In June, professor Tristan Anne Borer emailed me a contact she had gained at the New York Times during her efforts to save the readership program from ending, as it nearly did in fall 2011.
I followed up with Christine, the then education manager, to figure out how to best use the resources of the Times for the Voice. I sent her my best CELS-influenced email—short, light, upbeat and informative—and she sent me a box full of New York Times merchandise, the only reason I own a water bottle and Post-It Notes.
In the past, the Voice has hosted Journalism Days at the start of each semester, where we would invite local reporters to teach our staff about journalism. My ultimate goal was to bring a journalist from the Times to campus; because Conn has no journalism program, the role of the Voice has always been to serve as a student-run lab for students to learn reporting and feature writing. Bringing a speaker, I thought, would encourage a dialogue on topics that were otherwise left to the staff. I told this to Christine in August. I wanted a journalist in September; she didn’t think it could happen that quickly. In October, she visited campus; we sat in the Coffee Closet and discussed my senior year, working at the Times, foliage, Moleskines, the city of Rye and espresso shots—but most importantly, we fleshed out a plan to bring a reporter to campus.
I saw the documentary Page One: Inside the New York Times three days after its release, at a ten o’clock showing on a Wednesday, by myself, half
an hour away from my Brooklyn apartment. Page One extensively features Brian Stelter, a new media reporter. His resume is impressive (after running a blog on TV and media during his senior year of college, he was sought out by the Times!) and he’s young (only 26!). I related to him immediately. Now, he’s coming to Conn—thanks to the help of my staff and Professor Borer, Brian will be visiting the campus on April 3rd to discuss new media, televi- sion, journalism and everything else the young people are into. I hope you’ll join.
