My second session was prettty impressive, despite an inauspicious beginning. Peter Baker, a staff writer for The Washington Post, was not introduced by anybody and quietly approached the mic. He told us he was "a horrible public speaker" but then proceeded to give some background on what he's done so far and what it takes to reach his level. He stressed the importance of internships to make contacts as well as good clips in a portfolio. He told us about the difference between covering issues abroad and topics in the White House. He used to be the chief of the Moscow bureau and said he and his wife both first took a year off of reporting and immersed themselves in the language. They still used interpreters while they were there for accuracy, but he said he was fluent by the time he left.
One student asked him if politics and goings-on in D.C. could easily be incorporated into even a campus newspaper. After establishing that this paper only covers local things, Mr. Baker suggested an angle of how the political things have implications on students. He pointed out that most people will go online for the big news anyway.
He gave tips for approaching the foreign correspondent position, and reminded us that you can't file a story if you get killed following a beat.
We also talked about how many newspapers are closing their foreign services and bureaus in other countries because they rely on big papers and the Associated Press for syndicated news coverage. This, of course, can be attributed to convergence.
Mr. Baker also discussed some of his more unpleasant stories and said he was working on the Monica Lewinsky beat when the Post broke the story.
Jim Mustian
One student asked him if politics and goings-on in D.C. could easily be incorporated into even a campus newspaper. After establishing that this paper only covers local things, Mr. Baker suggested an angle of how the political things have implications on students. He pointed out that most people will go online for the big news anyway.
He gave tips for approaching the foreign correspondent position, and reminded us that you can't file a story if you get killed following a beat.
We also talked about how many newspapers are closing their foreign services and bureaus in other countries because they rely on big papers and the Associated Press for syndicated news coverage. This, of course, can be attributed to convergence.
Mr. Baker also discussed some of his more unpleasant stories and said he was working on the Monica Lewinsky beat when the Post broke the story.
Jim Mustian
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