Small Path, Big Story

1. Which type of story would you rather do and why?
a) a ‘paper chase’ conducted entirely by computer and telephone that takes half the time it would have taken if you had left the office?
b) A ‘paper chase’ involving visits to half a dozen government offices and in-person interviews that puts you under extreme deadline pressure?
I feel obligated to say b), but in all honesty I am definitely and a) man.

2. Would you be willing to pursue a corruption investigation or an investigation into organised crime if it included many unpaid hours of extra work and personal risk?
It depends where I was in my career. At this stage, yes, because I would have a lot to gain from successfully completing that article/investigation. If I was where I wanted to stay, the extra work and risk probably wouldn’t be worth it for me.

3. Would you be willing to act together as a unit with competing reporters at a media conference in an effort to get maximum information if it meant giving up your best question, which you had intended to ask privately after the conference?
No. If my question was so good, chances are I would get adequate information either way, and better have good information no one else has than good information everybody has.

4. Who really owns government-held information: the government or the people? Why?
The government owns it to mediate to the people, because there must be guidelines for what is public information and what is not. As the government is responsible for determining that, it is appropriate that they are in charge of the information.

5. If you were assigned to report on the proceedings of a conference and you had to choose between attending different sessions being conducted at the same time, how would you decide which to attend?
If one were being televised or I had contacts in one who would share information, that would mean I could afford to miss it and therefore attend the other. Also, if it were a conference with question and comment time, I may choose a session with less people to better my chances of getting my question out there.