Feature story

Storytelling for the new millennium

I applied to AU's weekend master's degree program for multimedia journalism in the humble hope that a print dinosaur can learn new tricks -- and with the immodest presumption that it might help the young hatchlings if I do.

As a baby-boomer, I'm a part of the generation that thinks of itself as "forever young."

But as a cold-eyed journalist, I've got to give you the facts: Past the half-century mark, I am what you would call "a veteran Washington correspondent."

Since 1981, I have worked in DC for five newspapers, including the nation's largest: my current employer, USA TODAY.

I've covered every national political campaign since 1980, trotted the globe on other peoples' dime, been three times a White House correspondent and twice a bureau chief.

In short, I've spent my entire career pushing company-issued Bic pens for a living.

It has been a blast. I'd like to keep doing it for awhile. That's why I'm taking American University's weekend masters degree program in Interactive Journalism.

Back To the Future

Veteran journalist learns new tricks, rethinks basics

Amy Eisman worried that I wouldn't find her class on Writing for Convergent Media stimulating enough, because of my nearly (gulp!) 30 years as a newspaper reporter.

She was wrong.

I learned a lot from this course, because:

  • Writing is always a challenge and you learn something on every assignment. I chose to a project that took me far afield from what I normally cover, which allowed me to experiment with a different style and different voice.
  • Seeing what you do everyday through "beginner's eyes" is always enlightening. Most of what I know about journalism, I learned on the job, under deadline pressure. It was great to take a step back and think about the whys and wherefores.
  • Adjusting to new technology was a challenge! I thought I knew how to prepare for a story, but that was before I was assigned to blog one.

At USA TODAY, I've learned to think imaginatively about alternate ways to organize a topic into manageable bites. But the Internet requires me to take it to a whole new level.

As Ed Koch used to say, "How'm I doin'?" Check out my final project for Prof. Eisman's class here