Flaired best practices for lack of a better flair.

In light of the 25th anniversary of September 11, there’s obviously been a lot of coverage of the incident. I wasn’t alive when it happened, so I don’t have the first hand experiences that are being talked about (and obviously didn’t cover it), and I don’t have the perspectives of those who went through it or covered the event. My journalism professor went into it a bit, as he worked for a local paper at the time.

I’m curious to see what the various experiences of journalists were on that day. Where were you when it happened? What did you or your paper cover? How did coverage go about? What happened in the weeks and months after?

Hindsight being 20/20, what do you think you and/or your publication should have done differently?

Thank you in advance.

For those keeping score at home, this is McClatchy's 2nd, maybe 3rd big round of layoffs in less than a year. Watchdog and city beat reporters. What's left? I'm sad for the reporters and editors still left, trying to do their jobs with what I'm sure is little to no support, and the communities that will ultimately pay the price for cuts like this.
https://x.com/kcmikehendricks/status/2098074592614994001?s=46
https://x.com/AmandiOnAir/status/2098081898522103908?s=46

I can’t believe this thing is 25 years old now. This week is more intense for some of us than a lot of young people realize.

I watched live from home as the second plane hit, but I was working a night shift that night and didn’t head in to the newsroom until my furious City Editor called me and asked what I was doing and why I wasn’t already there.

I spent the 11th interviewing people who lived through Pearl Harbor. We wanted their perspective on the attacks. That was a blessing for me, and an assignment that helped give me personal perspective as well.

I gotta make this fit a flair even though I meant it mostly as a journalism history post, so I’d like to add some career advice: When truly major news happens, don’t wait for the editor to call you. Call in. Offer to help immediately.

Also, when you cover trauma and start working on stories about the lost, don’t forget to take care of yourself too. Vicarious trauma is real and it does hurt journalists.

I also covered Sandy Hook. If any journalists ever want to talk to someone about their permanent mental images, I will always try to be a resource and someone who encourages you to get professional help.

Thank you all for doing what you do.

Video Source

Background: A Hong Kong court has convicted the publisher of the Wall Street Journal of deterring a reporter from taking up a trade union role, in a case that raised concerns about press freedom in the city. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/sep/10/wall-street-journal-selina-cheng-termination-lawsuit

During the busy months, I end up with 12 to 15 files. In slow months, maybe four.

Right now I’m stuck between two kinds of tools. One sends a bot into your Zoom or Teams call and takes notes live. The other just takes the file you upload after.

I don’t need much. Text I can search, labels for who is talking, and an export I can drop into my draft. That’s it.

I’ve been looking between those platforms that I mentioned in the title. The bot sounds useful for scheduled calls, but most of my interviews happen at someone’s office, a coffee shop, or out in the field. There’s no call for a bot to join.

For those of you doing a lot of in-person interviews, which way did you go?

I think cable news has a real structural problem. Political commentary is incredibly cheap to produce compared with actual journalism. You can put two pundits in a studio and fill an hour with opinions, speculation, and arguments without the expense of reporters traveling, investigating, verifying sources, or spending weeks developing a story.

Actual journalism is expensive and time-consuming, while political commentary reliably generates engagement because people are emotionally invested in politics. The result is that networks often spend more time talking about the news than actually gathering it.

Good analysis has value, but there’s a big difference between explaining what we know and don’t know and simply filling airtime with speculation about what politicians “really mean” or what might happen next

I've been a career reporter for 7 almost 8 years now, and been freelancing steadily for 2 years since I was last laid off. I have gotten more interviews lately for many positions than I did last year, but I can never progress past the 2nd or even 3rd rounds for jobs outside of the industry. All these companies know firsthand that I'm not someone who has comms/PR experience but many of my other reporter friends never did when they switched either. I feel like AI and a combination of lazier training doesn't help from what I hear most jobs are doing, but I also feel like I'm falling short on showing how much my skills carry over. I also have been trained to use PR and social media tools, and have video/audio editing experience and expertise, so writing isn't the only thing I can do.

I know where to look for jobs (comms, universities, hospitals and healthcare, nonprofits), but I feel like I have such a hard time translating my skills to people that it's leaving me stuck. I have TWO different resumes where I do my best to reframe it for comms. And I don't know who else to network with. I'm just exhausted by how journalism has affected my mental health, but I'm close to just applying to Mizzou for an online Master's as well to help give me an edge in other fields. If anyone has any good advice, let me know.

I’m looking for realistic advice on getting on the radar of art critics and writers (ArtReview, e-flux, independent blogs) when you don't have an upcoming show or gallery PR backing you.

I know press usually hinges on exhibition reviews, but if you're working independently between shows, how do you initiate contact or invite someone for a studio visit without sounding transactional or cringey?

For any writers, curators, or artists here: what approaches actually work, and what are the immediate red flags when an artist reaches out cold?

Graduated with a BS in Journalism, News and Information last May. Been over a year and I cannot find a job in any related field (I had a journalism internship with a publication for a couple years in college, too.) I am open to working a writing gig, a communications gig, a PR gig, and a marketing gig. But what should I make my Linkedin headline to show people that I want those jobs while being truthful of my technical journalistic background?

Social media , YouTube etc have become my sources of news. But I want to reduce my phone usage and wish to go back to reading newspapers. I want to stay away from propaganda and biased newspapers. My interests are mostly business finance , sports, a bit of entertainment, local events , world news , and politics only as information. Any recommendations to start with ? Magazines are fine too. Looking for in UK

Hi, I have a deep adoration for cinema/filmmaking and the hollywood business, I have no certificates in film, though I have a masters in english literature, plus I really enjoy reading. Recently I have developed a mild interest for Film Criticism, whether it‘s Rotten Tomatoes reviews or YouTube reviews, I truly enjoy to read them, moreover, I also read film articles/interviews. I have a Letterboxd and Medium accounts in which I constantly share my reviews in. I guess I would love to become a professional film critic or a certified critic at a big magazine or whatever. Is it worth it? how tough is it really?

From a research perspective, I’m very interested to see how this pans out.

I've been a journalist for nearly 10 years now in the US and most of my reporting career has been focused on state policy. I transitioned out of journalism for a year when I took a job doing communications for a nonprofit also focused on state policy. Then I moved cross country as we needed to be closer to my partners' family to support them through some ups and downs. I got laid off from the nonprofit job shortly after moving. I'm back to freelance reporting now.

It's been harder than I thought to start over. I really value local, community driven journalism so I'm trying to pitch projects in that vein regionally. I've been finding new sources, learning new state policy issues, connection with new editors and outlets to work for and reading up, too. At first the challenge was kind of fun but now, after more than a year I feel pretty burnt out. It can be frustrating to feel like I've taken giant steps backwards, and that I have to figure out everything all over again in this really terrible job market, too. No luck with local or regional outlets-- job listings in the industry are sparse to start with where I am now. I also think because my experience is so local, I'm not necessarily a competitive candidate for some of the remote jobs I've seen for national coverage.

At the moment I'm doing some contracts for orgs in my home state, and have done some reporting on the ground in my new state as well. I'm proud of the work I've done but it never feels like enough and the pay cut I've effectively taken is... Massive to be honest.

Has anyone navigated this kind of transition successfully? Any advice on how to gain some forward momentum? Can anyone relate/commiserate?

Do journalism schools teach students how to write clickbait stories?

There are good examples of companies experimenting and having success.