has taken the necessary steps to become a great journalist, and he explained the characteristics an aspiring journalist must have.

First of all, a journalist must be a very curious individual. Without a natural desire to seek the truth, there is no motivation to utilize all-important writing skills. According to Schleifstein, writing in a news-style format must become second nature, just as excellent verbal skills must become second nature to a broadcast reporter.

Although it may be tempting for a young journalist to jump into a specialized area of the news, it is vital that they “learn as much about everything as possible”. Beginning positions often require a broad range of knowledge, as the reporter will often be asked to cover many different topics. With more experience comes greater possibility of covering topics of personal interest.

Schleifstein went on to illustrate how a good story comes to be, using his Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of Louisiana fisheries as an example. He began by identifying a possible story idea, in this case a over-fishing issue in the Gulf of Mexico. He then sold his superiors on the concept by explaining (in flowery detail) why this story would appeal to the public audience.

The next step was organizing how the project would be divided. In this case, Schleifstein took the “habitat” angle of the story, and his partner was responsible for the “over-fishing” angle. From there, they both developed different aspects of their angles, which allowed them to produce enough material to fill a section of the Times-Pucayune for eight straight days.

What followed was the dirty work. Identifying who needed to be interviewed, conducting the interviews, and researching their topics was a task that took over a year to accomplish. This investigation was crucial, allowing them to pinpoint the variables contributing to the problem and to produce suggested solutions.

Schleifstein made it clear that conflict will most certainly arise from hard-hitting news stories that will affect large companies and associations. He also made it clear that disgruntled business entities should not have the power to erase the truth from your investigations. As a journalist, you are a public servant, and should act as such.
--Howard Hardee