It’s been pointed out to me that I haven’t written about how the IRE conference went. I expect I’ll have to give a report to the editor-in-chief over at the Daily Press this week, so it’s probably a good idea to organize my thoughts here.
I was probably naive going into this (it was my first professional conference), but I was disappointed. There was a little bit about covering local elections — and I did learn some valuable things that I will put into practice during this election cycle — but the majority of the time was spent on statewide and national campaign coverage. This confuses me: Do we really need more coverage of the same Washington hijinks? Even Sacramento is pretty well-covered. But local politics? Not so much. And if the local papers — I saw reporters from Riverside and Ventura there — aren’t covering the local politicos, who is?
A more charitable reporter from the Daily Press suggested that a lot of this applies to local elections, but I must politely disagree: I’d used the resources they were talking about, and they absolutely don’t drill down to the local level.
Besides the (to me) somewhat off-point focus of the day, two of the three speakers (both from the same paper) seemed to think that the day was about talking about how much they rock. There were numerous stories that literally had nothing to take away from them, other than the alleged awesomeness of the speaker. (When you’re in a room of 100+ people, and fewer than seven are laughing at your jokes, you’re not funny, move on.) I saw people muttering about one of the reporters and ditching early because of her, in fact.
It was telling that, in a room full of journalists, only a handful of people asked questions all day. As Jenn will tell you, getting journalists to not ask questions is a real trick. But at the IRE panel, it seems like I wasn’t the only one who didn’t think there was much chance of getting anything worthwhile out of most of the speakers.
I’m hoping this was the exception, and not the rule, especially since I think the IRE magazine is so useful.
(USC is a spectacular campus, though.)
I’d just like to thank the folks who built this (rented) townhouse for putting a smoke detector at the apex of a 15-foot ceiling, so that when the battery starts to die after midnight, you get to realize you have no way to get up there and shut it up.
Tomorrow, bright and early to beat the traffic, I’m off to the Annenberg School for Communication to attend The Investigative Reporters and Editors Campaign Finance Workshop.
I really got into following the money during 2004’s Hesperia City Council campaign and this year, if anything, will be even more slam-bang of an election season. I’m looking forward to the seminar, although 84 miles, driving with rush hour traffic into LA, and trying to get there by the 9 a.m. start fills me with dread.
We’ll see how it works out.
A few days ago, I posted some advice to a copy editor in danger of having to write her first feature stories, if her freelancers flaked, as freelancers will do. Well, she ended up having to write a story. Writing what she knows, Mel interviewed comic book creator Mike Oeming:
Despite what he calls “horrible” grammar skills, Oeming has honed his writing to work in concert with his art.
“I’ve always been a storyteller and see writing and drawing as an extension of that, an extension of each other,” he said.
A comic-book reader since childhood, Oeming found his calling – and his inspiration – through a 1985 book drawn by legendary artist Art Adams.
“I saw ‘X-Men Annual 9’ and it changed my life,” he said. “It was the art of Art Adams, and he made me want to be an artist, just by looking as his drawings.”
Oeming got his start at 14, an inking gig on 1989’s “Newstralia 2” for Innovation Comics. Since then, he’s gone on to draw his own creations.Oeming works on independent books like “Powers” and “Hammer of the Gods” primarily for himself, though he hopes “others can share in the love of what I’m doing,” but he shifts priorities for company-owned or “work-for-hire” titles.
“When I write for Marvel, I’ve learned it’s both for myself and the fans – I have to please both,” he said.
Welcome to the life, Mel!
At last Friday’s annual awards banquet, the Hesperia Chamber of Commerce had a surprise for Hesperia Star editor Peter Day: A fancy glass (or crystal, I can never tell the difference) award for “outstanding coverage” of the chamber over the last year.
It now sits next to our second place trophy from last year’s Hesperia Days parade.
Neat.
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