By ZENENA MOGUEL
Email: zenenam@mail.usf.edu
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (Oct. 23, 2015) – Award-winning journalist, Craig Pittman, shared his experiences and advice for covering environmental issues to Neighborhood News Bureau (NNB) reporters Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Pittman has reported on environmental issues for the Tampa Bay Times since 1998. Along with working at The Times, Pittman has written multiple books including “Paving Paradise,” “Manatee Insanity,” and “Scent of Scandal.” With his knowledge and experience, Pittman targeted three major areas that fall into an environmental beat.
“The environmental beat is a great intersection of politics, science and the law,” said Pittman.
According to Pittman, the environmental beat is the best part of the paper. As an environmental journalist, you get to cover some of the weird stuff. He mentions telling environmental stories can come in various forms. But, sometimes it’s not all about the cool weird stuff.
“It’s not just fancy nature writing and gee whiz science stories, but stories about human health or taxes,” said Pittman.
But, sometimes these stories can raise challenges including the length of the story and being able to get into the field. However, Pittman talks about his biggest challenge.
“There are too many freaking stories, and, it’s hard to get past all of them,” said Pittman. “Just finding the time to do stories on everything.”
In the end, there are different methods to target and build upon environmental stories. And, it’s finding different ways to approach the story. Pittman lays down some advice including using the Unified Field Theory in journalism. The Unified Field Theory is explaining all the forces at work. In journalism, Pittman advises looking at different events and seeing how they connect.
“The bottom line, look for your unified theory, start with a timeline, always keep your notebook dry,” Pittman said.
View the entire Times Talk with Craig Pittman here.
About Neighborhood News Bureau
Neighborhood News Bureau is a working newsroom, staffed by University of South Florida St. Petersburg undergraduate and graduate students under the guidance of the Department of Journalism and Media Studies faculty members. The newsroom opened in Midtown, St. Petersburg March 2006. Its mission is to serve the Midtown and surrounding communities of St. Petersburg. For more information, visit http://www.nnbnews.com/ or email nnb@usfsp.edu.
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