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Background / History
The Providence Journal has a culture of writing that has grown and flourished
over the last 20 years.
It's a culture that traces its roots to the 1970s, when Joel Rawson, then
metropolitan managing editor and now executive editor, started workshops
for the reporting staff. By 1980, the top editors vowed to make the newspaper
a showcase of great writing. They brought in a writing coach named Donald
M. Murray, a kind and insightful teacher with a Pulitzer in his portfolio.
During the 1980s, Murray coached
our writers and editors, coming to the newsroom for one- and two-week
stints. Murray, who died in December 2006, worked at our side, not only showing us the craft but also
teaching us how to discuss our craft and to learn from one another without
threatening or feeling threatened. Murray taught that good writing results
from processes that can be learned and then repeated, even in an environment
as harsh and hectic as an American newsroom.
Murray's presence spawned an in-house writing contest, and some of the
winning stories were published in a book: How I Wrote the Story, the first
of three such collections that The Journal has published.
Murray retired as writing coach in 1986. The newspaper debated how he
could be replaced and decided he couldn't. Instead, the newspaper formed
The Writing Committee, a team of writers and editors whose mission is
to keep the newspaper's culture of writing alive. Members have changed
over the years, but the programs continue.
There is no formal limit on the size of the Writing Committee. Members are appointed by Metro Managing Editor Susan Areson. Anyone interested in serving on the committee should talk to her or to the current committee chair, Lynn Arditi.
The Programs
The Writing Contest (run by Karen Bordeleau)
Every month, an awards
committee presents five awards recognizing the best stories to appear
in the newspaper. The categories have changed over the years, but
they are currently Deadline, Developed, Single Edition, Wild Card and Public Service.
A committee composed of previous winners makes the selections.
Winners are asked to write an essay explaining how they wrote the story. They are also asked to serve as one of the judges
for the next two contest periods.
The Writing Contest has been a fixture for more than 10 years.
Speakers
A wide range of speakers has been invited to talk to the staff. Some names: Pulitzer Prize winning feature writer for The Oregonian, Tom Hallman Jr.; Anne Hull, a national reporter for The Washington Post; Roy Peter Clark and Christopher ``Chip’’ Scanlan, of the Poynter Institute; Mel Mencher, of Columbia University; newspaper writer and award-winning author, the late J. Anthony Lukas; Jim Steele, of The Philadelphia Inquirer; Carl Sessions Stepp, of the University of Maryland; Dan Barry, Michael Winerip, Rick Bragg and the late Harrison Salisbury, of The New York Times; media critic Ben Bagdikian; Bruce DeSilva, an editor with the Associated Press; Pulitzer Prize-winning author Frank McCourt; Madeleine Blais, a Pulitzer Prize-winning feature writer now teaching at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst; Paula LaRocque, the writing coach of The Dallas Morning News; Tom French, a Pulitzer Prize-winning features writer from the St. Petersburg Times, and Angelo Henderson, another Pulitzer winner, of The Wall Street Journal. As a rule, we invite at least one accomplished speaker a year.
In addition, Journal staff writers have conducted individual sessions and more informal seminars on such issues as deadline writing, developed stories, profiles, interviewing, investigations, foreign reporting and working with editors.
How I Wrote the Story ( edited by Karen Bordeleau)
The newspaper has produced
three editions of How I Wrote the Story, an anthology of stories and tips
on writing. The heart of the book is a collection of news stories published
in The Journal, along with essays by the writers on how they went about
producing those stories. Don Murray used this technique of having reporters
describe how they wrote their stories in a writing seminar, and then carried
it over to the first edition of the book, published in 1983. The second
edition, published in 1986 and edited by Christopher Scanlan, now with
the Poynter Institute, expanded the number of stories and essays. The third edition, published in 1996 and edited by Tom Heslin, now managing editor for new media, and Bob Wyss, now a journalism teacher at the University of Connecticut, offered award-winning stories and essays published during the 1990s. The stories and essays all come
from the newspaper's writing contest.
First Friday (run by Scott Mayerowitz)
In 1997, the Writing Program began an informal series of staff-run seminars,
usually held at noon, devoted to specific writing issues. They are open
to all staff members and are held on the first Friday of every month,
hence the name First Friday. Two or more members of the staff discuss
specific stories or issues raised in their reporting or writing. The seminars
have focused on such topics as writers working with photographers, investigative
reporting, feature writing and reporting on sensitive topics such as suicides.
Often after we publish a special report or long-term project, the reporters
and editors will discuss the project during a First Friday session. We
have held sessions on our year-long investigation of the corruption charges
against a former governor, one 16-page story about a man who was dying
of Lou Gehrig's disease and on a month-long series about a surrogate pregnancy.
The Power of Words
Periodically, tips, ideas and discussions are posted to The Power of Words Web site. These offerings have been
published online since August 1997, and the site features an index,
by subject, of all of the past tips. Want to learn more about covering
a beat, how to develop ideas for stories, or how to organize a story?
These are some of the subjects covered. The weekly entries are taken from
discussions at First Friday sessions, from timely How I Wrote the Story
essays or even from items published in the newspaper, such as a debate
at the University of Rhode Island after a controversial cartoon was run
in the student newspaper. The site, which is linked to by other journalism and writing Web sites, introduces The Journal to many journalists and other writers
who scan the Web.
Our Mission Statement
The Mission
The Writing Committee is dedicated to developing and sustaining a culture
of writing and story-telling at The Journal.
Values
The Writing Committee believes that the study, encouragement and recognition
of good writing can challenge reporters and editors to produce quality
stories that inform, entertain and affect readers.
The committee believes that good story-telling requires a collaboration
of reporters, editors, photographers, artists and designers, and it hopes
to develop programs encouraging that partnership.
Operations
Our goals are:
To organize and sponsor programs that will inspire writers to take risks,
to entertain, to inform and to celebrate our craft;
To supervise the Writing Awards Program, in which writers recognize outstanding
achievements. An integral part of the program will allow writers to share
elements of the craft with colleagues;
To collect, organize and publicize the wealth of material on writing and
story-telling that the committee has collected over the years, and to
disseminate it as widely as possible.
Members of the Providence Journal Writing Committee
Lynn Arditi, committee chair, a business reporter who covers the economy, frequently writes about people working on the economic ladder’s bottom rung.
Susan Areson, metropolitan managing editor.
Mark Arsenault, a general assignment reporter, reported extensively about The Station nightclub fire of 2003. He is the author of two mystery novels.
Karen Bordeleau, assistant managing editor, is an adjunct professor at Emerson College in Boston and a past president of the New England Society of Newspaper Editors and the New England Associated Press News Executives Association.
Tracy Breton, a member of the investigative-reporting team, was one of the recipients of the team's Pulitzer Prize in 1994. She also teaches part-time at Brown University.
Cynthia Needham, Blackstone Valley reporter.
Amanda Milkovits, public safety reporter.
Scott Mayerowitz, State House reporter.
Tom Mooney, a general assignment reporter, specializes in feature and narrative writing and teaches part-time at Brown University.
Tim Murphy, city editor.
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