AAN News

How I Got That Story: Donna Ladd

In the ninth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, Jackson Free Press editor Donna Ladd discusses her award-winning feature on the Seale family, which has long ties to the Ku Klux Klan, but has tried to ameliorate its past. She talks to St. John Barned-Smith about how they found the story, how her upbringing in Mississippi informs her work, and how she connects with her sources. "I find the best way is to just have absolute interest in what they're saying," Ladd says. "I have no judgment when I'm sitting in front of someone. I am a sponge. (FULL STORY)
AAN News  |  10-16-2008  1:18 pm  |  Association News

How I Got That Story: Megan Feldman

In the eighth installment of this year's "How I Got That Story" series, the Dallas Observer's Megan Feldman talks to St. John Barned-Smith about her award-winning feature on Central American migrants who make often-deadly 1,500-mile trips on freight trains to make it to the Mexican-American border. Feldman went to Mexico to immerse herself in the experience of these immigrants, and also was able to tell the story through one person who had made the journey and ended up in the Dallas area. She says the most challenging aspect of reporting the story was finding that source: "In Dallas, there's a particularly harsh backlash against immigrants, and on the other side of that, there's a very high level of fear among the immigrants, so it took a long time to find someone who'd be willing to tell their story." (FULL STORY)
AAN News  |  10-14-2008  11:49 am  |  Association News

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