Local Reporter Goes Off the Record to Enlighten Students

Amherst- Nick Grabbe, a reporter at the Amherst Bulletin, spoke yesterday in an interactive question and answer session at Hampshire College. The question and answer session was the second in a series of similar discussions in a a class entitled “Newswork.” Newswork is a January Term class where students learn all about journalism, and even do field-work.
Nick Grabbe introduced himself as the senior writer for the Amherst Bulletin. Reporting is relatively new for him. Before reporting, he was an editor there for 19 years. He started out in journalism working for Lafayette College's school newspaper, where he was a Copy Editor. Later, he had an internship at the Boston Globe on the copy desk. Grabbe had three other copy editing jobs before he landed at the Hampshire Gazette and later the Amherst Bulletin.
As preparation for his visit, the students were expected to read four of Nick Grabbe's stories. Each of these was discussed in class. In discussing the stories, many students had pertinent questions about different situations that may have arisen from reporting on these stories. This led to lots of advice on Grabbe's part about how to do his job. For example, when discussing a story about an Episcopal Church that has stopped performing marriages so as to be in solidarity with homosexuals, Grabbe stated that journalists are naturally biased. This statement raised some eyebrows in the class, but he further explained that a journalist is biased toward those that help him out and against those who hinder him. That same story was published on the wire. Grabbe tracked it over the internet and found an astonishing array of hate-based web-sites and chat rooms that discussed it. As a consequence, the rector of the church received a number of hate phone calls because of his stance of acceptance toward gays. Grabbe feels bad that he is the root of this, but at the same time feels that he can not regret his part in getting a good story out.
Nick Grabbe had other opinions and advice for the students. He said that it is risky to use anonymity in stories, because it gives more responsibility of creditability to the reporter. This is why the Amherst Bulletin and Hampshire Gazette have policies against its use. When asked if there was a set ethical code that he follows, he responded that there probably is one in the employee handbook, but he has not read it. However, as ethics go, he does not put bumper stickers on his car, or participate in local protests. When asked about plagiarism and if it was ever caught at the Gazette or Bulletin, he stated that there has been no problem with blatant plagiarism, but that the internet makes that a hazy area. He is currently working on a story about real-estate pricing, and a reporter at the New York Times wrote a piece that has the exact information he wants to use. Instead of using the Times directly, he has tried to insert words into the mouths of his sources. This method works sometimes, but so far, he has not spoken to the right source.
Nick Grabbe feels like a dinosaur in a changing world. He is trying to adapt, but finds it difficult. He thinks that his is a dying profession. Grabbe feels that there will always be a need for local news, but the medium may change very soon.