It's all Local.

June 16, 2023 10:34 AM

Mal Leary reported on politics in Maine. His 10 Rules are worth reading.
posted by theora55 (12 comments total)

Unfortunately, this link only displays the first two sentences of the article to me, who is not subscribed to this newspaper
posted by Jon_Evil at 10:41 AM on June 16, 2023 [6 favorites]

I got the whole thing. They're good rules. Here they are:

MAL LEARY’S 10 RULES FOR GOOD REPORTING

Rule 1: “Don’t take your interview subjects at their word. They all have the incentive to exaggerate and obfuscate.”

Rule 2: “See Rule 1.”

Rule 3: “It’s not about you. It’s about your readers, listeners and viewers and what THEY want to know. Go easy at press conferences on the ‘I, me, my …’

Rule 4: “If at first you don’t succeed, be a pest. If someone doesn’t answer a question, ask it again, and again and again. Don’t be a cream puff.”

Rule 5: “Always be a fair person. Maine is one small town. Write good stories. Remember you will probably run into your story subject in the cafeteria, or laundromat, or at K-Mart (Note to millennials – K-Marts were the Walmarts of the 1970s).”

Rule 6: “Don’t guess. Ever. Show me a factual mistake, and I’ll show you a reporter who was too lazy to double-check something. Is it Gov. Joseph T. Brennan? Is it Cincinnatti? Is a gallon 16 ounces? Nope, nope and nope. Don’t guess.”

Rule 7: “Do not make stuff up. You go to the Meddybemps Board of Selectmen meeting and forget to get citizen quotes on the ordinance passed requiring dogs to wear pants in public, follow up. Go back. Interview citizens. Don’t fabricate. That is not why you went into journalism.”

Rule 8. “Nothing wrong with short and sweet. Don’t feel the need to always write a 3,000 story. ‘Who, what, when and where’ is still good.” And: “A 750-word story is a 3,000-word story with a good copy editor.”

Rule 9: “You can’t be friends with your subject. The governor will ask you to come over to the Blaine House to shoot pool. Don’t. Only go in groups. Hard to cover people seriously when they are your drinking buddies.”

Rule 10: “Make us all proud. Don’t be average. If you get handouts, read them. If it’s gobbledygook, research it. Make some phone calls. Find out. Educate yourself. Let people know you are smart.”
posted by philip-random at 10:52 AM on June 16, 2023 [32 favorites]

I can read it without a subscription, but here's an archive.today link that I obtained by typing "archive.ph/" in front of the "www" part of the URL.
posted by Etrigan at 10:52 AM on June 16, 2023 [7 favorites]

Thanks for the link updates.
posted by theora55 at 11:03 AM on June 16, 2023

Meddybemps, Maine is a real place, population 139. No word on if the ordnance requiring dogs to wear pants in public survived the appeal in front of the Supreme Court (Tierney v. Who's a Good Dog? Is It You? Is It You? Yes You Are!)
posted by Quindar Beep at 11:04 AM on June 16, 2023 [22 favorites]

I should send this to some CBC reporters, notably items 1 and 2. Canada's opposition leader is essentially a stunt politician, but he has reporters dancing like marionettes. It's embarrassing, and a disservice to Canadians.
posted by klanawa at 11:19 AM on June 16, 2023 [9 favorites]

It's gotten to the point that all we have are stenographers now. Politician says, "X," journalist writes, "Politician said X," cable news then says we have confirmation that, "X," is being reported, so, "X," is true...and on.

I wonder if Maggie Haberman follows any of these rules.
posted by Chuffy at 3:06 PM on June 16, 2023 [10 favorites]

Always be Batman.
posted by toddie at 4:39 PM on June 16, 2023 [4 favorites]

“Don’t take your interview subjects at their word. They all have the incentive to exaggerate and obfuscate.”

Police Reports Shouldn't Set News Agenda

Thanks for this post! It's useful to see the thoughts of veteran reporters, even as newsrooms are constantly changing and local news is unfortunately often the victim of budget cuts. We can't afford to lose diligent local reporting. Support your local news sources if you can.
posted by the primroses were over at 4:53 PM on June 16, 2023 [5 favorites]

I should send this to some CBC reporters, notably items 1 and 2. Canada's opposition leader is essentially a stunt politician, but he has reporters dancing like marionettes. It's embarrassing, and a disservice to Canadians.

It's weird how the CBC (and most news media in Canada) mostly just dangles along with his jerking idiocy. (sorry for the derail)
posted by ovvl at 5:41 PM on June 16, 2023 [2 favorites]

I really miss my local newspaper.
posted by invokeuse at 11:00 PM on June 16, 2023 [3 favorites]

I shared this with my ex, who is a journalist, and he was delighted with these rules. He's been with small local papers his whole career and is presently working (as one of his jobs) as a mentor to young journalists teaching them these very skills.
posted by epj at 10:32 AM on June 20, 2023 [1 favorite]