Stories published during weeks of travel

Although I haven’t posted in my blog in a couple weeks, I’ve had several stories and briefs run in the Tribune. I’ve been out of town for the majority of the time – but that’s for another post.

While I was away, I finished an assignment about two Navy SEALs, who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, being added to the Medal of Honor display at the national SEAL museum in Fort Pierce. It was amazing to learn how these heroes sacrificed their lives to save others.

Read the story here on TCPalm.com: “2 added to Medal of Honor display”

During the couple days I was home in between trips, I covered the dedication of a new building at the Florida Atlantic University branch in Port St. Lucie. I joined a massive audience to listen how this facility would double the FAU campus in size.

Read the story here on TCPalm.com: “FAU branch doubles in size”

I was back in time for Port St. Lucie City Council’s Monday meetings and covered the public workshop the council held to discuss their plan for the use of $13.5 million from the government to help fix the bad home foreclosure mess in the city.

Read the story here on TCPalm.com: “PSL council OKs home rescues”

Before I left on all of my travels, it was election day. Not only did I cover Port St. Lucie City Council meetings for three briefs, but I also worked for The Associated Press again as an election night reporter. I called in the general election results for St. Lucie County to The AP in Miami, similar to what I blogged about doing for the primaries. The one exception this time was covering the presidential race also.

Read those posts here: “Conference call prepares reporters for election night” and “Freelancer reports local primaries successfully”

And stay tuned for more on my travels.

 

Freelancer reports local primaries successfully

I wanted to be as prepared as possible in my assignment I explained in my previous posts “Local election gives freelancer AP opportunity” and “Conference call prepares reporters for election night.”

I arrived early at the St. Lucie County election offices on the night of the primaries. The polls closed at 7 p.m., but I went an hour early to introduce myself to the officials and set up my things – basically to get my bearings. I socialized with the public and other media until the results started to come in on the large scrolling screen in front of me.

It was all business from there. However, the races on the scrolling screen, as well as the names of the candidates, were in a different order than the AP ballots I printed. The numbers kept changing and moving, and I frantically scribbled what I could. At that point, I couldn’t balance the speed and accuracy.

After I called the Miami bureau with my half-updated results, they reassured me that it’s hectic at first, but I’ll find my groove. Sure enough, within a half an hour, I got the hang of it. I found if I copied the numbers of every other race, I could get the results quickly and correctly in two scrolls.

I called them at least every 30 minutes. One time I even called 15 minutes later with an update. I became comfortable bugging the officials about early votes, absentee ballots and provisional votes. I was in my element – and I absolutely loved it.

Unfortunately, a couple precincts had problems, and there was a massive amount of absentee ballots to be tabulated. I didn’t get the final results until after 11 p.m. I drove home both exhausted and exhilarated.

Now I’m ready for the general election in November.

 

Conference call prepares reporters for election night

A couple weeks ago, my editor at The Fort Pierce Tribune e-mailed me with a great opportunity. As you may have read in my post, “Local election gives freelancer AP opportunity,” I will be working for The Associated Press on election night covering the St. Lucie County primaries. The AP also asked if I could do the same on the general election night.

In the days building to the primaries, I’ve received many e-mails and attachments to prepare me for election night. We even had a conference call today. From home, I called the toll-free number The AP e-mailed us and entered a code. I joined the conversation of reporters from all over the state, as well as the nation, in discussing the details of our assignments.

As an AP Election Night Reporter, which is how I’m to introduce myself at the election offices, I’m one of 5,000 reporters who will call in federal, state and local race results to data centers across the nation. Florida’s AP bureau is in Miami.

From the time the polls close at 7 p.m. until about midnight – depending on voter turnout and speed of results – I will be calling every time a new batch of results becomes available. The AP said the data I give them will be “accumulated and distributed to newspapers, broadcasters, cable networks and Web sites across the nation for immediate publication and broadcast.” They stressed the importance of speed, but accuracy is always most important.

This is straight reporting – no writing – so creativity is not the issue. It’s always about accuracy, the most important element of journalism. In today’s world, it’s not only about getting information – but getting it fast.

I’m excited to know I’ll be a part of the news that each and every person will read later that election night online and the next morning in the newspaper.

 

Editing process causes erroneous journalism

Today, my hurricane house story ran on the front page of The Fort Pierce Tribune. On A1, they ran a photo and a blurb they wrote about the story with a jump to B5.

Before reading the rest of this post, I suggest reading the article on TCPalm.com: “52-year-old man’s hurricane ravaged home ‘intact’ once more.”

It’s a good thing my name wasn’t printed on the front page because the blurb had some incorrect details inferred from my story, not from my reporting. Although it was a 15-inch story, it was cut – but not at the end. Instead the words were kept the same, but sentences were removed and rearranged to make the article shorter.

Unfortunately, I saw several places that just didn’t flow. Take, for example, the following excerpt:

“After the storms, Pitts relied on the help of friends for repairs.

Another friend encouraged him to contact INTACT.”

If using ‘another’ seems weird, it’s because there was more. One friend gave him a discount on shingles and tar paper to repair his roof, but companies were asking $7,000 for the labor of a one-day job on a small house. Those with damaged homes could relate to this type of price-gouging due to the high demand after the hurricanes.

There was even an error in the story due to the editing – a quote was credited to one woman when it was her colleague who said it. I called the woman since she’s my major source in this story besides the homeowner, and we’ve been in contact almost daily. She said she loved the story before I even explained what happened. Even after I told her everything, she said she understood and wanted to work with me again on story tips.

I got lucky with my first article – “For last day of school, students get $1 coins” – in that it was printed almost verbatim. Even the other article – “Inmates graduate jail program in St. Lucie County” – was just cut short.

But this is the newspaper where a correspondent like me only writes the articles and has no involvement in the headline writing, photo caption writing, blurb writing or editing process.

This is the real world – for a freelancer.

 

Unavailable source, available editor

Today I contacted the top bidder for the county auction story I’ve been assigned by my editor at The Fort Pierce Tribune. I identified myself to his secretary, and I noticed a change in the tone of her voice. She returned after a couple minutes of putting me on hold.

“He’s not available,” she said.

And nothing else. I then offered her my contact information, but I have the oddest feeling she wasn’t writing as I slowly gave my cell phone number. I explained to her that I wouldn’t take up much of his time – basically saying this story is nothing hard-hitting – but she hung up without any ‘you’re welcome’ or ‘goodbye.’

I plan to call back tomorrow and be oblivious and sickeningly sweet.

I do have to say I love how my editor always keeps me up to date. My inbox is full of e-mails from her, and she sent several today with updates on whether the tryout story or the hurricane house story would print tomorrow. The final word was yes only to the latter.

I’ll link my published article in my next post, but you can always check the homepage of TCPalm.com.