Memorable Experience

By Stephanie Costantino  

When someone is asked to deliberate on a memorable experience, there are a series of different emotions that may be provoked: Sadness, glee, melancholy, and merriment. For Alison Merrits, the emotion she remembers is fear. 

When I asked Alison, an 18-year-old student at Boston University, to tell me about a memorable experience in her life, she paused for a moment and pondered. Suddenly, her eyes widened as it dawned on her what she would tell me about. “I got an earring stuck in my piercing hole and a lizard doctor had to pull it out,” she said. “That was memorable. And slightly terrifying.”

Confused and perplexed by her statement, I asked her what exactly she meant by “lizard doctor.” She then explained how it came to be that a scientist who specialized in lizards found himself probing her ear lobe to retrieve an earring that had somehow gotten stuck inside.

“I was about 10 years old at the time,” Alison told me. “I think it was 5^th grade. In 4^th grade, I got my ear pierced for the first time.” She explained to me that after getting her ear pierced, the piercers gave her a standard sized earring, and over time she was instructed to remove the standard size and gradually keep switching into smaller sizes until her piercing was fully healed and ready for a normal sized earring.

“So, in 5^th grade I went on vacation to the British Virgin Islands. My family friend lived on an island called Guana, and the island was holding some sort of scientists’ convention. There were lots of different types of scientists, specializing in birds, or agriculture, and then there were a few who specialized in lizards.

“One night while I was there, I decided it would be a good time to finally switch my earrings. I hadn’t been keeping up to date like I was instructed to, and I’d never taken my earrings out since I got them pierced a year prior. So I put in an earring that was much smaller than I was used to. I went to sleep with the earring on, and when I woke up I felt a horrible pain in my earlobe. I felt around my lobe and realized my earring had somehow got embedded inside, and immediately started freaking out,” she recalled.

“My mom rushed me outside and there was a scientist there, the one who specialized in lizards. He told me he could get it out; he just had to get his tools. He grabbed something that he said he used to probe lizards, and stuck it inside my lobe. After pushing and jerking it around inside my lobe, he reached the earring and applied pressure to it, and it popped out into my hand.”

After cringing at her story myself, I asked her how she felt after the earring had popped out. “Relieved,” she said, sighing, as if she were reliving the moment all over again. “It was definitely terrifying as a ten year old to have something stuck inside of you, and especially strange to have a man who works with lizards helping you to get it out. But it makes for a great story.”

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.

Ross Markman: Good Model for Aspiring Journalists

By Dan Longarino 

After reading the short bio of Ross Markman, I respect the way he goes about his work and see myself in him. I like the way he does his homework before actually going to an event/interview. I believe that being informed on the topic beforehand helps a great deal when it comes to covering the story. After reading his preparation process, I am nor surprised that he finishes his pieces so close to his deadlines.

His journey from college student to writer via internship connects with me. His situation sounds similar to the one I’m in now. When I went into my current internship at FOX, I had no idea how to do anything. Thankfully, many producers have taken me under their wings and I have learned a great deal in my short time thee so far.

 Markman’s piece on the parking issue is very well written. As I now know from reading his bio, he did his homework on the topic and is very well informed. His article covers the history of the issue, what’s being done about the issue and what certain people believe the solution to the issue is. I like the way it was formatted; it begins by discussing the attempt the city council made to solve the issue, followed by the opinion of the store owners who explain that writing tickets to the parkers would hurt their business. By getting these quotes Markman portrays the complexity of the situation. It caused me to try to formulate my own opinion on how to fix the problem. I couldn’t come up with one myself, which to me means he did a good job of explaining the situation.

Ross Markman: Tips of the Trade

By Elizabeth Flores

 The reporting perspective of Ross Markman, one of three reporters in The Havre Daily News in Montana, offers some useful tips. He is mostly assigned to stories on county government, city government and local schools. He was discussing a recent article he had written about parking regulations and was able to finish his story within thirty minutes of the meeting ending. Behind his quick reporting is, understanding the topic and being well informed on it by contacting city and school officials for information.

He also says it is important to know what is newsworthy and what is not, because the more people affected the bigger the story will be. I think this is a very savvy preparation method he utilizes for each story; by having background information on the topic he is able create perspective in his story. Preparation is a fundamental key to everything and reporting is no exception; a good reporter will exhaust all resources to write a truly informative piece.

Markman says he often writes a B copy, or background copy, which is basically a compilation of facts on the topic; in his case it would be information on parking, the regulations, etc. After the meeting what he would do is take the B copy and insert the new information he learned from the meeting. I think this is a great idea, not only does it cut down time but it makes the story packed with information while incorporating the most important details pertinent to the reader. I believe it is this process that makes it easier for Markman to compile a detailed story quickly, by having the background information already written.

Something that also caught my eye from this article was something Markman said: “Real work experience is most important.” He said he learned a lot from his internship but nothing like what he learned from his hands on experience working for The Havre Daily News. I do believe that although internships give you experience and confidence in your field they don’t give you the experience that a real working experience provides. By him reporting on his own he was able to understand the reporting process and figure out a method right for him. In totality the article was very informative and I appreciated reading about another journalist’s reporting process and some tips he gives us that we can apply to our own lives as well.

Ross Markman: A Great Experience in Journalism

By Jeremy St. Clair

Ross Markman is one of only three reporters on the Havre Daily News in Montana. He covers matters related to county government, city government and local schools.   Because he’s part of a small paper Ross feels it gives him great experience since he often has to write 10 or more articles each week on a strict deadline. This allows him to bring out news copy quickly.

One topic at a state meeting he covered was how town government deals with a downtown business district parking issue. Markman wrote the story in 30 minutes after attending the council meeting. He says in order to do this “a reporter has to do his homework before the meeting even starts.”  Markman sometimes writes a background copy so when meeting is over he can simply top the background copy with whatever new information he finds out. He also uses this technique for how to begin a story.

 If there are several issues being discussed he has to determine what is newsworthy. He does this by thinking how news will affect people, since governmental meetings effect a lot of people. Markman’s experience shows another interesting part of the job of a reporter, which is to work in any part of the country or world. He ended up learning a lot because of his reporting job in Montana, which he got after an internship at a newspaper near his college. One of his stories was about the Havre City Council meeting about the Havre business district parking. All of this shows the approach and guidelines a reporter uses and what he does when he has a job at a local newspaper.

Ross Markman: Remarkable Reporter

By Kenny Kirshner

This feature story in Newswriting on Deadline on the life and times of reporter Ross Markman is very interesting. Markman works for the Havre Daily News and is just one of three reporters for the paper. The paper is located in central Montana with a circulation of about 4,500 readers.. I found it to be very interesting that there were only three reporters, even for just a tiny newspaper.

Markman covers three different areas for the Havre Daily News: county government, city government, and local schools. I agree with Markman when he said he is a fan of doing all three because it gives him greater experience. If I were just one of three reporters for a small paper, I would want to cover as many areas as I could to get to know what’s going on in the small town I was covering. I feel, however, that 10 articles a week is a lot to cover for one week, but when you are just one of three reporters, you got to do what you got to do.

Markman believed that internships really boosted his career and helped propel him to become a professional writer. He claimed he really knew nothing about the field until he finished his internship. I also believe internships can help a prospective writer/worker in any field. What I truly found remarkable was that Markman could write an article in about 30 minutes. This was due in part that he would write a background story on the meeting or event he was going to cover. This is definitely worth taking note of, as it will help a writer reach a tight deadline or get their work over in a quicker and easier fashion. A prospective writer should take note of this story on Ross Markman.

Ross Markman: Life of a Municipal Reporter

By Faye Forman 

I found Ross Markman’s take on municipal reporting to be both eye opening and insightful. What stood out most was what little academic training Markman had upon starting his first part-time clerical job at Bucks Country Courier Times, leading him into a two-year internship. After completing only one class in journalism, Markman is now one of the three reporters at a small newspaper in Montana.

It’s both relieving and frustrating to know that you don’t necessarily need a degree in a certain field to move up in a specific job. Relieving because it shows the ease of promotion and opportunity; frustrating because college is expensive, especially if you can get the same result career-wise without a fancy degree.

Aside from Markman’s background, I like how he explains the layout a typical municipal reporter prepares for. I always wondered how a reporter can meet deadlines, especially ones that contain so much information with so little time to write them. Markman’s explanation of researching the issue prior to the scheduled meeting or event, and writing a background copy, or “B-copy,” can be helpful not only in municipal reporting, but is great advice for any assignments with short deadlines. It seems as though most of the work a municipal reporter takes part in is fact checking with mountains of research and planning for an event well in advanced.

 I also enjoyed how the textbook added Markman’s copy from the Havre Daily News to give an example of the level of writing a municipal writer must measure up to. Markman also described an extremely important part of reporting: deciding the lead. It’s logical and helpful to keep in mind that the lead is a story that affects the highest number of people. Overall, Markman gave great advice and insight into the world of municipal reporting.