In the first week of August, I was exploring a story idea for business editor Tom Ginsberg. His idea was that Amish farmers in Pennsylvania might have very good times these days as not only the food prices were high, but as they use less machinery on their farms, they might be less affected by the high energy prices compared to other farmers. He was not sure if this assumption was correct so I had to find someone who could confirm or deny it.
I started with looking up the archives which helped me identify a couple of farming and business organizations that might be able to help. Then I had to make numberless phonecalls as nobody could give a definitive answer, but passed me on to other experts. By the end of the week I found a university professor who deals with agriculture at the Lancaster County (the home of the Amish in PA) extension office of the University of Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, he told me that my editor's assumption was not correct as the feed for horses (that the Amish use instead of tractors) and the diesel for their machines (they don't have electricity but use diesel) have both became very expensive.
Although there was no story I could write about, I did not feel I wasted my time. I did track down the person who had the answer after all, and my conversation with him resulted in another story idea. I did not start to work on that one, however, due to lack of time (and to be quite frank, my editor, although supportive, was not that crazy about the idea either). During the week, I also talked a lot on the telephone in English, something I used to try to avoid in favor of in-person interviews for previous stories.
Next week, I had the opportunity to shoot and edit an own video. I have already spent some time on the online desk with the main goal of learning some multimedia, but I was not offered a training. Now I got something like that from the photo department. Tuesday, August 12 I learned the basics of how to shoot from media editor Karl Stolleis, then shot a "story" starring my design artist friend here Sterling Chen. I edited it the following day with the help of Steve Benjamin; the result can be seen here:
Saturday, August 2 Maria gave me a tour of the Northern part of Philadelphia. Sunday I went to Yardley, PA to visit a Hungarian family, Ferenc Jakab and his wife, Izabella whom I met on the Hungarian Day in July. They are currently sponsoring a Hungarian girl who won a U.S. green card on the lottery. She has lived in their house since February.
We went to church, watched a film about the Amish, then after a tasty lunch we went to Lancaster County to visit their farms. It was not especially spectacular, but they surely live in a nice environment. After returning to Yardley, we climbed up to a nearby hill called Bowman's Tower.
Wednesday, August 6 I went to a Judas Priest concert with editorial assistant Rob Copestick, his neighbor Bob, Bob's girlfriend Allison, and another friend Joe. Judas Priest followed Motorhead and Heaven and Hell.
Friday, August 8 I paid a farewell visit to John Lukacs. We had a lunh in a restaurant in Paoli, then went to his home in Phoenixville. The weather was beautiful and it was all very pleasant.
Saturday I went to Blue Bell, PA to visit a relative, Kalman Beothy who found me after he read one of my articles in the Inquirer - my family has not even known about his existence. So it was a very strange experience. He lives with his second, American wife, Sally. We had a nice dinner in an Australian steakhouse called Outback. Sunday I have seen some beautiful lights and rainbows after a heavy storm that caught me walking in the evening in West Philly.
Sunday, August 16 I went to see my Hungarian friend Joe Szabo in North Wales. We went to a nearby swimming pool where one of his sons, Dominick holds most of the records in breast-stroke. He told me his son used to train together with Michael Phelps, who just the day before won his 8th gold medal in the Olympics.
Judas Priest Metal Masters Tour, Camden, NJ, August 6 2008
Dawn of Creation
Prophecy
Metal Gods
Eat Me Alive
Between The Hammer And The Anvil
Devil’s Child
Breaking The Law
Hell Patrol
Dissident Aggressor
Angel
The Hellion / Electric Eye
Rock Hard, Ride Free
Painkiller
----
Hell Bent For Leather
The Green Manalishi
You’ve Got Another Thing Coming
Monday, August 18, 2008
Friday, August 1, 2008
Diray - 8
Wednesday, July 16 I accompanied Mike Vitez on an interview he did with an old lady who had problems with her health insurer - they wanted her to pay some $25,000 for a treatment several years ago although she had an insurence. Mike plans to do a series on people who don't have health insurence or their coverage is not sufficient. I went with him to another interview as well on the following Monday, July 21; it was with the medical director of a city-run clinic that provides free care for those who don't have insurance or can't afford co-pays. After this latter interview, we had lunh in the 70-year-old landmark diner, the Mayfair in North Philadelphia. I had the best cheesburger I ever tasted in the U.S.
The interesting thing about Mike's stories is that even though the U.S. is famous for the fact that more than 40 million of its residents don't have health insurence, it is not so easy to find tragic cases. Because there ARE ways to get care even without insurence and money, so the picture is not as bleak as I thought it was before.
What I admired the most about Mike's work is how confident and relaxed he is when interviewing people. He has excellent communications skills you must be born with, I guess. I was surprised to hear that for years his job was to find stories on the streets of Philadelphia; he just went out each morning, talked to people on the streets, then came back with a story. By the way, Maria also told me that when I don't have a story idea, I should just go out of the newsroom. She even told me about an ex-editor here who literally pushed his reporters out of the newsroom when he felt they spent too much time inside. And just yesterday, as I walked with Maria on the street after dinner, she went in a bike shop and asked about their business - their answer resulted in a story idea. From all these lessons, I learnt a lot about key issues of my training plan: developing story ideas and humanizing business stories.
Fortunately, I had an own story as well which was my very own child from the idea to reporting and writing, and which I am quite pride of. When I was reporting on the Jersey Shore a couple of weeks ago for another story I heard that foreign students who were here for summer work are hit hard by the slow U.S. economy. I decided to go after this information as I had my own experience from 9 years ago working here as a foreign student and as the story held the promise of giving voice to the voiceless.
So after contacting some employers and organizations that sponsor these students I went to the Shore Thursday, July 17, exactly one month after the unforgettable Iron Maiden show in Camden. I needed to strenghten myself with the positive forces of the date as I was a bit nervous about the drive that laid ahead from Philadelphia to Wildwood, then to Ocean City, then to Atlantic City, then back to Philly. I am not an experienced driver and it was quite a long trip to anticipate some difficulties, which came, indeed.
First, I had some trouble finding the way from the newsroom to the Ben Franklin Bridge to New Jersey, even though I have already done this route before. At least I had no more problems all the way to Wildwood. Here I had some pre-arranged interviews at Morey's Pier, just like in a hotel in Ocean City. These interviews were not very useful; the employers provided me with students who were just fine. But in Ocean City I tried to find some students for myself, and I did find some interesting stories. I finished with the interviews around 7, bathed in the Ocean, went to Atlantic City for a dinner, then left for Philadelphia around 10.15.
Now if I am a not-very-experienced driver, I have even less experience in driving in dark. Anyway, I blame darkness in the first place for the fact that I could not find my way to the expressway, but endend up on Route 30, also going to Philly, but through all the towns in-between. I made one attempt to get to the expressway from Route 30, but when I found myself in the middle of a forest on a curving narrow road, I decided to make peace with Route 30.
However, just before Camden and the Ben Franklin Bridge of wich I was thinking of as my Saviour, I got lost. When I saw a police car with flashing lights standing on the road for some construction, I stopped and asked for directions. I was told that I was on the right road, just heading for the wrong direction. So I turned around and finally got on Ben Franklin and to Philadelphia.
Where I got lost again. I did not care much about that, as I already felt safe. I had to ask again for directions but then I finally got home, by 12.30.
Saturday, July 19 I went to a Hungarian Day which was held in Barto, PA. Hungarian immigrants from 1956 bought a big piece of land there in beautiful environment, and built houses, an artificial lake with a fountin, and a pool. There was surprisingly many people, even though the younger ones spoke English, not Hungarian.
The next week I wrote the foreign students story and rewrote parts of my commentary for the Foreign Service Journal, as requested by their editors. The weekend I went to a Narrative Writing Workshop organized by the Society of Professional Journalists in Richmond, VA. I travelled by train on Friday, July 25, which was scheduled to leave at 4.55 am. So I got up at 3.30, but when arrived at the station the board announced a 2-hours delay. I turned out to be 70 minutes only, and I arrived in Richmond by 11.30. I walked to the hotel then took a bus back to the city center, visited the Museum of the Confederacy, walked by the canal and the James River, and had a very good dinner at the Elephant Thai Restaurant.
The Saturday workshop held at the University of Richmond by Tom Hallman, Jr., a Pulitzer-winning reporter of The Oregonian was interesting and useful, althought not as practical as I expected. It reinforced several things that I learnt at Poynter and at the Inquirer.
After the workshop I went to Washington - fortunately I did not have to take a bus as I planned as I met two journalists from the Washington-based military newspaper, European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, and asked them for a ride. In Washington I met Sopan, we had a dinner in a Thai restaurant, then went to his residence. Next day we met Chlea Benson, whom I knew from Philadelphia, and her husband, Peter, who covers Obama's campaign for the LA Times. We had lunch at Zorba, where Susan also joined us. Then Sopan and I went to the National Gallery of Arts. I left for Philly at 8 pm.
Last Wednesday I was invited for dinner by Chris Mondics to his new Philadelphia home, a nice and spacious duplex in Center City. This Tuesday I was invited by Jane Von Bergen, and this time I met her older son, Joey, who is a college student in Pittsburgh. This week I studied the handouts I got in Richmond, including some of Tom Hallman's writings. I have been trying hard to find some affordable accomodation in New York, which is no easy task. I bought a portable hard disc for my computer and a new pair of pants. There is a new foreign fellow in the newsroom from this Monday, he is a Burns Fellow from Germany, Fabian Loehe.
The interesting thing about Mike's stories is that even though the U.S. is famous for the fact that more than 40 million of its residents don't have health insurence, it is not so easy to find tragic cases. Because there ARE ways to get care even without insurence and money, so the picture is not as bleak as I thought it was before.
What I admired the most about Mike's work is how confident and relaxed he is when interviewing people. He has excellent communications skills you must be born with, I guess. I was surprised to hear that for years his job was to find stories on the streets of Philadelphia; he just went out each morning, talked to people on the streets, then came back with a story. By the way, Maria also told me that when I don't have a story idea, I should just go out of the newsroom. She even told me about an ex-editor here who literally pushed his reporters out of the newsroom when he felt they spent too much time inside. And just yesterday, as I walked with Maria on the street after dinner, she went in a bike shop and asked about their business - their answer resulted in a story idea. From all these lessons, I learnt a lot about key issues of my training plan: developing story ideas and humanizing business stories.
Fortunately, I had an own story as well which was my very own child from the idea to reporting and writing, and which I am quite pride of. When I was reporting on the Jersey Shore a couple of weeks ago for another story I heard that foreign students who were here for summer work are hit hard by the slow U.S. economy. I decided to go after this information as I had my own experience from 9 years ago working here as a foreign student and as the story held the promise of giving voice to the voiceless.
So after contacting some employers and organizations that sponsor these students I went to the Shore Thursday, July 17, exactly one month after the unforgettable Iron Maiden show in Camden. I needed to strenghten myself with the positive forces of the date as I was a bit nervous about the drive that laid ahead from Philadelphia to Wildwood, then to Ocean City, then to Atlantic City, then back to Philly. I am not an experienced driver and it was quite a long trip to anticipate some difficulties, which came, indeed.
First, I had some trouble finding the way from the newsroom to the Ben Franklin Bridge to New Jersey, even though I have already done this route before. At least I had no more problems all the way to Wildwood. Here I had some pre-arranged interviews at Morey's Pier, just like in a hotel in Ocean City. These interviews were not very useful; the employers provided me with students who were just fine. But in Ocean City I tried to find some students for myself, and I did find some interesting stories. I finished with the interviews around 7, bathed in the Ocean, went to Atlantic City for a dinner, then left for Philadelphia around 10.15.
Now if I am a not-very-experienced driver, I have even less experience in driving in dark. Anyway, I blame darkness in the first place for the fact that I could not find my way to the expressway, but endend up on Route 30, also going to Philly, but through all the towns in-between. I made one attempt to get to the expressway from Route 30, but when I found myself in the middle of a forest on a curving narrow road, I decided to make peace with Route 30.
However, just before Camden and the Ben Franklin Bridge of wich I was thinking of as my Saviour, I got lost. When I saw a police car with flashing lights standing on the road for some construction, I stopped and asked for directions. I was told that I was on the right road, just heading for the wrong direction. So I turned around and finally got on Ben Franklin and to Philadelphia.
Where I got lost again. I did not care much about that, as I already felt safe. I had to ask again for directions but then I finally got home, by 12.30.
Saturday, July 19 I went to a Hungarian Day which was held in Barto, PA. Hungarian immigrants from 1956 bought a big piece of land there in beautiful environment, and built houses, an artificial lake with a fountin, and a pool. There was surprisingly many people, even though the younger ones spoke English, not Hungarian.
The next week I wrote the foreign students story and rewrote parts of my commentary for the Foreign Service Journal, as requested by their editors. The weekend I went to a Narrative Writing Workshop organized by the Society of Professional Journalists in Richmond, VA. I travelled by train on Friday, July 25, which was scheduled to leave at 4.55 am. So I got up at 3.30, but when arrived at the station the board announced a 2-hours delay. I turned out to be 70 minutes only, and I arrived in Richmond by 11.30. I walked to the hotel then took a bus back to the city center, visited the Museum of the Confederacy, walked by the canal and the James River, and had a very good dinner at the Elephant Thai Restaurant.
The Saturday workshop held at the University of Richmond by Tom Hallman, Jr., a Pulitzer-winning reporter of The Oregonian was interesting and useful, althought not as practical as I expected. It reinforced several things that I learnt at Poynter and at the Inquirer.
After the workshop I went to Washington - fortunately I did not have to take a bus as I planned as I met two journalists from the Washington-based military newspaper, European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, and asked them for a ride. In Washington I met Sopan, we had a dinner in a Thai restaurant, then went to his residence. Next day we met Chlea Benson, whom I knew from Philadelphia, and her husband, Peter, who covers Obama's campaign for the LA Times. We had lunch at Zorba, where Susan also joined us. Then Sopan and I went to the National Gallery of Arts. I left for Philly at 8 pm.
Last Wednesday I was invited for dinner by Chris Mondics to his new Philadelphia home, a nice and spacious duplex in Center City. This Tuesday I was invited by Jane Von Bergen, and this time I met her older son, Joey, who is a college student in Pittsburgh. This week I studied the handouts I got in Richmond, including some of Tom Hallman's writings. I have been trying hard to find some affordable accomodation in New York, which is no easy task. I bought a portable hard disc for my computer and a new pair of pants. There is a new foreign fellow in the newsroom from this Monday, he is a Burns Fellow from Germany, Fabian Loehe.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Diary - 7
I planned to learn some multimedia during the last two weeks, which produced only moderate success. I felt pretty much ignored by the online desk during this period, and I just cannot tell whether it was beacause they simply did not care or because there is so little multimedia activity going on.
Tuesday, July 1, after making a very-very early morning bike ride to the office, the online editor sent me with a summer intern reporter, Dan Lieberman to the airport where a Walk of Fame was set up to celebrate famous Philadelphians. I went because I understood there will be a videographer there, too, but there was not. After returning, I made clear (once again) to the editor that I am interested in observing shooting and editing videos, not just following an intern for no particular reason. I also offered my help to do reporting if she needs me for stories.
She seemed to understand me, but the one and only help/assignment I got from her was that later that day, she sent me with Dan and a videographer intern (Steve Benjamin) to do interviews on the Jersey Shore for a story about how the weak economy affects businesses and vacationers in the run-up to the July 4 weekend. It was fun, after all, and I got to see Ocean City and Atlantic City. We got back to Philedalphia by 10pm, which meant a 15-hour working day.
I wrote my interviews next morning, then I joined Steve to watch him editing the video. I tried to do some basic stuff myself, and I kind of got a feel of it. I understood how it all works, but of course I would need lots of practice to actually learn to do it. The video we did can be seen here.
As I realized the following days that I would not receive much attention from online editor Julie Busby, I first quitted the unnatural habit of going to office in the dawn, then approached videographer/reporter Bob Moran. I accompanied him last Friday as he shot a video on the production of Animal Cops in Philadelphia. The Animal Cops crew has been working on a series in the city since the beginning of this year, and the premiere will be aired tomorrow on Animal Planet. Although we did not see any action, it was quite interesting to follow the crew who followed an agent of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It was also a nice tour of North Philadelphia, the district of our agent, Darlene. The members of the crew were interesting people; Carol, the producer is a freelancer from Philadelphia; Jackson, who handled the sound set was also a local guy; while Phil, the cameraman came from the UK, where the production company is based. I watched Bob editing the video today.
Two weeks ago I finally received an answer to my right-to-know law request from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, concerning some state help to fund investment of a company called AE Polysilicon. It seems we cannot make a story out of it as the company does not want to talk to us (even before Florida they rejected my request for an interview twice), but the business editor will decide if I should make another try.
Last week I contributed to a big business story on the acquisition of an old local chemical company, Rohm & Haas by Dow Chemicals. My task was to browse the newspaper arhives for the details of past mergers or closures that took away corporate headquarters from Philadelphia.
I have also started to work on my next story for the business section, doing telephone interviews and pre-arranging personal interviews on the Jersey Shore for this Thursday.
Finaly, yesterday I went to an information event organized by the government of Alberta for potential immigrants. I became interested in writing a story on it as the event was advertised in our newspaper, but when I told it to my mentor Maria she found out that immigration writer Michael Matza would cover it. So I just accompanied him and was amazed to see how naturally he starts conversations with people - he does not start acting as a reporter, which I think can be very useful. These are the tricks you can learn only by wathing how experienced reporters operate.
I spent the evening of 4th of July with Maria and her friend Chlea who came from Washington, DC. She knows quite a lot about famous Hungarians as she plans to write a book about Bobby Fischer, whose biological father was Hungarian, as I learned. We watched some of the parade in front of the Museum of Arts, went to a bar, then had a dinner in the Memphis restaurant where we had been before with food writer Craig LaBan. We watched the fireworks from a bridge on the Schulkyll River. Next day, I visited Baltimore, which I found really pretty. I visited the Walters Art Museum and took a harbor tour. I just had some trouble on my way back, as the bus I wanted to take broke down between Washington and Baltimore, and I had to wait for the next one for more than two hours. I got home by 2 am.
For Wednesday, July 7th, City Hall reporter Jeff Shields organized a guided tour of the City Hall for a dozen of Inquirer journalists. What I liked the most was that we could go up to the tower which gives a nice view of the city.
Last Friday, after work, Maria took me to Atlantic City. We went to the Ocean on the island of Brigantine, then watched the gamblers and had a dinner in Borgata. Saturday, we were invited for dinner by one of Maria's ex-colleague, Linda, who now works as an editor in Atlanta. We also met our colleague Marcia, and Linda's daughter, Allison. Their conversation was so enjoyable that it made me think whether they are so smart and insightful, or it is the English language that is so rich.
Sunday, I was invited to a family gathering to celebrate Maria's nephew, Paul's 8th birthday. The family of Mike's sister Kate was also there. By the way, Maria had her birthday last week too, and I gave her a history of Hungary and a novel by Hungarian writer Sandor Marai.
Tuesday, July 1, after making a very-very early morning bike ride to the office, the online editor sent me with a summer intern reporter, Dan Lieberman to the airport where a Walk of Fame was set up to celebrate famous Philadelphians. I went because I understood there will be a videographer there, too, but there was not. After returning, I made clear (once again) to the editor that I am interested in observing shooting and editing videos, not just following an intern for no particular reason. I also offered my help to do reporting if she needs me for stories.
She seemed to understand me, but the one and only help/assignment I got from her was that later that day, she sent me with Dan and a videographer intern (Steve Benjamin) to do interviews on the Jersey Shore for a story about how the weak economy affects businesses and vacationers in the run-up to the July 4 weekend. It was fun, after all, and I got to see Ocean City and Atlantic City. We got back to Philedalphia by 10pm, which meant a 15-hour working day.
I wrote my interviews next morning, then I joined Steve to watch him editing the video. I tried to do some basic stuff myself, and I kind of got a feel of it. I understood how it all works, but of course I would need lots of practice to actually learn to do it. The video we did can be seen here.
As I realized the following days that I would not receive much attention from online editor Julie Busby, I first quitted the unnatural habit of going to office in the dawn, then approached videographer/reporter Bob Moran. I accompanied him last Friday as he shot a video on the production of Animal Cops in Philadelphia. The Animal Cops crew has been working on a series in the city since the beginning of this year, and the premiere will be aired tomorrow on Animal Planet. Although we did not see any action, it was quite interesting to follow the crew who followed an agent of the Pennsylvania Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. It was also a nice tour of North Philadelphia, the district of our agent, Darlene. The members of the crew were interesting people; Carol, the producer is a freelancer from Philadelphia; Jackson, who handled the sound set was also a local guy; while Phil, the cameraman came from the UK, where the production company is based. I watched Bob editing the video today.
Two weeks ago I finally received an answer to my right-to-know law request from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, concerning some state help to fund investment of a company called AE Polysilicon. It seems we cannot make a story out of it as the company does not want to talk to us (even before Florida they rejected my request for an interview twice), but the business editor will decide if I should make another try.
Last week I contributed to a big business story on the acquisition of an old local chemical company, Rohm & Haas by Dow Chemicals. My task was to browse the newspaper arhives for the details of past mergers or closures that took away corporate headquarters from Philadelphia.
I have also started to work on my next story for the business section, doing telephone interviews and pre-arranging personal interviews on the Jersey Shore for this Thursday.
Finaly, yesterday I went to an information event organized by the government of Alberta for potential immigrants. I became interested in writing a story on it as the event was advertised in our newspaper, but when I told it to my mentor Maria she found out that immigration writer Michael Matza would cover it. So I just accompanied him and was amazed to see how naturally he starts conversations with people - he does not start acting as a reporter, which I think can be very useful. These are the tricks you can learn only by wathing how experienced reporters operate.
I spent the evening of 4th of July with Maria and her friend Chlea who came from Washington, DC. She knows quite a lot about famous Hungarians as she plans to write a book about Bobby Fischer, whose biological father was Hungarian, as I learned. We watched some of the parade in front of the Museum of Arts, went to a bar, then had a dinner in the Memphis restaurant where we had been before with food writer Craig LaBan. We watched the fireworks from a bridge on the Schulkyll River. Next day, I visited Baltimore, which I found really pretty. I visited the Walters Art Museum and took a harbor tour. I just had some trouble on my way back, as the bus I wanted to take broke down between Washington and Baltimore, and I had to wait for the next one for more than two hours. I got home by 2 am.
For Wednesday, July 7th, City Hall reporter Jeff Shields organized a guided tour of the City Hall for a dozen of Inquirer journalists. What I liked the most was that we could go up to the tower which gives a nice view of the city.
Last Friday, after work, Maria took me to Atlantic City. We went to the Ocean on the island of Brigantine, then watched the gamblers and had a dinner in Borgata. Saturday, we were invited for dinner by one of Maria's ex-colleague, Linda, who now works as an editor in Atlanta. We also met our colleague Marcia, and Linda's daughter, Allison. Their conversation was so enjoyable that it made me think whether they are so smart and insightful, or it is the English language that is so rich.
Sunday, I was invited to a family gathering to celebrate Maria's nephew, Paul's 8th birthday. The family of Mike's sister Kate was also there. By the way, Maria had her birthday last week too, and I gave her a history of Hungary and a novel by Hungarian writer Sandor Marai.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Diary - 6
As I returned from Florida two weeks ago, I started to work on my commentary piece for the Foreign Service Journal about Hungarian-American bilateral relations and how Hungarians view the U.S. presidential elections. It was a challange for the sheer size of the work: I have never written anything that is even close to the required2,000 words. In my home newroom, an article of half of this size is already exceptionnaly long.
So the work required a lot of background research and I could put into practice what I learnt about structuring stories (which is my biggest weakness, as I realized at Poynter). The first reaction of the editor was encouraging, but the editing work will not start until the magazine's editorial board meets in two weeks. So I will still work with them on the story.
A disappointing, but not surprising experience came from the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. I first contacted the Hungarian Embassy in Washington to get to know the official viewpoint on a couple of bilateral issues, but I was only given a list of articles that were published in the past year in the Hungarian media. Then I contacted the Foreign Ministry in Budapest, which returned my e-mail with questions about my previous work and the magazine I would write for. I answered their questions and never heard from them ever since.
Their indifference reinforces my two beliefs: first, Hungarian bureaucrats have not realized yet they live off taxpayers' money which makes them responsible for answering journalists' question; and secondly, they are not interested in promoting Hungarian interests in international issues. I have noticed as a reporter on the EU that in most cases it is impossible to get to know the Hungarian standpoint before an EU-decision is made, and my guess is it is simply because they don't have a view - they just follow others.
Most of last week, after I finished this piece, I did not feel very well so I was not really pro-active at the Inquirer. I agreed, however, with my mentor and the online editors on how I will spend my time with the multimedia people; the system is quite confusing as philly.com is completely seperate from the Inquirer, and even within the newsroom, on the one hand there is a reporter who shoots videos for the online desk, and there is another producer who works for the photo department. I hope to spend time with both of them, and maybe even at philly.com where sponsored, TV-style videos are shot.
I also had an edifying session with my mentor who showed me how to try to find contact for such a "top gun" businessman as George Soros. As he is Hungarian-born, I tried to do an interview with him but was turned down by the press officer of his foundation (I was naive not thinking that above a certain level of wealth, having the same national origin does not secure an interview). My mentor did extensive research in my presence in the Inquirer archive, on Nexis and on the Internet, and finally came up with the idea that I should contact one of the leaders of Soros' publisher, who used to be a journalist. I am not very optimistic (neither is she), but I learnt a lot from her method.
I started my online stint today, arriving in the office at 7.25am (!) (and still 25 minutes late). I had a conversation with online editor Julie Busby (she arrives at 6am every day) who explained me how she works with reporters and photographers early in the morning to do quick coverage for events that happened during the night. She also posts advance stories. The most interesting thing was the Internet site where she can view all kinds of statistics and information about the traffic on the Inquirer site; the datas are provided by a company and there are people with the publisher who analyze them each day.
And now comes the fun part! My wonderful mentor did no smaller thing than getting me backstage at a concert of one of my absolute favorite bands, Iron Maiden! Yeah, I was having dinner trying to look calm as Nicko McBrain (drummer) and Janick Gers (guitarist) were walking around in the same room. But I was told in advance not to talk to anyone :)
And the concert was one of the best shows I have ever seen, definately the most spectacular with all the stage-sets and fireworks. These guys at the age of 50 are still so energetic and enthusiastic (much more than the audiance, who could have done better).
I can also thank my mentor for a tasty Greek dinner at her house Sunday, June 22. This was the day when I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Arts, and was amazed by some of Monet's best works. Thursday, June 26 my mentor, her sister and I was invited by food writer Craig LaBan to a restaurant he critiqued called Memphis Taproom. It was interesting as he told his comments in his hidden voice recorder, but we think he was busted anyway :)
And one more culinary experience for this weekend: Saturday I joined my colleague Barry Zukerman and his friend Adam on one of their regular roadside restaurants adventure: we went to Bucks County (North of Philly) to a burger place, then to an ice cream place (which is adjacent to a dairy farm and I also bought fine goat cheese) and finally to a donut place.
I also enrolled in the free library of Philadelphia. I found a book written by John Steinbeck's son, Thomas Steinbeck. It contains stories about the Monterey Peninsula in California, an area I will definitely visit in September. It is the place of several of John Steinbeck's books (who lived in Salinas) and also of one of my favorite Kerouac novel. I might even try to do an interview with Thomas Steinbeck.
I met a Hungarian-born retired architect, who left the country in 1956 and contacted me after my story on John Lukacs was published. Dezso Bacsujlaky invited me for dinner in a restaurant in Cherry Hill, on a Friday evening (probably June 20th).
As I see in my calendar, tomorrow, July 1 is Canada day! So don't miss this one.
Iron Maiden, Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 2008, June 17, Camden, NJ, Susquehanna Bank Center
1.Aces High
2.2 Minutes to Midnight
3.Revelations
4.The Trooper
5.Wasted Years
6.The Number of the Beast
7.Can I Play With Madness
8.Rime of the Ancient Mariner
9.Powerslave
10.Heaven Can Wait
11.Run to the Hills
12.Fear of the Dark
13.Iron Maiden
Encore:
14.Moonchild
15.The Clairvoyant
16.Hallowed Be Thy Name
So the work required a lot of background research and I could put into practice what I learnt about structuring stories (which is my biggest weakness, as I realized at Poynter). The first reaction of the editor was encouraging, but the editing work will not start until the magazine's editorial board meets in two weeks. So I will still work with them on the story.
A disappointing, but not surprising experience came from the Hungarian Foreign Ministry. I first contacted the Hungarian Embassy in Washington to get to know the official viewpoint on a couple of bilateral issues, but I was only given a list of articles that were published in the past year in the Hungarian media. Then I contacted the Foreign Ministry in Budapest, which returned my e-mail with questions about my previous work and the magazine I would write for. I answered their questions and never heard from them ever since.
Their indifference reinforces my two beliefs: first, Hungarian bureaucrats have not realized yet they live off taxpayers' money which makes them responsible for answering journalists' question; and secondly, they are not interested in promoting Hungarian interests in international issues. I have noticed as a reporter on the EU that in most cases it is impossible to get to know the Hungarian standpoint before an EU-decision is made, and my guess is it is simply because they don't have a view - they just follow others.
Most of last week, after I finished this piece, I did not feel very well so I was not really pro-active at the Inquirer. I agreed, however, with my mentor and the online editors on how I will spend my time with the multimedia people; the system is quite confusing as philly.com is completely seperate from the Inquirer, and even within the newsroom, on the one hand there is a reporter who shoots videos for the online desk, and there is another producer who works for the photo department. I hope to spend time with both of them, and maybe even at philly.com where sponsored, TV-style videos are shot.
I also had an edifying session with my mentor who showed me how to try to find contact for such a "top gun" businessman as George Soros. As he is Hungarian-born, I tried to do an interview with him but was turned down by the press officer of his foundation (I was naive not thinking that above a certain level of wealth, having the same national origin does not secure an interview). My mentor did extensive research in my presence in the Inquirer archive, on Nexis and on the Internet, and finally came up with the idea that I should contact one of the leaders of Soros' publisher, who used to be a journalist. I am not very optimistic (neither is she), but I learnt a lot from her method.
I started my online stint today, arriving in the office at 7.25am (!) (and still 25 minutes late). I had a conversation with online editor Julie Busby (she arrives at 6am every day) who explained me how she works with reporters and photographers early in the morning to do quick coverage for events that happened during the night. She also posts advance stories. The most interesting thing was the Internet site where she can view all kinds of statistics and information about the traffic on the Inquirer site; the datas are provided by a company and there are people with the publisher who analyze them each day.
And now comes the fun part! My wonderful mentor did no smaller thing than getting me backstage at a concert of one of my absolute favorite bands, Iron Maiden! Yeah, I was having dinner trying to look calm as Nicko McBrain (drummer) and Janick Gers (guitarist) were walking around in the same room. But I was told in advance not to talk to anyone :)
And the concert was one of the best shows I have ever seen, definately the most spectacular with all the stage-sets and fireworks. These guys at the age of 50 are still so energetic and enthusiastic (much more than the audiance, who could have done better).
I can also thank my mentor for a tasty Greek dinner at her house Sunday, June 22. This was the day when I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Arts, and was amazed by some of Monet's best works. Thursday, June 26 my mentor, her sister and I was invited by food writer Craig LaBan to a restaurant he critiqued called Memphis Taproom. It was interesting as he told his comments in his hidden voice recorder, but we think he was busted anyway :)
And one more culinary experience for this weekend: Saturday I joined my colleague Barry Zukerman and his friend Adam on one of their regular roadside restaurants adventure: we went to Bucks County (North of Philly) to a burger place, then to an ice cream place (which is adjacent to a dairy farm and I also bought fine goat cheese) and finally to a donut place.
I also enrolled in the free library of Philadelphia. I found a book written by John Steinbeck's son, Thomas Steinbeck. It contains stories about the Monterey Peninsula in California, an area I will definitely visit in September. It is the place of several of John Steinbeck's books (who lived in Salinas) and also of one of my favorite Kerouac novel. I might even try to do an interview with Thomas Steinbeck.
I met a Hungarian-born retired architect, who left the country in 1956 and contacted me after my story on John Lukacs was published. Dezso Bacsujlaky invited me for dinner in a restaurant in Cherry Hill, on a Friday evening (probably June 20th).
As I see in my calendar, tomorrow, July 1 is Canada day! So don't miss this one.
Iron Maiden, Somewhere Back in Time World Tour 2008, June 17, Camden, NJ, Susquehanna Bank Center
1.Aces High
2.2 Minutes to Midnight
3.Revelations
4.The Trooper
5.Wasted Years
6.The Number of the Beast
7.Can I Play With Madness
8.Rime of the Ancient Mariner
9.Powerslave
10.Heaven Can Wait
11.Run to the Hills
12.Fear of the Dark
13.Iron Maiden
Encore:
14.Moonchild
15.The Clairvoyant
16.Hallowed Be Thy Name
Monday, June 16, 2008
Diary - 5
Although I spent the last twoo weeks outside the newsroom, I am writing a few lines to mark this period for my own records and whoever is interested.
I arrived in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday, June 3, met Sopan at the airport, then Lucia, who was so kind to take us to her apartment in Miami Beach where we spent one night. As soon as we dropped our bags we went to the beach which is only a few blocks away from her house; it was a great joy to swim in the surprisingly warm Atlantic Ocean. In the evening, Lucia drove us to take a look around South Beach.
I started the next day with going to the beach again then Sopan and I joined Lucia who went to a conference in South Beach. While she was at the conference we walked around and I swam too. After the conference Lucia drove us to dowtown Miami where we had a lunch together. Then she went to her newspaper's Miami office and we walked to our hotel. In the evening, Sopan and I went to a nice boattrip around the islands of Miami and saw a couple of nice houses of the rich and famous. Then we met Ivan who arrived in the afternoon and stayed at a nearby hotel with Umar and had a dinner together.
The next morning we went to the Kennedy Space Center with Lucia to see a rocket launh - it was delayed, but we spent the whole day visiting the Center. On our way back to Miami we looked around Palm Beach and saw some nice houses there, too.
The IRE conference started Friday, June 6. The most useful sessions for me were those that offered actual help in online research. There were others that I found interesting because they gave me insight to how the best American journalists do their jobs, how they develop sources, socialize with them, etc. Friday, Sonia cooked us a delicious dinner in Lucia's apartment and on Sunday, after some time on the beach, we went out for dinner to Lincoln Road, South Beach.
Sunday afternoon, Sopan and I flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa, and unfortunately missed the train to the airport. The cab was expensive, but at least we had the chance to conteplate on the virtue of resignation.
We met Andrew and Susan at the airport then Susan drove us to our hotel in St. Petersburg. Lucia, Umar, Sonia and Ivan were already there. We went to a pub with a wide variety of beers called Independent, whose owner also joined us for a drink. When the rest of the group - Katie with Samuel and Deepak - arrived, we all had a dinner together.
Monday we went to the beach together and had a dinner at Poynter, where we had our first session too that evening with Paul Pohlman and Tom Huang at the helm. During the week we also had sessions with Roy Peter Clark, Bill Mitchell, Kelly McBride, Ellyn Angelotti and Christopher "Chip" Scanlan.
A great experience for me was a visit to the Dali Museum where I spent more than three hours. Saturday (after a session with Gary Weaver) some of us went to a boattrip to see dolphins (and a couple of nice houses, again). In the evening we all went to Bill's house for dinner where we could try his kayaks.
It was a very pleasant two weeks!
I arrived in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday, June 3, met Sopan at the airport, then Lucia, who was so kind to take us to her apartment in Miami Beach where we spent one night. As soon as we dropped our bags we went to the beach which is only a few blocks away from her house; it was a great joy to swim in the surprisingly warm Atlantic Ocean. In the evening, Lucia drove us to take a look around South Beach.
I started the next day with going to the beach again then Sopan and I joined Lucia who went to a conference in South Beach. While she was at the conference we walked around and I swam too. After the conference Lucia drove us to dowtown Miami where we had a lunch together. Then she went to her newspaper's Miami office and we walked to our hotel. In the evening, Sopan and I went to a nice boattrip around the islands of Miami and saw a couple of nice houses of the rich and famous. Then we met Ivan who arrived in the afternoon and stayed at a nearby hotel with Umar and had a dinner together.
The next morning we went to the Kennedy Space Center with Lucia to see a rocket launh - it was delayed, but we spent the whole day visiting the Center. On our way back to Miami we looked around Palm Beach and saw some nice houses there, too.
The IRE conference started Friday, June 6. The most useful sessions for me were those that offered actual help in online research. There were others that I found interesting because they gave me insight to how the best American journalists do their jobs, how they develop sources, socialize with them, etc. Friday, Sonia cooked us a delicious dinner in Lucia's apartment and on Sunday, after some time on the beach, we went out for dinner to Lincoln Road, South Beach.
Sunday afternoon, Sopan and I flew from Ft. Lauderdale to Tampa, and unfortunately missed the train to the airport. The cab was expensive, but at least we had the chance to conteplate on the virtue of resignation.
We met Andrew and Susan at the airport then Susan drove us to our hotel in St. Petersburg. Lucia, Umar, Sonia and Ivan were already there. We went to a pub with a wide variety of beers called Independent, whose owner also joined us for a drink. When the rest of the group - Katie with Samuel and Deepak - arrived, we all had a dinner together.
Monday we went to the beach together and had a dinner at Poynter, where we had our first session too that evening with Paul Pohlman and Tom Huang at the helm. During the week we also had sessions with Roy Peter Clark, Bill Mitchell, Kelly McBride, Ellyn Angelotti and Christopher "Chip" Scanlan.
A great experience for me was a visit to the Dali Museum where I spent more than three hours. Saturday (after a session with Gary Weaver) some of us went to a boattrip to see dolphins (and a couple of nice houses, again). In the evening we all went to Bill's house for dinner where we could try his kayaks.
It was a very pleasant two weeks!
Monday, June 2, 2008
Diary - 4
On Saturday, May 17 I drove to Cherry Hill, NJ to do interviews with people who went to sell jewelry to a "trading show" that was advertised in a whole-page advertisement in the Inquirer, just in time for me to get some material for my story about diamonds. Although I did not meet anyone with diamonds, I did some good interviews and managed to convince my editor that we can use them to illustrate the story. So I wrote it and was pleasantly surprised when the editor only wanted me to ask one more question from one of the jewelers; based on my previous experience I made myself ready to do a lot more additional reporting.
After I drove back from Cherry Hill I met Umar who came for the weekend to visit Philly. We had a dinner together with my colleague Barry Zukerman, with whom I went to a concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra. They played two symphonies from Schubert, and it was Christoph Eschenbach's last performance as conductor and music director.
On Thursday, May 22 I got a sudden assignment at 16.30 to go to the airport and ask people about their reaction to U.S. Airways' plan of introducing a $15 fee for the first checked-in luggage. It was the third time I was sent to the airport and I totally agreed with my editor who gave me the assignment saying he knew it was "only a pain in the ass". I felt the pain especially intense when in the afternoon peak it took me half an hour just to get onto the expressway just a few blocks from the office leading to the airport. But I was lucky with the persons I approached and in less than 30 minutes I had a couple of good quotes. And in the end my byline landed on the first page, so it was worth it...:)
I spent the Memorial Day weekend in New York. Umar and I met Susan, Randy and Sopan on Sunday for dinner.
For next Wednesday and Thursday, I had three interviews scheduled for my next story about the current restoration on one of Philadelphia's most impressive buildings, the Masonic Temple. I originally wanted to write about the Masons themselves and using the restoration just as a starting point, but then was convinced by my mentor and my editor to focus on the restoration.
I talked to the director of the Masonic Museum and Library, to the Grand Master of the Masons in Pennsylvania, and to one of the partners of the architectural firm that oversees the works. Although I was really interested in who the Masons really are, the interview with the Grand Master was quite boring as he of course did not want to reveal their secrets. But the other two interviews were really interesting, especially the one with the director of the museum who was very kind and even gave me a tour of the building.
So based on what I had I decided not to write about the Masons at all and focus exclusively on the restoration. But my editor did want something about the Masons and more about the history/significance of the building. Fortunately I had everything she wanted on my records and we could more or less get everything done on Friday and today, before my departure to Florida.
I also had a chance last week to observe the editing of an investigative story. It was interesting to see how the writer and the editor discussed which words and expressions to use at critical points, and what kinds of details the editor wanted to be added. One of the deputy managing editors also came by and gave his suggestions and there was an ethical issue that was discussed as well.
Sopan came over for last weekend (we saw a great jazz performance at Natalie's together with Maria) and I had a dinner with Susan yesterday. She came to the Inquirer today and we had a lunch with Maria, Vernon Loeb, Dotty Brown and Tom Ginsberg. I finally got a haircut today and in the evening Maria and I were invited for dinner by Jane Von Bergen. After the dinner, we did a quick visit to the house of one of Maria's best friend who lives near Jane's house.
After I drove back from Cherry Hill I met Umar who came for the weekend to visit Philly. We had a dinner together with my colleague Barry Zukerman, with whom I went to a concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra. They played two symphonies from Schubert, and it was Christoph Eschenbach's last performance as conductor and music director.
On Thursday, May 22 I got a sudden assignment at 16.30 to go to the airport and ask people about their reaction to U.S. Airways' plan of introducing a $15 fee for the first checked-in luggage. It was the third time I was sent to the airport and I totally agreed with my editor who gave me the assignment saying he knew it was "only a pain in the ass". I felt the pain especially intense when in the afternoon peak it took me half an hour just to get onto the expressway just a few blocks from the office leading to the airport. But I was lucky with the persons I approached and in less than 30 minutes I had a couple of good quotes. And in the end my byline landed on the first page, so it was worth it...:)
I spent the Memorial Day weekend in New York. Umar and I met Susan, Randy and Sopan on Sunday for dinner.
For next Wednesday and Thursday, I had three interviews scheduled for my next story about the current restoration on one of Philadelphia's most impressive buildings, the Masonic Temple. I originally wanted to write about the Masons themselves and using the restoration just as a starting point, but then was convinced by my mentor and my editor to focus on the restoration.
I talked to the director of the Masonic Museum and Library, to the Grand Master of the Masons in Pennsylvania, and to one of the partners of the architectural firm that oversees the works. Although I was really interested in who the Masons really are, the interview with the Grand Master was quite boring as he of course did not want to reveal their secrets. But the other two interviews were really interesting, especially the one with the director of the museum who was very kind and even gave me a tour of the building.
So based on what I had I decided not to write about the Masons at all and focus exclusively on the restoration. But my editor did want something about the Masons and more about the history/significance of the building. Fortunately I had everything she wanted on my records and we could more or less get everything done on Friday and today, before my departure to Florida.
I also had a chance last week to observe the editing of an investigative story. It was interesting to see how the writer and the editor discussed which words and expressions to use at critical points, and what kinds of details the editor wanted to be added. One of the deputy managing editors also came by and gave his suggestions and there was an ethical issue that was discussed as well.
Sopan came over for last weekend (we saw a great jazz performance at Natalie's together with Maria) and I had a dinner with Susan yesterday. She came to the Inquirer today and we had a lunch with Maria, Vernon Loeb, Dotty Brown and Tom Ginsberg. I finally got a haircut today and in the evening Maria and I were invited for dinner by Jane Von Bergen. After the dinner, we did a quick visit to the house of one of Maria's best friend who lives near Jane's house.
Friday, May 16, 2008
Diary - 3
May started with a trip to New York. On Friday, May 2, Maria and I hit the road and by 10.30, we were sitting at the morning news meeting of The New York Times. I already knew this newspaper is a leader in multimedia journalism, now I saw why: the meeting actually began with discussing what was already online, including a video showing how a park in the city would be transformed. Then we got a tour of the building from Nancy Sharkey, Umar’s mentor, and I had a lunch with Umar. He was my great host for the weekend, as I stayed in the city until Sunday.
Next week I started to work on a story that had a couple of twists and turns. I had the original idea of writing about how cheap Chinese imports hurt businesses in the region (it came from an advertisement in which a business association complained about the issue). My editor suggested instead that I should write about how the cheap dollar might help foreign-owned businesses to expand in the region. He gave me a list of all the foreign-owned companies based in the region, counting some 500 firms. The only guidance he gave me was to look for smaller companies (the number of the employees were indicated on the list) that are not publicly traded (for this, I should have checked Yahoo Finance).
I soon realized that it just made no sense to randomly pick companies from the list and contact them on a trial and error basis, so I called the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce to ask them if they knew about foreign companies with expansion plans. They did. In the next step – following Maria’s advice – I looked up the clips the Inquirer had about these companies. I showed them to Maria who threw them out after one another: none of them seemed to be good to write about from the perspective of the dollar.
There was a company, however, that announced investments last year with the first phase due to be completed by the middle of this year. So I was asked to check up this company. The dollar story was dropped.
As an editor, I must quietly say that it was clearly not a well-thought-out and serious assignment to give a foreigner without the knowledge of the local business environment a list of companies to make a story out of it. It was rather like giving a child a toy (not a funny one, though) just to engage him.
Anyway, I started to work on this new assignment that also held some surprises. When I first called the company, a receptionist simply hung up on me after I introduced myself, saying “sorry, we don’t take any calls”. At my second try, she wrote down my name and number, saying that “if they want to talk to me, someone will call me”. Finally I called directly the president of this company on his cell who immediately agreed to meet me and give me an interview.
But the following morning an e-mail was waiting for me from a manager, saying the president is too busy for the interview. Then I called this manager and asked if he could give me an interview. He said OK but this OK lasted for only a couple of days again as this Monday he wrote me he could not make it.
Meanwhile, my editor told me to get the contract this company had with the state, as it received some state aid for its investment. These “right to know law requests” must be made in writing and who knows when I will finally receive the documents. To be continued at that time, provided I am still at the Inquirer.
The third story I started to work on looked a bit more promising. Inspired by some advertisements from jewelers who seek to buy diamonds from people off the street, I made I couple of interviews with jewelers on the so called Jewelers’ Row. It went fine and I got a picture of the current troubles of the diamond market.
To write the story, however, my editor wanted me to talk to people who are trying to sell their diamonds as well. Finding such people is of course much more difficult, if not impossible, than finding jewelers. I went back to Jewelers’ Row asking for the help of the jewelers – as my editor suggested – without success. My last try will be going to an event tomorrow, where a company will buy everything from people who need instant cash, from gold to antiques. Probably I won’t find anyone with diamonds, but hopefully will find something to illustrate the story with.
Earlier this week, I asked Mike Vitez to accompany him on interviews. I really like the stories of this Pulitzer-winner journalist (and like him as a person as well), so I would like to learn from him. It was not an interview, but I went to an event with him where his goal was to fish for people he could later interview for a story about those who do not have access to proper health care.
Outside the newsroom, I went to a baseball game yesterday. The Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves.
Also yesterday, there was a Big Hollywood Filmmaking in the newsroom, with Superstar Owen Wilson Himself. The title of the movie is Marley & Me, where Marley is a dog and Me is her master, a former Inquirer columnist. This guy wrote a column one day about the death of his dog, and the next day he received some 3,000 e-mails from touched readers. So he decided to write a whole book about Marley (& Himself), which became a bestseller bringing him to riches (so he is not with the Inquirer any more). And now the book is even beeing adopted for a movie. And it's not even just Owen Wilson, but his wife is played by Jennifer Anniston! (I knew who she was before, unlike Owen Wilson).
Next week I started to work on a story that had a couple of twists and turns. I had the original idea of writing about how cheap Chinese imports hurt businesses in the region (it came from an advertisement in which a business association complained about the issue). My editor suggested instead that I should write about how the cheap dollar might help foreign-owned businesses to expand in the region. He gave me a list of all the foreign-owned companies based in the region, counting some 500 firms. The only guidance he gave me was to look for smaller companies (the number of the employees were indicated on the list) that are not publicly traded (for this, I should have checked Yahoo Finance).
I soon realized that it just made no sense to randomly pick companies from the list and contact them on a trial and error basis, so I called the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce to ask them if they knew about foreign companies with expansion plans. They did. In the next step – following Maria’s advice – I looked up the clips the Inquirer had about these companies. I showed them to Maria who threw them out after one another: none of them seemed to be good to write about from the perspective of the dollar.
There was a company, however, that announced investments last year with the first phase due to be completed by the middle of this year. So I was asked to check up this company. The dollar story was dropped.
As an editor, I must quietly say that it was clearly not a well-thought-out and serious assignment to give a foreigner without the knowledge of the local business environment a list of companies to make a story out of it. It was rather like giving a child a toy (not a funny one, though) just to engage him.
Anyway, I started to work on this new assignment that also held some surprises. When I first called the company, a receptionist simply hung up on me after I introduced myself, saying “sorry, we don’t take any calls”. At my second try, she wrote down my name and number, saying that “if they want to talk to me, someone will call me”. Finally I called directly the president of this company on his cell who immediately agreed to meet me and give me an interview.
But the following morning an e-mail was waiting for me from a manager, saying the president is too busy for the interview. Then I called this manager and asked if he could give me an interview. He said OK but this OK lasted for only a couple of days again as this Monday he wrote me he could not make it.
Meanwhile, my editor told me to get the contract this company had with the state, as it received some state aid for its investment. These “right to know law requests” must be made in writing and who knows when I will finally receive the documents. To be continued at that time, provided I am still at the Inquirer.
The third story I started to work on looked a bit more promising. Inspired by some advertisements from jewelers who seek to buy diamonds from people off the street, I made I couple of interviews with jewelers on the so called Jewelers’ Row. It went fine and I got a picture of the current troubles of the diamond market.
To write the story, however, my editor wanted me to talk to people who are trying to sell their diamonds as well. Finding such people is of course much more difficult, if not impossible, than finding jewelers. I went back to Jewelers’ Row asking for the help of the jewelers – as my editor suggested – without success. My last try will be going to an event tomorrow, where a company will buy everything from people who need instant cash, from gold to antiques. Probably I won’t find anyone with diamonds, but hopefully will find something to illustrate the story with.
Earlier this week, I asked Mike Vitez to accompany him on interviews. I really like the stories of this Pulitzer-winner journalist (and like him as a person as well), so I would like to learn from him. It was not an interview, but I went to an event with him where his goal was to fish for people he could later interview for a story about those who do not have access to proper health care.
Outside the newsroom, I went to a baseball game yesterday. The Phillies beat the Atlanta Braves.
Also yesterday, there was a Big Hollywood Filmmaking in the newsroom, with Superstar Owen Wilson Himself. The title of the movie is Marley & Me, where Marley is a dog and Me is her master, a former Inquirer columnist. This guy wrote a column one day about the death of his dog, and the next day he received some 3,000 e-mails from touched readers. So he decided to write a whole book about Marley (& Himself), which became a bestseller bringing him to riches (so he is not with the Inquirer any more). And now the book is even beeing adopted for a movie. And it's not even just Owen Wilson, but his wife is played by Jennifer Anniston! (I knew who she was before, unlike Owen Wilson).
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