Investigative Journalist in Houston, Texas
What is the function of journalism? How hard is it to become a journalist? Why is it so important? Find answers from a real journalist.
Jay Rosen at PressThink came up with a funny tweet last week: It’s a clever way of pointing out that journalists are spending way too much time on stories that people can get anywhere — for free — on the Internet. The lesson here is that the media need to stop making so many snowmen … Read more
Mindy McAdams compiled 15 blog posts into a single pdf file to create a great primer about blogging, videos, pictures, podcasting — and why you ought to be learning it all. McAdams wrote this guide for journalists but it’s useful for anyone who wants to tell stories in the multimedia world and make connections with … Read more
The latest issue of the Incarnate Word Logos, the student newspaper of the university in San Antonio where I studied journalism, published an article in May about the school cafeteria, and how some students are unhappy with their meal plans. The article stirred up ancient memories. My very first news story was published in the … Read more
News University gave a recent Webinar hosted by Matt Thompson about effective ways to design and write a successful blog with a robust community. Thompson offered key tips for reporters, who are often told to go forth and blog but don’t receive much guidance about what makes a good blog. Many journalists, who have spent … Read more
Angela Grant, the video guru at the San Antonio Express-News, shared an excellent post about video projects published on YouTube by a class of Texas State University journalism students taught by David Nolan. Angela taught me everything I knew about shooting and editing video. One of her lessons is promising: Anyone can do this. Most … Read more
To reveal how cutbacks are damaging the newspaper industry, John Temple is profiling talented, Pulitzer-prize winning reporters who are no longer in the business: How best to get at the cost for society, for journalism and for journalists of the loss of thousands of jobs at American newspapers? This series tries to do it by … Read more
Awesome video by the New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof, who offers some sound reporting advice for all journalists and bloggers. True, most of us will never need fake wallets or interpreters or blow darts. But doing everything you can do verify someone’s story — no matter how sympathetic they are — is important whether you’re … Read more
I just got off the phone with Tammy Haby, who I interviewed for this story about the safety record of Kiddie Park. Haby’s son, Holden, had his teeth knocked out in a roller coaster accident at the old park. “Thank you for bringing this all to light and sharing it with everybody,” Tammy said. “We … Read more
It seemed like every section of today’s paper had a story that grabbed me and surprised me and told me something about the world I didn’t know before. Brian Chasnoff wrote about unregulated dog breeders selling sick puppies to unsuspecting buyers. Ariel Barkhurst checked the background of a funeral home administrator who was accused of … Read more
Not that I’m biased or anything, but my girlfriend Jennifer Hiller won two awards for a story she wrote about the Texas Residential Construction Commission, a state agency ostensibly created to help homeowners resolve disputes with homebuilders. In reality, the agency was often powerless to help consumers and it’s going to be dissolved. Jennifer spent … Read more