By Nico MachlittSTAFF WRITER
Reporters discussed their careers as specialty reporters in a journalistic time where few beat reporters remain. Jane Primerano moderated the “Specialty Reporting” panel at the Region 1 Society of Professional Journalists Conference at Hofstra University with panelists Keith Herbert and David Levitt.
“I was covering the US Olympic dressage trials and because Mitt Romney was running for President, and because his wife’s horse was in the dressage trail everyone came to watch,” said Primerano. “When I was there a New York Times reporter came to talk to me and said “I am very jealous of you” and I said, “Why you work for the New York Times?” and he said, “Because you get to talk to horses more than politicians.”
Primerano spoke about her specialty reporting in agriculture and the business side of agriculture. She credits her success to being passionate about her field. She started doing specialty reporting while she was still reporting on other topics like politics. Her passion for agriculture helped make her successful enough to become a specialty reporter.
Bloomberg reporter, David Levitt spoke about how he got to his position at Bloomberg. After working many years for a news organization that was going south Levitt left and worked for a smaller publication. “I went from a 60,000 publication circulation to a readership of 1,500.” Although he was reaching a smaller amount of people he was able to just cover real estate and was honing his skill at his specialty.
Levitt’s expertise in real estate journalism helped him get hired at Bloomberg. “I got hired and one of the first things I got to cover was the sale of The World Trade Center,” said Levitt. His specialty of real estate became the biggest topic of the century. For the years after Levitt worked on post 9/11 coverage of Manhattan.
Newsday reporter Keith Herbert shared a similar story of his friend a reporter at the Wall Street Journal who writes for a specific field but on the side he covers food and is a self-proclaimed foodie. Specialty reporting is hard to come by when journalists are asked to cover such a wide range of topics, but if you stick with your passion you will find success, according to Herbert.
“Maybe right now you’re the expert in science writing, but don’t be afraid to become an expert in something else,” said Herbert. “But while your writing about something else don’t forget your passion.”