Ross Markman: Smart Reporting

By Colleen Pagnani

  

When Ross Markman was assigned to cover the parking problems within his town at a City Council meeting, he followed his usual procedure in writing his story. The steps he takes in writing his feature stories are very smart.

I believe that, just like Markman, reporters should always be prepared when they are assigned to cover meetings regarding issues they must write about. Finding out the agenda of a city council meeting is easy—all that needs to be done is contacting a city official. Once the reporter learns about the issues being covered in the meeting, Markman said they could write a ‘background copy’ prior to the meeting. I think this is beneficial for the writer because it only leaves the work of ‘topping’ the draft with a new version filled with new information. Also, it saves a lot of time that’s necessary when their piece has a deadline.

Of course there are meetings where more than one topic is addressed. In this case, the reporter must “determine what’s newsworthy.” With that said, Markman believes that if more people are affected by one specific issue, the story becomes bigger. However, if there are multiple stories Markman finds interesting, he may choose to write a separate story for each. I think his style of reporting results in the most success. Not only is he always prepared, but he also gets his assignments done on time because of his research.

Regarding his city council story, I believe Markman gave enough information to keep readers attentive; there were direct quotes from storeowners and city workers. In my opinion, I do not think there is an effective way to make sure people don’t park in a spot for more than two hours without a consequence. By consequence, I mean ticketing them. Of course not everyone means to take advantage of the law, some just lose track of time, but many do not seem to find it to be a big deal if they’re parked overtime. The signs enforcing the parking should be put back up, as well. Although marking the tires with chalk and continuously checking on the cars to see if they have moved is effective to some extent, it would still be hard to figure out who is actually shopping and who is just using the spot the whole day with no plans of moving. Not only does this issue affect the town, it also affects the stores. If there are no spots in front of stores to park, customers may be turned away to find a place with more parking spaces.

In general, I think Markman does great work for his job. The steps he takes to write a great piece for current issues related to his town’s government are all beneficial to his work. I believe the way he works is the way all reporters should work if they want to be successful.