By Morgan Mapstone, Bulletin Correspondent
‘I like to be able to spend more time on a subject and learn more. My favorite assignments are those that allow me to learn something new.’
— Robin Chan, GateHouse Media New England
What is the key to creating an award-winning piece of journalism?
According to Walter Bird Jr., it’s approaching the task like it’s the last one you’ll ever have.
Bird won this year’s New England Newspaper and Press Association award for Weekly Reporter of the Year for the reporting work he did as editor of Worcester (Mass.) Magazine.
“I try to write every story like it’s my last,” Bird said.
In a Worcester Magazine story in February, Checked In and Pimped Out, about human trafficking in the Worcester area, Bird worked closely with victim advocates and talked with local police and motel and hotel staffs. Although that story did not contribute to his award, Bird referenced it as a prime example of his writing style. Bird said that by sticking with the specific angle of hotels and motels, he was able to write a cohesive and interesting story. Focusing on one element of a story can save writing from becoming complicated and gives it direction, Bird said.
‘I like going out there and meeting people and getting different perspectives.’
— Merrily Cassidy, Cape Cod Times ~ Hyannis, Mass.
After the story was published, the city of Worcester set up sex-trafficking workshops to prevent more cases from occurring. To Bird, prompting such a result is the best type of achievement.
“The best type of stories are ones where something happens as a result of writing them,” Bird said.
His story ideas come sometimes from tips from his regular contacts, sometimes from pure luck in finding a topic, and sometimes from people in the community, Bird said.
“I look for stories that I think have something to say,” Bird said. “I don’t know if it’s as much my writing tactics, but rather the people that are in the story that make it what it is. The people tell the story.”
For this year’s winner of the Daily Reporter of the Year award, Doug Fraser of the Cape Cod Times of Hyannis, Mass., inspiration comes from his passion for the maritime beat he covers.
Fraser has dedicated more than 15 years of his career to following the great white shark population off Cape Cod. Surrounded by water, the Cape always has plenty of new and intense marine research to cover, Fraser said. To him, it is a perfect location for writing about topics rooted in nature that also have a technological component too, a combination he finds fascinating.
‘I try to write every story like it’s my last.’
— Walter Bird Jr., Editor ~ Worcester (Mass.) Magazine
“I try to find things that are interesting to me so in that way I put a lot more energy and time into the story. It makes it easier to write it if you have a passion for what you’re writing about,” Fraser said.
Although his stories are usually inspired by his own inquiries, Fraser stressed the importance of including the community in his work. He said the local community can affect the success of a story.
“A lot of times it’s just knowing what’s important to the community that you’re covering,” Fraser said.
The jobs of this year’s award-winning photojournalists also require the same level of involvement in the community for success.
Coming from a reporting background, Merrily Cassidy of the Cape Cod Times, winner of this year’s Daily Photojournalist of the Year award, also has experienced the importance of connections in her work.
“My ideas come from whoever. I could meet someone six months ago and they mention something that is happening in the summer that I think could be a great feature or story,” Cassidy said.
‘I try to find things that are interesting to me so in that way I put a lot more energy and time into the story. It makes it easier to write it if you have a passion for what you’re writing about.’
— Doug Fraser, Cape Cod Times ~ Hyannis, Mass.
In her recent work, Cassidy worked side by side with Coast Guard rescue swimmers as they practiced lifesaving techniques, following them for months in their training at boot camp. The time spent developing relationships with them Cassidy credits to her passion in her work.
“I like going out there and meeting people and getting different perspectives,” Cassidy said. “We hear about the Coast Guard all the time, so I thought it would be a cool thing to go out and put a face to the name.”
Developing a relationship with the photo subject is something Robin Chan of GateHouse Media New England, this year’s winner of the Weekly Photojournalist of the Year award, strives for as well. Chan said that, in his photography, it helps to try to be an active listener and observer, always looking to see how the subject is acting or what the subject is revealing.
“I like to be able to spend more time on a subject and learn more. My favorite assignments are those that allow me to learn something new,” Chan said.
Chan’s work includes shooting high school sports, town meetings and other events, but originally began rooted in nature. Chan began his photography career as a nature photographer out of his love for the outdoors, but switched to a people-focused form of the art later in his career.
“A lot of time with nature photography you don’t want people in the photo, but it’s the opposite with photojournalism. You want a person in the photo because the reader connects to a person,” Chan said.
So, how have these journalists achieved award-winning status?
Here are some final pieces of advice from this year’s NENPA award winners:
Bird: “This isn’t something you can teach, you just have to love it. Don’t just work, don’t just watch the paycheck. It’ll all come together if you work hard.”
Fraser: “When it comes time to write, it’s good to have read how other people have tackled writing in a way that’s interesting. Read other writers’ work and even that of your own staff. You can learn a lot from the people in your newsroom.”
Cassidy: “I once had an editor that would always say, ‘There are no boring assignments; yes, boring photographers and reporters, but no boring assignments,’ and I truly believe that.”
Chan: “Be a part of organizations like the National Press Photographers Association or the Boston Press Photographer Association. Enter their contests and keep looking at your own work critically. There’s always an opportunity to grow. I know I still have an opportunity to grow every day.”
I don’t know about you, but my life seems to get busier with each passing day.
For our freedoms, is a ‘C+’ grade good enough?
Gene Policinski, inside the First Amendment
Gene Policinski is chief operating officer of the Newseum Institute and senior vice president of the Institute’s First Amendment Center. He can be reached at gpolicinski@newseum.org.
Follow him on Twitter:
@genefac
When it comes to our core freedoms, is a “C+” grade good enough?
A new First Amendment Report Card, released by the First Amendment Center of the Newseum Institute, gives our First Amendment freedoms — religion, speech, press, assembly and petition — a composite grade of C+.
The grades were assigned by 15 panelists from across the political spectrum, some of them experts on First Amendment issues overall, and some who focus on specific areas such as religion or press.
Assembly and petition — the rights to gather peaceably with like-minded people without government restriction or prosecution, and ask the government for changes in policies and practices — received the highest marks, at a “B-.” Religion and speech were graded at a “C+,” while press was given a “C.”
On press, for example, panelists pointed to President Trump’s campaign threat to “open up” libel laws to sue media outlets more easily; the administration blocking certain news organizations from attending White House briefings; the “fake news” phenomenon; and the president’s general enmity for the press.
Assembly and petition received the highest grades, with panelists noting that recent protests and political marches were classic demonstrations of both freedoms, and that the government took no action to crack down on them or the resulting press coverage.
Perhaps you — or I, since I didn’t participate in the grading — might have rated the freedoms differently. Good. That would mean we were thinking critically about those basic freedoms, which define us as citizens and enable our democracy to function as such.
And no doubt some people will say that in a contentious world, and with an electorate split straight down the middle on most issues, it would be too much to expect a more favorable assessment of the First Amendment.
But I’ll admit that a “C+” leaves me uneasy.
For too long, too many of us have either taken those freedoms for granted, assuming that they will always be there, or considered them in narrow ways (believing, for example, that freedom of speech is not for those with whom we disagree, or that so-called fringe faiths are not really covered by freedom of religion).
Many more of us live in ignorance of the freedoms that were so dearly won. Each year, when results of the First Amendment Center’s State of the First Amendment survey are released, the survey consistently finds that large numbers of Americans — sometimes more than one-third — cannot name a single freedom provided by the 225-year old amendment.
The report card, titled “The First Amendment in the Age of Trump,” nonetheless reflects issues that are not limited to the president’s first 100 days, or to the time he spends in office.
Some of those issues have been simmering for years. The Tea Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements raised issues around speech, assembly and petition to new levels of awareness. The “culture wars” around matters of faith — from the silly, such as whether to call them “Christmas” or “holiday” trees, to the very serious, such as federal policies that might discriminate against Muslims — have raged for decades, and show no signs of abating.
Surveys dating well back into the 1990s chart a growing public apprehension about the credibility, motives and bias of the news media, and a worrisome erosion of support for the press’s role as a “watchdog on government.” Amid worsening public opinion, journalists have also had to contend with shrinking resources as they attempt to track government officials’ performance and measure government effectiveness.
The quarterly report card is not intended, and could not be, the final word on our First Amendment freedoms — the issues are too complex and the disputes too numerous, and filled with far too many twists and turns.
But the grading system will serve to call our attention, particularly over time, to a need to defend one or more freedoms from momentary threats and longer-term assaults on our free expression and religious liberty rights.
Stay tuned — a new First Amendment Report Card will be issued each quarter, prompting us all to take a closer look at how we understand, defend and practice our First Amendment freedoms.
And maybe one day we’ll get to add another grading area — one where you and I and our fellow citizens get an “A” for effort.