Freelance

U-T San Diego

Mobile-home owners hit with rent control fee

Chula Vista rec, library to merge

South Bay Community Services to move downtown

Applicants sought for exchange program

Friendship Games planned for Saturday

Sharp Chula Vista cancer center brings services under one roof

Exercise your shopping options at Team USA Store

Chula Vista OKs rules for undoing tourism tax

Chula Vista leans on private industry

Marijuana initiative appears headed to ballot

Chula Vista council wrestles with budget

Chula Vista breaks ground for Third Avenue project

Courtyard homes come to Otay Ranch

Bright future for academic standouts

Report says Chula Vista police short on 'proactive time'

Fight against childhood obesity kicks off

National City rejects Walmart liquor-sales request

Chula Vista pushes home energy upgrades

Marketing manager shares Chula Vista plan

Citizens get a look at Chula Vista budget

Complaints over cheer team

San Diego Uptown News

Old House Fair promises new features

San Diego's 23rd EarthFair draws diverse crowd and ideas (Photos and Copy)

Photos

Sets & Galleries

• Pictures From The Hawaii Capitol Today
• Civil Unions: Photos Of A Day Of Drama
• Homelessness: Gene Champion

learning a lot

I've been drinking from the fire hydrant again. Too many lessons learned to summarize all here, but a couple of highlights I don't want to forget:

• Submit records requests for correspondence to ALL parties involved in the exchanges. That will help keep everybody honest and ensure nobody's burying the inconvenient parts of the conversation.
• E-mail people — in advance, as follow-up, or just to plain get their attention if they're not returning your calls. I know they told us in J-school not to do this, but it helps prepare your sources for your phone calls. They're better prepared with answers for your questions, and it makes for higher-quality conversations almost every single time. Also, an e-mail, unlike a voicemail, continues sitting there as a reminder that they need to respond.
• BE. TEACHABLE. I don't know even half of everything. Every suggestion or critique is an opportunity to learn.
• Don't be afraid of people questioning you.
• Be tenacious. Follow up, follow up, follow up, and get people's cell phone numbers and e-mail addresses.
• Sit down face-to-face with key sources. Have lunch or coffee. Get to know them, let them get to know you and just talk story. It's better to establish solid relationships before you need something from them. They'll be more likely to help you later on. And you can get tons of story ideas from this practice.

OK, got lots to do today still — 4:10 p.m. on a Friday before a four-day weekend. Oy.

Awards

• First Place Public Service Reporting, 2011 SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards, Hawaii Chapter, for "Taken for a Ride" series on Hawaii's rising school bus costs
• First Place Government Reporting, 2011 SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards, Hawaii Chapter,  for "Taken for a Ride" series on Hawaii's rising school bus costs
• First Place News Photography, 2010 SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards, Hawaii Chapter
• Finalist, Photo Essay, 2010 SPJ Excellence in Journalism Awards, Hawaii Chapter
• First Place Non-Deadline Reporting in 2009 Alabama Associated Press Managing Editors Contest for "When Homelessness Hits Home"
• First Place Best Special Section in 2009 Associated Press of Alabama Better Newspaper Contest for "When Homelessness Hits Home"
• Second Place Best News Feature in 2010 Associated Press of Alabama Better Newspaper Contest for "Caution: Dangerous Reading Ahead"
• First Place Community Service Journalism 2008, Associated Press of Alabama
• First Place Sports News 2007 Michigan Press Association College Editorial Contest

Ft. Benning

Celebrating #Seussday

Dear friends out in cyberland,

Today is the day we celebrate Dr. Seuss' birth, and for that occasion, of rhymes there should be no dearth. Horton may have heard a Who, but today readers across America want to hear from YOU.

So pick up your writing utensils, from keyboards to hand-crafted pencils; take a little time to craft a short rhyme. Channel the spirit of Dr. Seuss and your writing brain will surely come loose. Today is the day for procrastination as we recognize great books across the nation! So come join us please, on Blogger, Facebook or Twitter. Choose your own venue, but don't fail to remember great literature.

Confessions & Honor to the Profession

OK, I admit it: I have been keeping an anonymous blog elsewhere, where I am able to be more...free, I suppose, with my thoughts. I update it much more frequently than I do this one. I am struggling to find the right balance for expressing my thoughts and observations without getting caught up in sharing my opinions.

I think it's too easy for journalists to compromise their integrity if they don't guard themselves against slugging in the cyber-streets with the outspoken factions of the online community. Sharing too freely also inevitably compromises (real or perceived) credibility — i.e. others' perception of a reporter's ability to impart information with an even and balanced hand. Doesn't it?

At any rate. My readers over "there" know what my profession is, although my name is in no way associated with the blog (and it's going to remain that way until I am comfortable making a complete and permanent move over here).

After a particularly engaging discussion in my comments section with an outspoken health care reform opponent this week, I received accolades from other bloggers I hadn't realized were reading my posts — much less the comments on them.

I have to share this, because it makes me happy. A private message from one of my more critical readers:

You did a very nice job defending your position on Universal Health care against ************s opposing views.

More often than not, I find her argument style to be too casually dismissive without backing up her position with any discernible specific details. She also has a habit of bringing up the words "The Constitution" as if the words alone support her argument over her opponents without "bothering" to name any details on how it supports her case.

Bravo to you for actually bringing the challenge to her by citing specific references of the Constitution and the founding fathers that would support Federal involvement in health care. Debating with someone where you are the only one doing the heavy lifting of citing references and supporting links can be tedious, time consuming, and require patience, but the fruit is showing your argument to be the stronger one. While it may not have swayed ************'s position on the matter, those who read the exchange will hopefully be led out of the darkness of misinformation and deceptive/biased talking heads and their MSM focal point.

Your non-biased sensible point of view is refreshing, and you give honor to your profession with that mindset/attitude. =)

I've had discussions with her, and found the task to be quite trying with her sporting a condescending attitude even when proven factually wrong in nearly all the points she was trying to make- and she usually starts arguing against alternate points which I never made....as I see she was attempting to do with you. That's one of the reasons why I liked reading your exchange- you kept the discussion on track and didn't let it veer off.

I'm continually shocked by some articles that people attempt to pass as professional journalism. I see so much biased/straw-man reporting that it depresses me at times as to where the future of journalism is headed, as it seems that the masses can be more easily sucked in by the pretty lie than the uncomfortable truth.

Seeing reporters like yourself gives me hope that the future in news need not be as bleak as I sometimes think.

G

I am sharing this not because I wish to gloat about those kind words directed at me, but because the feedback encourages me that I may not necessarily have to be so guarded in public places. And I want to start opening this blog up more for authentic discussion and learning; not despite the possibility of compromising me and my fellow journalists, but because I want to help reinstate the public's trust in professional journalism and those who commit it.

iWant

I am a child of the digital age, and I warmly embrace this fact. I also live and breathe journalism.

That said, my birthday is coming up, and I have some work-related wants. Make a note of it.*

Canon EF 50 mm f/1.8 lens

Olympus digital voice recorder with USB interface. There are several models. I'm not picky, as long as sound quality is good.

What's not to love about alphabet ice?

Newspaper wallet. To go with the newspaper tote bag @sharongracepjs gave me for my 24th birthday.

Some of the items inspired by this wish list for journalists.

Also, I hear we can make directories of our wants at wishtracker.net.

*I'm kidding. I don't expect anyone to buy these things for me. I'll probably beat you to it.

Homelessness Project | Images

*Note: If you are interested in reading all the stories in their entirety, check out the Web edition here. All the stories and photo galleries should be linked to one another.

Now. As for the print edition...

A1 teasers for the week leading up to the special section's publication. I only saved three of the papers from that week, evidently.


Rack card, which went in our newsstands for the week leading up to publication.


A1 the day of publication. With an explanatory column about why and how we did the project.


D1: A special presentation by...


D2-D3




D5


D6

The greatest lessons...

aren't the ones we expect we'll learn. They are unexpected, hiding in the shadows of all the great things we try to accomplish.

From October through December 2009, I tackled what grew into the largest and most ambitious project of my young journalism career.

It all sprang from a seemingly small idea: to write a profile of a homeless person. The profile would give a little more meaning to some statistical data released by the Homelessness Coalition in our coverage area.

Then I learned a close friend of mine from college had ended up living on the streets of Minneapolis for a while. Although she retained her job, she couldn't afford to make rent for several weeks.

It shifted the angle of my homelessness project from just a profile to a project geared toward addressing the stereotypes we have of those who end up homeless: are the stereotypes true, and if not, how are they wrong?

I knew grappling with a subject that big and involved would take more than one story. It would take a series. Or, as my editors later advised, a special section.

So began my journey to the shelters, alleyways, vacant homes and hand-built camp sites where I learned the personal stories of countless displaced individuals. Getting them to talk frankly was never the challenge; getting them to go on record was the difficult part.

Photos, video and audio were also a sensitive issue with many. One subject demanded her entire story be removed from the special section, because she feared her photo being published.

With a team of seven from our newsroom — two reporters, two photographers, a Web producer, a graphic designer and an associate editor — we completed a six-page special section: "When Homelessness Hits Home."

I learned countless things in the process of producing my first special section, but here are some highlights:

• When embarking on a large project, first pitch it thoroughly to all your colleagues and superiors. Test their receptivity and interest.
• Find out who is on your team before you begin.
• Ask questions, and keep your managers/editors in the loop.
• If you need a bodyguard, don't be afraid to ask.
  
• Be specific when delegating responsibilities. Who needs to do what when?
• Give yourself plenty of time to complete the task. Don't rush it, and don't rush your sources. If you want to get to know them, spend time with them while they're going about their daily tasks.
  
• Give yourself and your team early incremental deadlines. Be flexible with them, but don't ignore them or you will regret it.
• Multi-task. If you're a reporter and you have a camera, keep it with you in case you get the rare chance to capture those moments that are so hard to recreate.
• Have meetings. Everyone hates meetings, but a well-run meeting can keep everybody running in the same direction and relieve a lot of stress for you as project manager.
• If possible, have the project put together well in advance of its publication date, to give you time to decompress before seeing it in print.
• Promote it!
  

Public Records: Use Them

Cross-check names against public records. Not just names, but everything. Document-based journalism is the context we need for meaningful stories. News without context is just noise, as one of my mentors pointed out.

In Series...

A few things I'm learning as I work on an ambitious series to run at the end of the year:

1. Plan, plan, plan. Try to map out ahead of time what stories you will have and in what order; when you want to run them and how.
   
2. If you are working with someone else, be sure to delegate and let the other people pull their own weight.
3. Communicate. Bring the other reporters, photographers, editors and Web producers inside your head so they can know where the project is going and can offer help in their areas of expertise.
4. Make and meet self-imposed deadlines. Any series is going to require a lot of interview and writing time, so be sure to do interviews early and keep up with your notes and transcriptions. Give yourself early deadlines for each story so you don't try to cram all your information through a bottleneck of time near the publication date.
5. Pace yourself. Don't do all your interviews in one night. Try to seize on your free moments in the regular workday to make progress, instead of waiting to block off an entire day to work on the project.
   
6. Don't overdo it. It might sound awesome to have photos, graphics, video AND audio slideshows to go with all your text stories, but sometimes attempts at complementing can turn into redundancy. Determine the most effective way to tell each element of the story, and don't overtell it.
   
7. ASK for help when you need it. If you're beginning to feel in over your head, remember there are others in the newsroom who might enjoy a piece of your action.
8. Have fun. Remember why on earth you decided to take on this project in the first place, and love every minute of it.
   

Grand juries: what they didn't teach me in civics

Nothing will show you how much you don't know about government and the justice system as effectively as splashing into local news coverage as a cub reporter.

You will find yourself asking what the difference is between a regular jury and a grand jury, the difference between civil and criminal lawsuits, what role the municipal councils have with relation to the county commission, why there are county schools in cities that have school systems and so forth.

And you will learn the hard way. The answers to some of these questions will depend on where you work. Each city, county and state has its own unique operational characteristics.

The answer to the grand jury question, by the way, is here, from uscourts.gov:

''A grand jury decides if there is a probable cause to indict (accuse) individuals or corporations on criminal charges based upon the evidence presented. Grand jury sessions are held in a private room with only the grand jury, which consists of 23 individuals, government lawyers, court reporters, an interpreter if needed, and the witnesses to be heard, all under oath."

The U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment requires a grand jury indictment for federal criminal charges. According to the American Bar Association, every federal jurisdiction has one, and it usually sits for about five or six consecutive days per month. Some states don't use them, however; other states in the subset that do use them require their indictment for only certain crimes.

In leaving: reflecting on what my readers and sources taught me

Aug. 7, 2009

When I started work here a year ago, I never suspected leaving my post at the southern bureau of this local paper would be so bittersweet.

If I have learned nothing else in the last 13 months, it is that the news – good and bad – never ends. There will always be new projects to work on and old projects to plug away at, and no matter what time you choose to move on, there will always be loose ends. In the last several weeks, I have learned to accept that some things get left unfinished. I hope, though, I am not merely leaving, but instead leaving my successor(s) with some things to carry forward – like some of these stories I wish I could have seen through before my departure:

• The opening of the new Mexican restaurant in this city. In a county hit so hard by the economic recession, good news is now even better news.
• The passage of a telecommunications ordinance that would allow construction of cellular towers that would improve mobile phone service for residents.
• The case of a shooting involving a member of the police force. The shooting happened 10 months ago and I have written more than a dozen stories on its various aspects, but its late placement on the grand jury docket means my colleague will take the torch from here.
• The new school year. A year of hope and countless stories within stories about children I have met, children of people I have met, and children I never got the opportunity to meet.
• An examination into why this county has no drug court, and what having one might mean for the citizens here.
• The completion of new garden homes in a nearby tiny town, and what it will mean for their local economy as well as the economy in nearby cities.
• The construction of a new independent-living facility for the seniors in this city.
• Resolution and conclusion of the citizens' law suit against a nearby waste management company.

I don’t flatter myself that my work has done wonders for the south end of this county -- after all, I was following in legendary footsteps – but I know the cities I covered have done wonders for me.

Each article I reported deepened the realization that every story has more than one, or even two sides. Most have many sides, and all deserve to be told.

The people of this coverage area, in a hundred ways in hundreds of days, have taught me something of even more importance when I think about my future: the vitality of the local newspaper. By vitality, I mean two things: the local newspaper’s ability to thrive during the hard times, and as an extension of that, its utter, incalculable importance and value to the community.

The local paper’s vitality is evident when at a 9 a.m. city council meeting, the only people present are the council members, reporters from the local news outlets, and a handful of civic leaders. The actions taken by the council are no less weighty by having only five people present instead of 50, and it is up to your local newspaper to report those actions to those who can’t be there themselves.

A 7 a.m. school board meeting draws even fewer attendees, but your local newspaper will have someone there to hold your elected officials accountable for your tax dollars.

When others stop caring, your reporter will care – about the big stories and the small ones. Not just because it’s our job and we have to, but because it’s our life.

We work long hours to put information in your hands that will empower you to remain involved in this democratic government that allows its citizens to help shape policies.

I didn’t come to this conclusion alone. The readers and residents in my coverage areas taught me, as some demonstrated what could be done, and others resigned themselves, thinking they could do nothing.

Regardless of your agreement or disagreement with perceived positions in a newspaper or on a television station, remember it is dedicated to preserving your freedoms by giving you information. It is up to you what to do with it, but we would fail miserably at our jobs if we did not at least supply it.

“Knowledge is power,” the cliché goes, but I think John Peter Zenger, a father of the American free press, phrased it more eloquently when he said, "No nation, ancient or modern, ever lost the liberty of speaking freely, writing, or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves.”

Salary Cuts: The Least Unsavory Option

Yesterday, our company's board of directors announced they would be cutting salaries by 10 percent across the board, effective next month. The news was sad, but given the employee-generated speculations about possible bureau closings or layoffs, most of us were relieved to receive the cuts instead.

"Everybody still has a job," our managing editor said as a preface to the bad news.

As a small paper committed to hyper-local coverage (for us, this is not just a buzz word; it's what we do), we were disappointed that, along with countless papers and news publications across the country, we had lost enough advertising revenue to make such dramatic measures necessary. Because of the nature of our business, it can sometimes take a little longer for us to feel the impact of a recessed economy, but we finally did. Many business closings in the area have had a direct effect on our advertising sales, and as the remaining ones cinch their belts, so do we.

The news came as a blow to me, who as a fresh-out-of-college cub reporter has nearly every dollar budgeted for specific and necessary purposes. Reporters don't make that much. Cub reporters make less. Cub reporters in an ailing economy make even less.

That said, I applaud my company for choosing salary cuts rather than layoffs. It would be at best difficult to manage on a staff any smaller than the one we already have. Although everyone here is bummed about smaller paychecks, we still feel like a team who can and will pull through this tough time together, instead of a decimated staff whose members pick up the slack for those laid off and wonder, "am I next?"

Of all the options a company could choose to mitigate lost revenue, I think a salary cut is the least unsavory. After all, we could have each taken five weeks of furlough, or been out a job entirely.

Follow-Through on Developing Stories

In my 11 months here, perhaps one of the most valuable lessons I've learned is that of the importance to follow through on ongoing, developing stories.

Even in a small town, most events signify a series of smaller events leading up to them. For example, a community-wide Thanksgiving dinner is not just a dinner; it's supported by weeks and even months of planning, fundraising, advertising, organizing and volunteering. Each of those aspects can represent its own story -- or stories.

In my coverage area, the arrival of a new Veterans Administration community-based outpatient clinic was newsworthy enough to garner months of attention in the form of stories on the negotiating and construction processes. The day the clinic opened was only one news story among a long series of them leading up to its ribbon-cutting. Three reporters cycled through that beat between the planning stage and the clinic's completion, but we all recognized the imperative to continue covering its progress. And now I plan to follow up with more pieces outlining the impact it has on the veterans community, new employees and local area.

Another story on my beat that has required proactive and consistent follow-through has been the Tony Martin Jr. shooting, which occurred in October. Since then, I have written no fewer than 12 stories about the investigation process, public officials withholding documents pertaining to the case, attorneys' statements and plans, case filings and court hearings.

The benefit to following these stories through is not only that you as a reporter will produce more (and more interesting) copy, but that each story will be placed in a wide context, giving readers a deeper and broader perspective on their community and the persons in it.

Furthermore, this practice gives you an opportunity to develop a sweet rapport with your sources, who will begin calling you with new information before you have to ask.

late blossoms

red all over

Now is as good a time as any to admit I've been branching out a little bit into photojournalism. Unlike many who pick up a camera in order to make themselves more marketable in the new media world, I picked up my Canon Rebel XT because I have always loved photography and the stories pictures can tell.

I haven't quite figured out the relationship between my writing and my photography yet (I'm discouraged from taking my own photos for my stories, so I am mostly a hobby photographer at the moment), but I do enjoy both and can only hope one day they will be inextricable from one another and from my identity as a journalist.

They say about newspapers that they're black and white and re(a)d all over. The building behind our bureau is red all over, and I thought this somewhat fitting to the newspaper theme.

And so it goes: Another one bites the dust

Instead of growing more apathetic and desensitized to the demise of my fellow newspapers all over the country, each paper fold cuts my heart more deeply to the core. Today Hearst announced the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (P-I, as we call it in the journo world and in the NW region) is putting its last paper to bed tonight.

Thankfully, unlike the Rocky, the P-I will be staying in business in a fully-digital format.

What that means for the staff: reduction from 150+ employees to around 20. I can't help wondering what it would feel like to be one of the 20. I'd be relieved, but I imagine the object of much envy and bitterness. It would suck.

My Seattle Courant contact wrote about it from the unique perspective of an already online-exclusive news source in the same city.

Tweeted:

“Seattlepi.com isn't a newspaper online—it’s an effort to craft a...dig biz w/a robust, comm. news & inf. Web site at its core.” --Swartz.

RT @moniguzman Mng. Ed. McCumber at last P-I budget meeting: "We're gonna put out a great @$#% newspaper today. Any questions?"

---

It is not the end of the world as we know it, but it makes a lot of us wonder where we're heading and how long we'll have jobs. The bread-and-butter of newspapering is disappearing, and so those of us trained in the great news reporting tradition feel our skills becoming obsolete.

Oddly, in the midst of all this horror, the local community newspaper seems to be doing well in comparison with the corporate-owned larger city and national newspapers. But how long will that last? Do enough citizens out there care anymore that their most effective mediator to the government is being slain? And not in the dark of the night, but in front of their very eyes in the broadest of daylight?

Do they realize that when the newspaper as such is gone, so is their freedom of speech and their ability to participate in democracy? Who will inform them, when this bloodbath is finished?

What does your local newspaper mean to you and your community?
Does it effectively fill its role as a public watchdog?
Does it seem to be surviving?
Are you reading it?
How could it better meet your community's needs?

Please share thoughts. I particularly want to hear from the readers.

Final salute to The Rocky Mountain News

The Rocky Mountain News announced today it is printing its final edition Friday (tomorrow) -- two weeks shy of its would-have-been 150th anniversary.

This is a sad day for newspapers everywhere.

"It's strange to cover your own funeral," the RMN Twitterfeed read a few minutes ago.

And earlier, I shuddered at this: "Temple tells reporters that a lot of stories they've been working on will not see the light of day."

My grief is especially acute over this newspaper fold, over all other folds and staff cuts announced in the last year. I am not sure exactly why, but maybe because of the examples used in my journalism classes from that paper. It was a model for doing many things the right way. I grew attached to it early in my journalism career, before I was even a full-fledged cub reporter.

A lump formed in my throat as these Tweets came through:

"In news meeting, puffy-eyed Managing Editor is handing out assignments. The conference room is quiet but everyone is engaged."

"People are worried about their futures but the focus is still on the paper and web site."

"Newsroom atmosphere: Designers are huddled around white boards, looking at story assignments. Editors are huddled with reporters."

In honor of the paper's last day, and in memory of its longstanding status as Colorado's oldest newspaper, I share with you one of my favorite special reports, ever. And it just happened to be published at The Rocky Mountain News.

Apropos of this occasion, the special report is entited "Final Salute." Pull out your hankie, and enjoy.

RIP, Rocky