Q: Five months ago, I accepted a position as the first-ever correspondent for a regional paper in a different state from where I report. I expected to be challenged and have been. It's hard to know which stories to cover and how to expand local issues into regional issues but I'm learning.
I am also learning I want to work in a newsroom with editors who want to coach their reporters. Now I work independently, a lone wolf in an office an hour from the newsroom with editors who are unfamiliar with my town's issues and stressed enough helping the reporters in the main office.
I like where I live and I like my job, but I am frustrated. I don't feel like I am improving, nor do I feel like I'm helping the paper. How can I find a newsroom that will offer as many challenges but also help me through them? Should I look elsewhere or are there basic resources to top into that I have overlooked?
How can I best find a newsroom that wants to coach reporters who are inexperienced? I am happy to educate myself outside of work but I don't know where to turn.
Lisa
P.S. You maintain an excellent Web site. I wish there were more like it.
A: I feel for you.
Hindsight being 20-20, you now see the flaw in being a one-person bureau.
But now that you're in the situation, make the best of it. At least you like your job and where you're working.
You simply have to build a network -- and you'll be doing most of the work yourself. Start with others at the paper, both editors and colleagues. Extend yourself to show up there, even if it means stretching your day. Take in some social activities, try to get to the main office for meetings or any kind of learning opportunities. Use the phone and e-mail to build a network. Pay attention to the best writing at the paper and introduce yourself to the peers whose work you most respect. Don't be an island.
Build a network where you live. The best reporting happens outside the office, of course, and you have been handed a good opportunity to immerse yourself in your community. While maintaining your journalistic distance, learn your beat from the perspective of people in that town who seem sharp. Seek out the people who have been around as well as the ones who have a different take on things. The best way to learn journalism, of course, is by doing it and when editors' time comes up short, learn from the issues you're covering.
Hang in. Make this job last a solid year. When it is time to move, go for a paper that has a learning culture -- and get a job near other staffers, while maintaining your habit of immersing yourself in the community.
Do others who have been in this situation have suggestions?
