Newsroom note

OK, so the Dan Pinch story dominated our work last week and it turned out pretty well–except for one major issue: We had no input from Pinch himself. Our story was based on statements from the Senate report and Emerson officials, in short, the “accusers.” Our story did say in the end that we tried, unsuccessfully, to reach him, but in all fairness, this may not be enough.

Our reporters who talked to members of the Emerson community, for example, found out that some people felt that being on these lender advisory boards might have been seen as an “honor” for the College or an “advantage” for Emerson students, etc. Others wondered if college officials knew about Pinch’s association with the lenders and allowed him to be in them because they (the officials) might have thought the relationship was good for the College. We were unable to confirm any of that because, as we said in our stories, Emerson officials did not want to talk with any specificity about the substance of the accusations against Pinch.

Clearly, Pinch remains the only one who can answer some of these questions.

We have let it be known that we are eager to hear from him.

We’ll continue to stay on top of the story….

mp

The Wayback Machine

Here at JSONS we’ve been covering the student loan scandals since NY Attorney General Cuomo’s first investigations last spring. With the release of last week’s senate report, suddenly the story was hitting much closer to home.

We were, of course, very interested in the allegations by the senate report that then acting Dean of Enrollment Dan Pinch had been a paid consultant for a lending company at the same time that company was on the school’s preferred lenders list(PLL).

Despite extensive documentation of the issue the initial evidence released along with the senate report seemed to lack the proof that the lender was on the PLL at the time Pinch was on their payroll. An article in BostonNow by JSONS alum Padraig Shea said screen captures of Emerson’s website during the time period in question provided the link. We asked BostonNow to share those screen shots and were told those had been supplied by Sen. Kennedy’s office. We got in touch with the office and they sent us those screen captures along with payroll documentation..

In examining those screen captures, we here at JSONS recognized the URL. It was of a popular website: The Wayback Machine. Also known as the Internet Archive the site is a tremendous reference for those interested in the history of the Internet or particular websites. It not only records how websites looked on any given day, it actually maintains the functionality of links and navigation.

Although certainly a fascinating site that can fill a visitor with nostalgia for the days of sandbox templates and tiny jpegs taking hours to load, how reliable is the Wayback Machine? Is it reliable enough to use as evidence in a senate investigation? Here at JSONS we included the screen capture we were given in our story as well as links to the actual sites. As the story continues to unfold we’ll see what role this site plays.

-JGA

learning curve

I’m not sure what’s worse, covering a story you don’t find interesting or covering a story you find very interesting. While working on a story about the Artists Foundation, an organization which has had a lot of success advocating for artists who may be negatively affected by the Massachusetts health care reform legislation, I discovered that sometimes my own interest in a story can work against me. Having worked in the theatre industry for a few years out of undergrad and currently studying at the Health Communication department here at Emerson, the interaction of both fields in this story was very interesting to me. After sitting in on three hours of an Artist Town Meeting where Artist Foundation Executive Director Kathy Bitetti decoded the state’s new health care policy for a room full of actors and then doing an hour interview with Ms. Bitetti, it is safe to say I had more material than I could use. I’m not sure if I over wrote the story or not, but I definitely spent more hours on it than a pro would would have. The most frustrating thing about this work so far is the learning curve. Oh, and the fact that I can’t spell or find typos.

-KG

Newsroom note

As the national student financial aid scandal was reaching its peak last week with the release of a U.S. senate committee report mentioning Emerson, among many other colleges, we decided to look into the Emerson angle. After all, the college’s vp for public affairs had told our reporter last March 30 that the college had made about $1300 from one of these “preferred lenders” and that the money had been put in a scholarship fund for needy students. The reporter was also told that the college had reviewed and changed the way in which it was dealing with such contributions.

In an effort to find out what the college had changed, we assigned reporter Somsavath Phanthady to talk to the head of our student administrative services Dan Pinch, to whom the Emerson student financial aid head reports. The interview took place at 9:30 a.m. on Thursday. By the end of the day, the college was announcing that Pinch was being put on an administrative leave because of the allegations included in the senate report. The story turned out to be by far more substantive than we had anticipated.

The college community is shocked and eager to learn more about what went on. We’ll stay on top of it.

mp

Bike safety hearing not all it’s cracked up to be.

I made my way down to the State House basement Wednesday to cover a hearing on new bike safety bill that is going to the state legislature. I thought as soon as the meeting was brought to session they would break into the bike safety issue. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

The first issue to be taken up was for seat belt safety laws. Interrupted only sporadically to hear testimony from state senators and representatives on other bills, the seat belt supporters took nearly 3 and a half hour. After sitting through their speeches, I though they would run up to the end of the meeting time, which was one o’clock. I couldn’t quite understand their arguments, as I was pretty certain that everyone knew to wear their seat belts and Massachusetts already had mandatory seatbelt laws.

While this took up the major portion of the meeting I knew there was no story there. The majority of the speakers related the horror stories of accident victims who weren’t buckled up. There was no opposition to the bill. The only thing detracting from it, at least that I could see, was the potential for police to pull people over on the basis of unbuckled seat belts.

When the supporters of the bike safety bill took the floor I was eagerly looking at my watch. I had class at one o’clock and it was already 20 after noon.

Each was very brief in their testimony, having delivered pre-written statements for the members of the committee. About 20 minutes after they had started they were done.There was no opposition to the bill present to give testimony. ‘

-SPH3

The scene from the state house.

As already posted, Matt and I were down at the State House covering the gay marriage vote. As we were making our way up Park Street you could already hear the crowds cheering. The scene as we made it up to Beacon Street was not what I expected.

Both sides of the argument were divided by the street. Each had a line of supporters, carrying signs and chanting, that stretched down as far as I could see. Each sidewalk was almost impassible.

Matt instantly took out his camera and ran down the street to get coverage of the crowd. I had my notebook out before and I started taking in the scene. As soon as I started writing people came past shouting things for me to write down, but none would stick around long enough for me to get any questions in.

What awaited us inside was nothing compared to the scene outside.  Matt and I made are way up stairs to jack into the live feed from inside the senate chambers. As we crossed the velvet rope that held the media members, it was obvious that every news outlet in the state had someone there covering the event.

I soon came to realize that most people in the working press have no sense of personal space. They all jostled over each other for position. Fox 25’s own political editor, Joe Battenfeld, blindsided me as I stood at the ropes scribbling on my note pad, nearly knocking me off my feet.

The hustle and bustle of everything was a bit overwhelming. The vote itself was over before I think most people in the hallways even realized it began. After that it was a mass exodus from the press area into the main steps leading from the senate chambers.

-SPH3

On the hunt

While editing my video package on Emerson’s alumni weekend, things were going along swimmingly. the last thing on the to-do list was create on-screen graphics. I needed the names of two interview subjects, so I could create titles for them.

Only one problem: An alumn gave me his thoughts on the weekend, and I goofed, and forgot to ask his name! Thus began my hunt to track down information about the mystery alumn. I captured a still video frame of him, and sent it to alumni relations. I showed it to professors. No luck.

Then, I got an idea. I looked at my footage, frame-by-frame, and found a place where the camera was zoomed out enough to see his nametag. It was blurry, but I was able to make out “Joshua ____, ‘87.” Good enough!

Using the time-tested journalist’s tool — Google — I searched for “joshua ‘87 emerson.” I found a copy of Expression, Emerson’s alumni magazine. He was highlighted in a “Catching Up With” feature. I learned that Mr. Knauer is a radio personality in Barre, Vt., and was recently married. Just my luck that there was a wedding picture accompanying the blurb about him! I quickly ran this by the very helpful Steph, at alumni relations, who confirmed that there was only one “Josh” registered for alumni weekend.

Sweet, sweet success.

So wherever you are, Josh, congratulations on your marriage. You’ll never know how your happy nuptuals helped this journalist do his job. And of course, the moral here? Don’t leave without covering all the basics!

Surprise

Last weekend, when I was out to cover the Gay Pride Weekend at Faneuil Hall, I came across Filipinos celebrating their 109th Independece. The event looked colorful and interesting. So I decided to do a story about it.

I have learnt that as a reporter, you need to be ready all the time as you never know what will happen. There are times that many hours are spent brainstorming for story ideas. Then, out of blue, a good story can be found without agonizing or searching for it.

One of the interesting aspects of covering the story is that, the event did not get much attention from Bostonians. Most of them just walked by without stopping. It I were them, I would be very interested to learn about it. Millions of people spend so much money each year traveling overseas to experience other cultures. However, when culture is brought right to their door’s steps, they just ignore it. Interesting.

sp

Newsroom note….

When reporter Somsavath Phanthady last week was working on the Boston Common re-planting story, he discovered that Common project Director Robert Mulcahy of the Boston Parks and Recreation Dept. would not talk to him until he had a clearance from Emerson’s VP for government and community relations Peggy Ings. Apparently BPRD gets a lot of requests from Emerson students (journalism, film, etc.) and this is a measure aimed at guaranteeing the legitimacy of the request. This was a first in the 12-year-old life of JSONS, but we went along. We called Ings, Ings called Mulcahy, Mulcahy called Phanthady and the interview was done, albeit several days late…..

-mp

Cape Cod Story?

I’m going to Cape Cod this weekend for pleasure and I’m thinking maybe I can get some reporting in while I’m there. Any suggestions are much appreciated.

Is it normal to want to try and turn a pleasant weekend trip into a news story? I’m planning my honeymoon right now and reading tons of travel writing. Maybe I can start a regular post on weekend trips from Boston? I like this idea because it gives me plenty of excuses to go have fun on the weekends. Also, my sister-in-law just lent me this awesomely outdated book on planning a “budget honeymoon,” which includes tips for how to honeymoon in Boston. Of course, it indicates that T fare is $0.85, proving that the best way to really honeymoon on a budget is to plan your trip in the 80’s. I may still use it for inspiration though.

-kg