He's a Washington Correspondent for the Buffalo News, who talked about just how incredibly thrilling sitting on a plane for 10 hours a day with Hilary Clinton was absolutely not.
The week he spent follwing her campaign trail was, as he so gently put it, "the worst week of his reporting career". For someone who thinks that the campaign is mostly about the voters, being stuck on a cramped plane with everyone but them seemed to really take its toll on his sanity. He even went so far as to say that journalists often gain a ton of weight on the campaign trail, because "food is your one connection to real life."
How lovely.
Mr. Zremski also spoke about his time over in Iraq while he was embedded with a supply team. Unfortunately, instead of waiting to send him over like he suggested, the Buffalo News followed the lead of every other major organization and sent him right away ("the war's going to be over in a week!").
This meant that all the soldiers from Buffalo who would have made interesting story subjects had yet to be shipped off - so Jerry didn't have a whole lot to cover.
What I found most helpful about his speech was his explanation of how he finds a story by talking to the people involved. He really emphasized speaking with the locals to get a feel for their take on a particular issue, and through these conversations discovering patterns, trends, and eventually, news stories.
I asked him how he can be sure something is a bona fide trend, because I'd think it would be difficult to really know for sure whether you were picking sources to reinforce a personal opinion, or simply speaking with an unrepresentative group, so I'd be hesitant to publish an article stating that "most people think..", for fear that such an opinion was not really the dominant one. (please accept my apology for that horrific run on sentence)
His answer was that you just have to talk to a lot of people - go to a wide array of venues, such as the "bar, unemployment office, shopping mall, high school soccer games" and talk to a variety of demographics to make sure you're getting a real feel for the community. He also uses the polling data as a guide - but doesn't rely on it - a point he stressed.
"Don't get too wrapped up in the trend of the moment", he said, and I think that's such good advice. Be original in your approach and don't just follow suit.
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