Nov. 20-22, 2002
By Michaela Saunders,
journalism and
mass communication major
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This was a professional development
experience to beat the band.
The time I spent in Chicago was well worth everything
it cost. Before I left I had to train and prepare a
reporter to cover the Iowa Board of Regents, which met
in Ames while I was gone. But that was easy enough and
I was able to focus my energy totally at the task at
hand.
Sara and I arrived in Chicago late Wednesday evening
and Bob Condor was so nice as to take us to dinner and
give us the run down on the next few days.
I spent a good chunk of Thursday at the University of
Illinois at Chicago College of Dentistry.
Before I arrived, Bob asked if I had any story ideas.
One I wanted to do during my internship in Cleveland
but was unable to because of time constraints, was a
story on dental health and its increasing prevalence
as a public health concern. He liked the idea and said
he would pitch it and then dig around for a local peg.
He found one. UIC was recently granted $1.5 million
for five years from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
to send its students into the community to work at dental
clinics targeting the underserved.
So, I spent some quality time at the dental clinics
and the dental ER operated at the dentistry school.
I followed some patients and talked to heaps of dentists
about the type of care most needed, who receives the
care at the school-operated clinics and the like.
On top of that reporting experience (it was a heck of
a lot of fun to say "Hi, my name is Michaela Saunders
and I'm writing an article for the Chicago Tribune...")
Bob introduced us to several people at the Tribune who
were able to give us great advice and tips.
We were given about 20 minutes to visit with Tony Majeri,
senior editor/visual journalism. Majeri talked with
us about the 9-11 CD-ROM that the Tribune produced--how
it was done and the thought processes behind it.
He also gave insight into where visual journalism is
headed. We were able to visit briefly with the team
that produces Tribune Interactive. Ben Estes, editor
of the Tribune online edition, explained what's involved
in online news judgment and how things can change throughout
the day.
We sat in on a Q ideas meeting. There, we met section
editors Denise Joyce, Ross Werland and Nancy Watkins.
We read several issues before the meeting and were asked
to give our input. It was intriguing to watch the interaction
between the group of writers and editors.
One writer/editor who was unable to attend that meeting,
Wendy Navratil, had lunch with us instead. We ate at
the famous Billy Goat Tavern, and I decided my New Year's
Resolution would be to start eating like a health reporter.
Joe Knowles, Red Eye co-editor, let me hang out with
his "crew" on Thursday night. I was reporting
during their day meeting but I got to sit in on evening
budget and then worked as an assistant to the Red Eye
copy editor. I had never served in the last line of
defense before... but it was an interesting change to
be reading for style rather than for content.
I'm still not sure what I think of the Red Eye. It looks
like a great way to get in touch with young people who
don't read the paper regularly, but it was patronizing
in a way too... because it was like the Reader's Digest
version of the news.
All the same, I was there on the night of the Red Eye
launch party and skipped down to the hosting hotel with
a few of the worker bees who were given a reprieve.
That was an interesting and glitzy eye opener to the
marketing world.
Before we had to shove off to the airport on Friday
we met with the recruitment director Sheila Solomon
and Ellen Warren, the Tribune's first senior reporter.
Solomon shared valuable tips about getting journalism
jobs and what recruiters are really looking for. I gave
her some of my clips, and mailed a few more in hopes
of being considered for one of their internship positions.
Ellen Warren let us ask about what we wanted to know.
She talked about balancing family and career and assured
us that it IS possible to do both well. That was comforting
because I am passionate about two things in my life:
family and journalism.
Wow-- that was a lot of information for two days! Then
it was back to the airport, and Des Moines. But not
before a reminder of the importance of Homeland Security.
As we were getting ready to board the plane my ticket
"beeped" and my bag was searched... shoes
off, arms out... the whole deal. Everything checked
out and we were on our way home. I slept the whole way
and got home just in time to tell my friends about it
before they went off to the movies.
Thank you for giving me such a wonderful opportunity!
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