The power of curiosity

 “Learn as much as you can about everything” was Mark Schleifsteins advice to young budding journalists on Wednesday night. Schleifstein, a 3-time Pulitzer prize winner, talked about his experience in the mass communication industry and the topics of fisheries and hurricane Katrina that won him one of the most prestigious awards.
What does it take to be a good reporter? A question that haunts most amateur journalists. According to Schleifstein it is curiosity and the ability to write. It is through curiosity that journalists learn to pick up different skills that will help them in their reporting career. The difference between a veteran reporter and an amateur is the ability to know which questions to ask and to whom. Schleifsteins question he always asks at the end of an interview is, “What haven’t I asked that I ought to have asked?” Sometimes there isn’t anything, while other times sources bring up important points that he may have missed. As reporters become more experienced they are collecting questions as well as answers.
One aspect of Schleifsteins lecture that I found interesting was on the “Dead Zone,” an ominous name for a severe environmental problem. The “Dead Zone” essentially is an area of low oxygen. This happens in spring when huge blooms of algae are created. The algae blooms and then dies, sinking to the bottom of the body of water. When the algae reaches the bottom it uses up all of the oxygen. Small animals, such as, sea stars, sea urchins, and any other type of life form residing on the sea floor that can not relocate are then smothered and die. The Gulf of New Mexico is not the only place with a dead zone, there are many others located in the U.S. and around the world.
Schleifstein predicts that the Gulf of New Mexico’s “dead zone” is going to become a big problem over the next two years, if we don’t have a lot of hurricanes to turn over the water and bring oxygen to the sea floor.
Also the series Schleifstein did on hurricane Katrina had a big impact on the community of New Orleans. Due to his stories, all sites of the interstate highway system were opened up to move everyone out in a quick and orderly fashion. It was also because of the series that the mayor got behind the movement to get everyone out and relocated to safer areas. Schleifstein calls the evacuation, “The most successful evacuation in U.S. history.” This evacuation saved over 1.2 million lives, roughly 80 – 90 percent of the  New Orleans population.
--Erin Widby