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).
Friday, May 16, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Diary - 2
The most important, interesting and edifying work of the second half of April was my interview with Hungarian-born historian John Lukacs. I agreed with the editor of the Pennsylvanian region (as the professor lives in Phoenixville, PA) Ned Warwick that I will write the interview for him, and that I will focus on Lukacs’ views on the state of American democracy. This was the topic of one of his most recent books, and it is particularly interesting now at the time of the presidential race.
I received a company car and drove to Phoenixville on April 21. I spent almost three hours with the professor, talking about not only about the U.S., but about Hungary as well. I spent the following day on writing the interview.
Several things came up while I was working on this story. The lessons started even before I visited the professor. My mentor Maria asked me about how I agreed with him to interview him. I told her that Lukacs had asked me why I wanted to make this interview.
And here, as it turned out, I made a mistake: I should not have told the professor that one of my reasons was my personal respect toward him. Maria said we should never let the subject know about our personal feelings as we might be regarded biased by the person we are interviewing.
I made another mistake when I yielded consent to the professor’s request to fax him my draft before the story is published. This is not at all unusual in Hungary, and as we talked about politics, I understood Lukacs’ concerns.
But I had to learn that here it is not acceptable: we can call the subject to clarify his/her quotes when we are not sure about them, but we never let him/her edit our stories. This is a principle I will hold to when I am back in Hungary, as it reflects both independence and responsibility of journalists. And we want to be independent and responsible, don’t we?
We are still in the process of editing my interview, but it is already clear that this is a much more time-consuming and thorough process than what I am used to. First, Ned gave me suggestions on how to rewrite the top of the story to get the reader “engaged”, but then he said he was very busy and passed it on to another editor, Dorothy Brown.
Surprisingly, she did not just read my story but started with researching online on Lukacs so that she can have an idea of who this person is, helping me to get out more of the story. Then she came up with the even more surprising idea that I should talk to other historians about Lukacs’ views.
Well, I still don’t know what the outcome of this process will be; at the beginning I did not really understand why all this fuss was necessary, why my story wasn’t just good as it was. I felt that I was required to write a totally different story to the one I planned. In Hungary, editors are not engaged in shaping the stories to such an extent. Now I see this is also an example of how to dig deeper, writing not only what a single person tells us, but trying to put it into a context.
Another bigger story I was working on in the last couple of days was an obituary; something I had never done before. Although it was much simpler than the interview, I still had some difficulties with getting all the details on the deceased person’s biography the editor wanted.
Two smaller stories I wrote during this period: on Monday, 4/14 I wrote an article about the acquisition of a local company by ADT, which is a subsidiary of Tyco. On Wednesday, 4/16 I went to the airport again, and interviewed travelers about the announcment of U.S. Airways that it would introduce fees for those who check in online and select one of the "best" seats.
This week, starting from 4/28, I was supposed to work for the City Desk. Maria figured that it would be useful for me to learn there some basics of how things are done here, with simpler stories to those of the Business Desk. But I was pretty much ignored, I must say.
During four days, I was sent to two press conferences with other reporters (one was held at the police headquarters and one at the Phillies stadium), and was not assigned to write anything. As Maria had told me that at the City Desk I would have actually more opportunity to write than at the Business Desk, I was of course disappointed. But at least I was not bored, as I had the stories mentioned above to work on.
Outside the newsroom, on Monday 4/14, I went to see Obama and Clinton on a campaign event. The next evening was also about American politics: I went again to the Pen & Pencil Club, where Jonathan Alter of Newsweek and MSNBC and Jonathan Martin of Politico.com held a discussion about the presidential race. On Thursday, 4/17 I got a bike from Chen Sterling, who works as a page designer. He was so kind that he lent me his bike for the whole period that I will spend in Philadelphia.
On Friday at noon, 4/18, I went to a free concert of Kate Nash with Library Supervisor Michael Panzer. On Sunday 4/20, I was invited by a college, Mike Zebe to his house in Ambler. There was a pleasant barbeque party with a couple of neighbors.
Next Wednesday, 4/23, I went to New York after work to see Megadeth on their Gigantour in Hammerstein Ballroom. I spent the night at Umar’s place and returned to Philadelphia next morning. That evening I was invited for dinner by a colleague at the business desk, Jane Von Bergen. On Saturday, I went to North Wales to meet a Hungarian journalist, Joe Szabo, who has lived in the Unites States for 30 years and knows some people from the Inquirer.
The next day, which was Greek Easter, I was invited by my Maria to her sister Helen’s house for lunch. Helen has a lovely family, his husband is Mike, and their kids are Maria, John, Paul and Grace. They live in Pennsburg. Maria’s other sister, Diane took me there with her car, together with an Argentine colleague of her, Ana.
Yesterday, 4/30, I was invited to a concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra by a colleague, Mike Vitez. They played Mahler’s 8th Symphony. And now I am just about to go to with Maria a dinner at another colleague’s house, Chris Mondics.
Megadeth Gigantour 2008, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, April 23
Sleepwalker
Wake Up Dead
Take No Prisoners
Skin O’ My Teeth
Washington Is Next
Kick The Chair
In My Darkest Hour
Hangar 18
Gears Of War
A Tout Le Monde
Tornado Of Souls
Ashes In Your Mouth
Burnt Ice
Symphony Of Destruction
Trust
Peace Sells
Holy Wars
I received a company car and drove to Phoenixville on April 21. I spent almost three hours with the professor, talking about not only about the U.S., but about Hungary as well. I spent the following day on writing the interview.
Several things came up while I was working on this story. The lessons started even before I visited the professor. My mentor Maria asked me about how I agreed with him to interview him. I told her that Lukacs had asked me why I wanted to make this interview.
And here, as it turned out, I made a mistake: I should not have told the professor that one of my reasons was my personal respect toward him. Maria said we should never let the subject know about our personal feelings as we might be regarded biased by the person we are interviewing.
I made another mistake when I yielded consent to the professor’s request to fax him my draft before the story is published. This is not at all unusual in Hungary, and as we talked about politics, I understood Lukacs’ concerns.
But I had to learn that here it is not acceptable: we can call the subject to clarify his/her quotes when we are not sure about them, but we never let him/her edit our stories. This is a principle I will hold to when I am back in Hungary, as it reflects both independence and responsibility of journalists. And we want to be independent and responsible, don’t we?
We are still in the process of editing my interview, but it is already clear that this is a much more time-consuming and thorough process than what I am used to. First, Ned gave me suggestions on how to rewrite the top of the story to get the reader “engaged”, but then he said he was very busy and passed it on to another editor, Dorothy Brown.
Surprisingly, she did not just read my story but started with researching online on Lukacs so that she can have an idea of who this person is, helping me to get out more of the story. Then she came up with the even more surprising idea that I should talk to other historians about Lukacs’ views.
Well, I still don’t know what the outcome of this process will be; at the beginning I did not really understand why all this fuss was necessary, why my story wasn’t just good as it was. I felt that I was required to write a totally different story to the one I planned. In Hungary, editors are not engaged in shaping the stories to such an extent. Now I see this is also an example of how to dig deeper, writing not only what a single person tells us, but trying to put it into a context.
Another bigger story I was working on in the last couple of days was an obituary; something I had never done before. Although it was much simpler than the interview, I still had some difficulties with getting all the details on the deceased person’s biography the editor wanted.
Two smaller stories I wrote during this period: on Monday, 4/14 I wrote an article about the acquisition of a local company by ADT, which is a subsidiary of Tyco. On Wednesday, 4/16 I went to the airport again, and interviewed travelers about the announcment of U.S. Airways that it would introduce fees for those who check in online and select one of the "best" seats.
This week, starting from 4/28, I was supposed to work for the City Desk. Maria figured that it would be useful for me to learn there some basics of how things are done here, with simpler stories to those of the Business Desk. But I was pretty much ignored, I must say.
During four days, I was sent to two press conferences with other reporters (one was held at the police headquarters and one at the Phillies stadium), and was not assigned to write anything. As Maria had told me that at the City Desk I would have actually more opportunity to write than at the Business Desk, I was of course disappointed. But at least I was not bored, as I had the stories mentioned above to work on.
Outside the newsroom, on Monday 4/14, I went to see Obama and Clinton on a campaign event. The next evening was also about American politics: I went again to the Pen & Pencil Club, where Jonathan Alter of Newsweek and MSNBC and Jonathan Martin of Politico.com held a discussion about the presidential race. On Thursday, 4/17 I got a bike from Chen Sterling, who works as a page designer. He was so kind that he lent me his bike for the whole period that I will spend in Philadelphia.
On Friday at noon, 4/18, I went to a free concert of Kate Nash with Library Supervisor Michael Panzer. On Sunday 4/20, I was invited by a college, Mike Zebe to his house in Ambler. There was a pleasant barbeque party with a couple of neighbors.
Next Wednesday, 4/23, I went to New York after work to see Megadeth on their Gigantour in Hammerstein Ballroom. I spent the night at Umar’s place and returned to Philadelphia next morning. That evening I was invited for dinner by a colleague at the business desk, Jane Von Bergen. On Saturday, I went to North Wales to meet a Hungarian journalist, Joe Szabo, who has lived in the Unites States for 30 years and knows some people from the Inquirer.
The next day, which was Greek Easter, I was invited by my Maria to her sister Helen’s house for lunch. Helen has a lovely family, his husband is Mike, and their kids are Maria, John, Paul and Grace. They live in Pennsburg. Maria’s other sister, Diane took me there with her car, together with an Argentine colleague of her, Ana.
Yesterday, 4/30, I was invited to a concert of the Philadelphia Orchestra by a colleague, Mike Vitez. They played Mahler’s 8th Symphony. And now I am just about to go to with Maria a dinner at another colleague’s house, Chris Mondics.
Megadeth Gigantour 2008, Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, April 23
Sleepwalker
Wake Up Dead
Take No Prisoners
Skin O’ My Teeth
Washington Is Next
Kick The Chair
In My Darkest Hour
Hangar 18
Gears Of War
A Tout Le Monde
Tornado Of Souls
Ashes In Your Mouth
Burnt Ice
Symphony Of Destruction
Trust
Peace Sells
Holy Wars
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Diary - 1
Even if I didn't hit the ground running, my first two weeks at the Inquirer were useful and intensive enough to prepare for what's ahead in the next months.
During the first week, I did not even have time to think about what was happening to me. I was introduced to dozens of people at the paper, including more formal meetings with Business Editor Tom Ginsberg, Metro Editor Gabe Escobar, City Editor Chris Hepp, Managing Editors Sandra Long and Mike Leary, Deputy Managing Editor Vernon Loeb, Fine Arts Editor Becky Klock. I met Editor Bill Marimow at the beginning of my second week.
During the first week, I did not even have time to think about what was happening to me. I was introduced to dozens of people at the paper, including more formal meetings with Business Editor Tom Ginsberg, Metro Editor Gabe Escobar, City Editor Chris Hepp, Managing Editors Sandra Long and Mike Leary, Deputy Managing Editor Vernon Loeb, Fine Arts Editor Becky Klock. I met Editor Bill Marimow at the beginning of my second week.
Right on the first day, I sat in the morning news meeting, and a week later, I participated in the meeting of the Editorial Board. It was interesting to see how completely separately the board works from the newsroom. I was also given a tour of the building with a small group of students from Arcadia University, and had a short training on the computer network. This was clearly not enough, but I learn it as I use it.
Beside all that, settling in my apartment was also stressful: it was quite ill-furnished when I moved in. Thanks to my colleagues who offered to lend me lots of things, I am alright by now.
I have received tremendous amount of help from my mentor Maria Panaritis in the first place, but from others at the paper as well. Maria invited me for dinner for some four times during the first week, helped me in shopping and transport, took me to the Pen and Pencil Club of journalists to hear the president of the University of Pennsylvania (we went back to the club the following week for a Hungarian wine-tasting). I met her cousin who has just published a book on real estate economics here, and her sister Diane as well. We went to see the presses on the first Friday night; not only the Inquirer, but the Daily News and one edition of the New York Times is printed here too.
I started writing on the first Wednesday, when I had to contribute to a story about the weak dollar and how it affects travelers. I went to the international airport, and interviewed vacationers who were leaving for Europe. I was very happy that I could start writing that soon, and it was a useful and enjoyable start. It was a good example of what I will try to learn during my fellowship: how to give a human face to business stories.
I attended a hearing at the City Hall on that Friday with a journalist who covers city affairs. It was about plans to build two casinos in Philadelphia. The speakers included a professor who talked about the dangers of casinos to local communities, a representative of a civic group that opposed the plans, the deputy police commissioner of the city, representatives of the developers, and finally, the mayor. He also opposes the plans but there is a recent court decision that gave the final say to the state, which has already gave its permission. So the city seems to be unable to block building-up of these casinos on the shore of the Delaware River.
Beside two briefs, I wrote a story about a local oil company. I had to make telephone interviews,which gave me the chance to experience how difficult it is to make good notes with exact quotes. I will definitely need more practice on this.
Another important lesson about this story was to find out the importance of doing some research before making interviews. I have learned to use the archive of the Inquirer, and searching Yahoo finance for relevant background information.
I have also learned to use Lexis Nexis searching for published articles as well as for locating people. I have used this tool for preparing for my next story; I will try to make an interview with Hungarian-born historian John Lukacs. I have already done the research and hope to meet him in the coming days.
Checking the facts and doing research is indispensable even when writing commentaries: I have learned this when commenting on the current government crises in Hungary that stems from the failed health care reform. Writing this piece, I have also learned something about how stories are structured in American journalism. This commentary will hopefully run sometime this week.
I started writing on the first Wednesday, when I had to contribute to a story about the weak dollar and how it affects travelers. I went to the international airport, and interviewed vacationers who were leaving for Europe. I was very happy that I could start writing that soon, and it was a useful and enjoyable start. It was a good example of what I will try to learn during my fellowship: how to give a human face to business stories.
I attended a hearing at the City Hall on that Friday with a journalist who covers city affairs. It was about plans to build two casinos in Philadelphia. The speakers included a professor who talked about the dangers of casinos to local communities, a representative of a civic group that opposed the plans, the deputy police commissioner of the city, representatives of the developers, and finally, the mayor. He also opposes the plans but there is a recent court decision that gave the final say to the state, which has already gave its permission. So the city seems to be unable to block building-up of these casinos on the shore of the Delaware River.
Beside two briefs, I wrote a story about a local oil company. I had to make telephone interviews,which gave me the chance to experience how difficult it is to make good notes with exact quotes. I will definitely need more practice on this.
Another important lesson about this story was to find out the importance of doing some research before making interviews. I have learned to use the archive of the Inquirer, and searching Yahoo finance for relevant background information.
I have also learned to use Lexis Nexis searching for published articles as well as for locating people. I have used this tool for preparing for my next story; I will try to make an interview with Hungarian-born historian John Lukacs. I have already done the research and hope to meet him in the coming days.
Checking the facts and doing research is indispensable even when writing commentaries: I have learned this when commenting on the current government crises in Hungary that stems from the failed health care reform. Writing this piece, I have also learned something about how stories are structured in American journalism. This commentary will hopefully run sometime this week.
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