City Budget Lede

New York City’s Independent Budget Office proposed restoring the commuter tax as a potential budgeting option. The tax previously equaled .45 percent of wages earned in the city by commuters and would generate an estimated $3.1 billion by 2013.

I must say, this city budget lede writing was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. I couldn't decide between writing a lede on what had the most impact, what was most recent or which proposed budget option would save the most money. And trying to navigate through that document AND read all the potential options as well as write the lede in 30 mins was a ridiculous time crunch. I think I escaped in 28 mins. Whew.

The New York Times is Here to Stay

(http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_1943_nytimes.htm)

The New York Times will not be going away any time soon, according to Jill Abramson, managing editor at the New York Times.

Adam Playford, Gallatin senior and former Washington Square News editor – in – chief, introduced Abramson at the Albert Gallatin Lecture Series,sponsored by New York University, with a quip about his journalism future. “2009 isn’t a good time to be a graduating senior. The only thing worse is to be a graduating senior going into journalism,” Playford joked. “What we need now is hope.”

The past few years have not looked promising for the life of newspapers. According to the American Journalism Review, over 15,000 journalist positions were cut in 2008, with many more coming in 2009 as a result of the digital age.

“The New York Times is highly profitable,” Abramson commented, “With 830,000 people still paying for print, we are going to be around for a long time.”

She brushed aside any thought of the Times existing solely online, saying that the Times isn’t rooted in any platform, whether it be print or digital and because of the Times global readership, the paper was “much better equipped to whether the storm.”

Abramson’s words seemed to reassure students and professionals in attendance about the need for newspapers. “Americans have a genetic need for news,” Abramson stated.

Much like everyone else, Abramson is looking to the future. She mentioned that the future is sure to hold yet another revolutionary “gadget” within the development of news.But regardless of any technological developments in the future, Abramson made note that the Times would stick to what it knows how to do best: quality reporting. “We know our readers,” Abramson said, “Our strategy is journalism."

My First Love

I like to think of journalism as a love-hate relationship. At times, things are going fantastic. Journalism and I are getting along great, nice walks through the park, holding hands, very lovey-dovey. But other times, oh god. We have knock down, drag out brawls. Throwing punches, screaming at the top of our lungs over how I want the lede to be longer but Journalism wants to keep it to a tight 33 words.

Enough of the personification. Truly, I love journalism and I am continuing to learn more about it every day. And in the few weeks I have been in the Inquiries class, my mind has been filled with all sorts of information about how to write, where to look, what to look for, when to look for it, who to talk to, why it is a story. Ah yes, the 5W's and 1H; the two letters that will define the rest of my life.

And I must admit, I have never had a blog before. I'm not sure about the format or the length or what exactly you are supposed to write, so I will consult the tiny checklist Hamburg gave us for things to talk about here.

Lessons I have already learned about myself/Challenges I have faced in Journalism:

1. I cannot write a hard news lede to save my life. I'm working on it. I'm trying. For some reason, my mind wants to spit out alternative ledes. No matter how hard I try to convince my mind that the story requires a hard lede, it shouts back that they are too formulaic and boring. What a wacky mind I have.
2. 33 words for a lede is incredibly tough for me. I bet you can tell that I am a little verbose.
3. Interviews are just as awkward as I always knew they would be. And that's the exciting part. Walking away from a totally weird interviewing experience makes me chuckle and definitely puts a smile on my face.
4. Trying to decipher handwritten notes after an interview is the hardest task I have ever faced.
5. I have never used a tape recorder in an interview....yet. I'm sure when I do, it will make me feel like a true reporter.
6. The history of Journalism fascinates me more than anything.
7. When someone stares at you for a long time, waiting for you to respond, you obviously missed a question they asked because you were furiously writing everything they said.
8. I realized I need a better way to close the interview. It is always so weird.
9. I also need to work on asking better questions in an interview. I need to DIG DEEPER.
10. I need to remember, after an awkward interview, my first misquote or after ripping my hair out after realizing I have 40 pages of notes and nothing to work, that Journalism is fun. NEVER FORGET.

I cannot wait to do more reporting and produce some work I am really proud of. For all our quabbles, anniversaries and divorces, I will love Journalism until death do us part.