Fall 2005 PDF - Milton Academy

“The biggest change is corporateinterests. Editors do not havethe same sense of autonomy.Budgets are being cut. Withfewer reporters, newspapershave less manpower to followleads.”“Actually, I work for a newspaper, but peoplewon’t talk to me without it.”that reporting, in and of itself, makes hermore objective: “Over time you see thateveryone is playing games on some level.As a result, I have become more and moreapolitical as I’ve gone along.”Cynthia does recognize that print journalismhas lost some of its power and reach.“The biggest change is corporate interests.Editors do not have the same sense ofautonomy. Budgets are being cut. Withfewer reporters, newspapers have lessmanpower to follow leads. Old-timersused to be able to pursue documentdriven,long-term stories everywhere. Thebiggest pieces could have teams workingfor years. Those sorts of stories representthe free, vigorous press we like to talkabout.” This immersion process, this freedomto take the time needed to tell thewhole story, leads to “good, powerful stories,”the lifeblood of print journalism.Budget cuts are only part of the story.Caught, herself, on the generational cuspbetween print and Internet new sources,Cynthia sees the need to appeal to peoplewho use both. “It is so frustrating to see aReader’s Digest of the news; you can’t boxstories that way. At the same time we [inCynthia Needham ’95print] have to convince people to come upwith the time, a day after an event, to readthe whole article, the full, in-depth version.In the corporate sense, I don’t knowthe answer to the dilemma.”Web sites ultimately have to support andcomplement the print news coverage,Cynthia thinks. Recently the Journal hasrun online surveys soliciting input fromAbout his beat: Fred Melo ’94 in St. Paul MinnesotaFred Melo ’94 is a beat reporter for theSt. Paul Pioneer Press in St. Paul,Minnesota. He covers the suburbancommunity of Dakota County, south ofthe city. “Some of this work is in myblood, “ he says. My father was areporter in the Dominican Republic andalso worked for a small weekly newspaperoutside of Boston, so I grew updrowning in stacks of newspapers. I’vealways enjoyed learning and storytelling…sothis industry allows me toopen a lot of doors and peek into manyrooms and experiences without gettingstuck in any particular one. Everyday,work is varied and forces me to turn ona dime. The deadline pressure gets myblood flowing, and writing is its ownreward. There’s also the gratification ofseeing your byline in print the next day.Sometimes, something you wrote actuallyhelps people.“People are nervous around reportersnow. I’ve had friends clam up aroundme in mid-conversation, worried theymay be revealing too much about theirworkplace.“We compete directly with the MinneapolisStar Tribune (the Strib), and your heartsinks when you see a piece in the Stribthat could have, should have been yoursfirst. I open the newspaper every morningwith a little bit of apprehension.“…My audience is an older, suburbancrowd, mostly property owners and peoplewith children. The growth of the suburbanaudience is increasingly trueacross the industry. Core readers are lesslikely to be city workers. Instead, theywork in suburban office parks and commutefrom suburb to suburb. Making ametropolitan newspaper relevant to sucha non-centralized audience is a tallorder.”Fred Melo ’9410 Milton Magazine