I landed in journalism as a result of my curious nature and love of storytelling. My passion lies in newspapers where I discovered my interest in government reporting. I spent four years at the Santa Maria Times in Santa Barbara County, Calif. There I covered a rapidly growing city of 90,000 people and learned the ins and outs of municipal government. Along the way I found stories of residents struggling to work with oil companies cleaning up the soil under their homes; the efforts of local officials to work with the state and federal government to fix the deficient levee bordering the city; and residents' clashes with city policy.
My beat also included the Santa Maria Public Airport District where I wrote extensively about the airport's attempts to beef up commercial air service as well as the ongoing planning for an extensive business park.
I returned to school with a clear plan to learn how to tell these stories in new ways, but my plans evolved and I picked up business reporting. I spent three months as the banking reporter for the Medill News Service and discovered an interest in business journalism, especially where it intersects with government policy. Check out the blog I started to further explore and highlight the growing relationship between business and government.
I am a word person at heart but I have picked up audio and video editing (with Audacity and Premiere Elements) and the basics of HTML as well as other Web 2.0 tools. I have a basic understanding of flash and can help plan multimedia packages.
Reporter, business desk, Medill News Service January-March 2009
- Banking beat reporter
- Wrote earnings stories, features, breaking news
- Shot and edited photos and video
- Used a Bloomberg terminal
Senior Staff Writer, city reporter, Santa Maria Times, February 2004-August 2008
- Filed daily stories for Lee Central Coast Newspaper's flagship publication, the Santa Maria Times
- Primary coverage of the city of Santa Maria, with a population of 90,000
- Improved Times' coverage of community development
- Beat also included the Santa Maria Public Airport District, state politics, Los Padres National Forest, general assignment and breaking news duties
- Responsible for an eterprise piece every six weeks
- Involved in coverage of the Michael Jackson child molestation trial, fan and community reaction.
Freelancer, Times Press Recorder, November 2003-January 2004
- General assignment reporting for Pulitzer Centeral Coast Newspaper's twice weekly Times Press Recorder (company later became Lee Central Coast Newspapers)
Reporting intern, metro desk, Las Vegas Sun, June-September 2003
- General assignment reporter for the daily, afternoon paper
- Filed stories ranging from features to daily District Court coverage
- Helped cover breaking news on deadline in a highly competitive urban market
Managing Editor, Mustang Daily, California Polytechnic State University, September 2002-June 2003
- Worked with six section editors and up to 25 reporters on articles and developing story ideas
- Edited copy
- Page layout using Quark Express
- Managed daily operations
Education
September 2008-present, working toward MSJ Interactive Storytelling, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University
- Web 2.0 tools, Dreamweaver and HTML, shooting photos and video, editing video with Adobe Premiere Elements, Flash, Audacity
1999-2003, BS Journalism, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
References
Joe Mathewson, lecturer, Medill School of Journalism, m-joseph@northwestern.edu
Tom Bolton, executive editor, Santa Maria Times, tbolton@santamariatimes.com
Matt Hufman, associate editor, Las Vegas Sun, matt@lasvegassun.com
Goviness: Where Government meets business
I am interested in the changing relationship between various levels of U.S. government and private business as the recession unfolds. Taking that interest I started a business and government blog in March 2009. The blog was part of an online publishing class where I learned how to build a community around a blog as well as how to use the various Web 2.0 tools that are available. I plan to incorporate beat blogging with my more traditional reporting.
www.maliaspencer.net/goviness
