Press Conference With Tom Baden at Fairfield University

9/28/09

Why would a penny pinching college student choose to spend their money and time to buy a newspaper when one could instantaneously search the web and find current news for free?

Tom Baden, an accomplished editor who is starting his second year as The Connecticut Post’s editor, visited Dr. Simon’s journalism class on Monday, September 28th, to share what he and his staff are trying to do in order to keep newspapers from becoming vanished from the future society.

Baden started off by saying, “the bad news for newspapers is as older viewership dies off, we are not necessarily getting younger viewers.” Baden emphasized that as much as The Connecticut Post is striving to reach out to the 15,000 potential readers, the staff must also remember to satisfy the loyal100,000 readers of their paper.

Only a few hands were raised when Baden asked the Journalism class if they would consider paying $20 a month to go online to obtain news. It came to no surprise that a small number of hands were raised in agreement to spending money in order to access online news. Baden emphasized that with so much free stuff online, and since only certain content would be considered worth that cost, there is simply no money being made. “We’re trying to stick the cat back in the bag”, said Baden.

Baden enlightened the class with a new content managing system that The Connecticut Post is using as a database, which will include all content. Baden used an example that if one were to select the latest story concerning Fairfield’s basketball coach, there would be a link to click on which would provide any past archives about the coach.

Baden’s career took off after graduating from the University of Maryland, where he received his B.A. in Journalism, along with a love for the job of capturing a great story. After graduating from The University of Maryland, Baden was a visiting professor and journalist at Penn State University in 2003.
Before taking on his position as the editor of the Connecticut Post, he distinguished himself with numerous qualifications. In 1988 and 1992 he was a correspondent for the white house and national political writer for Newhouse News Service. Prior to this accomplishment, Baden was a reporter and city editor at the Post-Standard in Syracuse, N.Y.

Baden concluded his conference by stating that although cable news is not his “cup of tea”, he is aware that it is necessary for its entertainment and reality purposes. As an editor, he values different ethics by always striving for compassion, sensitivity and truth inside The Connecticut Post.


Reflective Essay 1:
The first goal that I had in mind for my first deadline story was to successfully and quickly make note to the importance of what I have written. I found it very difficult to come up with a interesting and important beginning paragraph to draw in my reader, yet at the same time give a preview to what I would be discussing. There was a lot of debate with myself with whether I start out mentioning a quote, give a description using as many of the five senses that I thought were appropriate, or simply starting out with a question. I chose to do what I felt most comfortable with for my first deadline story, which was to start out with a question that was hopefully an attention grabber as well.

The beginning of my story could have been stronger, however the exercises that we did in class made me keep in mind that I must not have my sentences contain more than 35 words. The exercises in class were quite beneficial when completing my first deadline story. At times I wanted to disregard what I had been taught concerning the 5 W’s and H. However, I knew that it was important to pay attention to detail, in order to make the most interesting story that I felt was possible.

I think that the biggest dilemma I encountered was when I was trying to weed out what was and was not important. I was also concerned with how I went about making my transitions clever and relevant. By going over the hour glass method before the press conference, I was able to have a premade outline of how I wanted to display my story on Baden. And I am glad that I have made the habit of making sure that I look for the who, what, where, how, and why, before finishing my story.

As far as the press conference in general, I learned a lot about how much work and dedication is required to be a successful journalist. I was honored to be able to attend Baden’s mock press conference because it is an experience that not many Fairfield students will ever come across. As an interviewer, I learned how important it is to do your homework by having numerous questions. Your follow up question is just as important as your primary question because it also shows the interviewee that you are engaged with what they have to say. One part that I didn’t like was how when we were told to put everything away including our pens, paper and laptops. I did not like this part because he happened to say what I found most interesting. No matter what grade I receive for my first deadline story, I am satisfied with how much I learned and the experience that I was given to meet the editor of The Connecticut Post.