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I read a lot of nonfiction, literary and otherwise, and I recently finished one of the better books I’ve found on American culture and media in the middle of the 20th Century. “The Race Beat” not only chronicles the coverage of the civil rights movement and its effects on American society, it offers a few good lessons on being a journalist.

Here’s my favorite:

“One other thing made Bigart memorable: he spoke with a stammer that colleagues frequently saw him use to his benefit to coax information from reluctant sources.

Lelyveld, sent to Philadelphia after Bigart, met a local minister, introduced himself, and interviewed the minister. He came away with an unforgettable lesson in what it takes to be a great newspaper reporter.

“‘You’ve asked me a lot of questions,’ the minister said in a buttery southern accent after the interview was over. ‘Can I ask you one?’

“‘Yes sir’, Lelyveld responded.

“‘There was a man down here, an older man, said he was from The New York Times. Name of Bigaht. Know ‘im?’

“‘Yes sir.’

“‘Couldn’t have a normal conversation with that man,’ the minister went on. ‘He didn’t know anything. I had to explain evvvverything to him.’”

Not a bad M.O. if you can pull it off. We can all learn from the old masters.

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For those very few of you who have been missing my byline (hi, Mom and Dad!), I have good news. The Herald News’ soccer writer, Ives Galarcep, has gone rogue and left the paper to start his own soccer media empire. Since his departure, I have been tapped to write our paper’s soccer blog. Last week, we launched The International Fixture. It’s a chance for me to write about the culture and passion of soccer’s players and supporters. The blog will hopefully focus on the game around the world and how it resonates with people in the North Jersey and New York City area.

So if you’re at all interested in the beautiful game, stop by and check it out. It’s a hobby that I’ll try to squeeze in when my regular editing responsibilities allow, but I think it will be a fun chance to write about one of my favorite pasttimes. We’ll see how it goes.

For those who aren’t soccer aficionados, don’t despire. I’ll keep sharing my tips and experiences in the newspaper business here on my personal site, as well.

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From time to time, you read about journalists being imprisoned in far-off countries for doing their jobs. Only rarely do you recognize their names.

Yesterday, Barry Bearak of the New York Times was arrested in Zimbabwe and accused of  “practicing journalism without accreditation“. I made Bearak’s acquaintance a few years ago when he was teaching at Columbia University’s journalism school. I’ve since become a fan of his work. He’s a gifted and probing writer who has won the Pulitzer Prize, the highest honor in American journalism.

I heard about Bearak’s arrest this morning on the BBC. I can’t profess to know all the ins and outs of the situation in Zimbabwe, but I know that Bearak is a journalist of integrity. I hope that Barry is safe and sound and released quickly.

It’s an outrage that any government would jail a journalist for doing his job. A lot of people like to grouse about the American news media and accuse it of rampant bias. But situations like these only reinforce how vital an unfettered press is to a true democracy.

Update: Bearak was freed on bail Monday. Hopefully, his case will help shine a light on the persecution of journalists and restrictions on the free flow of information in Zimbabwe. Maybe that light can help the people there make a change.

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Before attending a job fair to interview journalism students and aspiring reporters, be sure to update your Web site. Reporters these days know how to Google.

When feasible, finish updating the Best Practices section of this site.

Take a deep breath, and enjoy spring.

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Some people spend years trying to learn our craft, spending thousands on graduate schools. Others just go where the news is, roll up their sleeves and give it a shot.

I can’t say that my friend David Lang’s method is the best way to get into the business, but it’s not the craziest either. David is an accomplished photographer who has been learning the craft of making pictures for some time, but this winter he went out on a limb. He flew to Pakistan for a month to cover the presidential elections there and to explore Afghanistan.

So now, camera and lights in hand, David is having a hell of an adventure, and he’s no longer just a documentary photographer. He’s a journalist. His blog about his experiences in the ’stans is funny, engaging and definitely worth a read. I have a feeling we’ll all be seeing much more of his work soon.

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On Tuesday, we lost a colleague and an accomplished journalist when Jonathan Maslow died.

Plenty of others have already shared their memories and their sadness much better than I can. All I’ll say is that his humor and his passion for life and the newsman’s craft will be sorely missed in this newsroom. And those traits are desperately needed in so many others.

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I’ve been putting off posting here for weeks, hoping inspiration would strike, or I would suddenly find a bounty of free time to think of something really insightful.

None of this happened, so I’ll drop a few tidbits of news and links to some friends, and hope I can get things rolling here again shortly.

First, I’m no longer my paper’s CAR reporter. Last month, I was promoted to city editor. I can just hear you, in your best Maude Lebowski tone, saying to yourself “And proud we are of you…”. Yes, it’s a nice new job to throw me back at the bottom of a steep learning curve. Thankfully, some friends have been giving me some advice.

So for the time being, let me just say I promise to post again soon. There’s loads of cool and exciting things happening on the Web that should make journalists informed and nervous (in a good way, like a roller-coaster ride). They should keep you busy for a bit.

 And let me pass on a couple of old nuggets from a former editor: get out of the newsroom, and use your e-mail addressbook as a way to cultivate sources.

So stop obsessing over this season of “The Wire” and step up your game, people. I’m trying to.

Cheers.

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While I use Google News fairly regularly–particularly its e-mailed news alerts), I never noticed the new “comments from people in the news” function that it apparently launched last spring. It’s a fascinating idea that the NY Times recently took a look at (thanks, Slashdot for bringing it to my attention).

Let’s set aside for a moment the daunting challenges of trying to make this work in the real world. Why shouldn’t news subjects have a chance to comment on a story in which they appear, particularly on the Web where the column inches are infinite? Certainly sources have already taken advantage of the comment functions that many news organizations’ Web sites already employ. But Google has hit upon a unique twist by weighting the comments from those quoted in a story. The journalist has already gone to the effort of vetting sources and weeding out those with less substantial thoughts to add to a story. To give them a chance to comment after the fact and append it to the story can only add to the depth of the coverage.

It’s conceivable that you could give every source you interview a special URL and a password. Once the story appears in the paper, they could then choose to login and sound off. It would assuage the bruised egos of those long-winded subjects who inevitably lose much of their argument to brevity. It would also keep reporters on their toes that they could expect more than a nasty letter to the editor should they play fast and loose with the facts.

What do you think? Is there any reason we as journalists couldn’t (or shouldn’t) provide such a function on our own Web sites? Or should we let Google have all the fun?

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My former colleague Yoni Greenbaum has entered the journalism blogging arena, and he recently added his philosophy about the obligation of newspapers to make their corrections as easy to find online as they are in the print edition.

As a longtime fan of Regret the Error, I couldn’t agree more. Look, nobody wants to make a mistake, particularly when reporters, editors and photographers have spent months on an investigation. A silly bit of carelessness can sully the credibility of the entire story. But what would be even more damaging for the journalists involved, and particularly for their newspaper, would be to soft-pedal the needed correction.

If you get it wrong, say so. Say it soon and say it straightforward. Being forthright with readers about any errors–of omission or otherwise–will reap dividends in the long-run.

As newspapers build up more vigorous online presences, it only becomes more vital that they revisit their correction policies for their Web editions. Make it visible and be honest, and you will build even more loyalty for your product. A little mea culpa will go a long way.

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I’ve been out of the daily reporting loop for months now as I fill in as an editor, but I have been involved in one cool project. One of my reporters is now in the Dominican Republic reporting a project on the destruction caused earlier in the month by Hurricane Noel. While she’s there (without a laptop, cellphone charger or camera cord–”lost” by the airline), I’m editing her copy and coordinating the project with the Web, photo, copy and marketing staffs.

Yesterday she was in the town of Piedra Blanca, an agricultural outpost of about 23,000 people that was devastated by the storm. Paterson, NJ has the highest population of Dominicans in the state and many of our readers hail from Piedra Blanca. They led Heather to this great story.

“We’re starting at zero,” said Dr. Carmen Garcia, the mayor of Piedra Blanca, while sitting in her sparse office on Tuesday. “This destroyed everything.”

The series will drop the next stories on Saturday and Monday with more to follow next week. It will be definitely worth a read if you’re interested in how new Americans return home to help their countrymen in need.

In the middle of juggling all the demands of launching this project yesterday, I did get to do a piece of data reporting. I actually managed to squeeze in an opportunity to run some SQL queries on a New Jersey accidents database for a reporter looking for some key data. She was looking for the number of accidents involving school buses in Passaic County over the last five years. I was quite pleased with myself that I could run the queries and find her answer in about 15 minutes. The number? 713.

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