Local Pundits on City Hall Reporting
6:15pm: The panel begins. Here they are and how the got here:
Azi Paybarah: Blogs for the NY Observer since 2006. QTrib-> NY Press-> NY Sun-> NY Observer
Fernanda Santos- Daily News-> NY Times
Grace Rauh- Oakland Trib-> NY Sun-> NY1
Liz Benjamin- Albany Times Union->Daily News
Top issues for the coming year:
Azi: Bloomy
Fernanda: Economy
Grace: Bloomy’s budget
Liz: Paterson, budget, and reelection
Fernanda usually reads Azi and Liz’s blogs each morning. Works in a three-person City Hall team at the Times. Views the billionaire mayor as an enigmatic figure.
Enterprise reporting- some newspapers do more of this than others. The late NY Sun encouraged enterprise reporting. Television reporting requires stakeouts and plenty of visuals of people in the news. Find small tidbits within a press conference. Make a story out of this. “Pull out pieces,” said Liz. Bloggers hit on certain themes. Bloomy mispronouncing names could be a story in itself, if he continues mispronouncing names.
Fernanda sometimes prefers meeting a grassroots neighborhood activist than a well-connected insider, because the neighborhood figure provides a different perspective. Local stories are a result of a hyperlocal occurrence. It is then put into a national context.
City Council members are very accessible, Santos said. They also like being on camera. Even those who voted to overthrow term limits care more about bread & butter issues than the controversial term limits vote. pols like Melinda Katz and David Yassky do not want to be remembered for this vote, but also for other things they did.
On sources: Liz Benjamin says: “Why are they telling me this?” Describes this as a chess game.
On Caroline Kennedy stories: Azi says: “what is the value of this attack to my readers?”
Underreported: Fernanda- how are decisions at City Hall affecting citizens, detailed descriptions in which tax or fare decisions affect citizens.
Azi says that budget reporting does not get enough coverage, because it involves number crunching.
Liz: News is very instant, and there’s little follow-up reporting going on. Hiram Monserrate is an example.
None of them feel tempted to run for office themselves.
Put yourself in front of an editor. Take the person out, introduce yourself.
Fernanda says: Start at a small paper before applying to the Times.
Liz used to apply for jobs and used a headhuter, but recommends starting in the boondocks. It’s so much harder to start in NYC.