Archives: August 2009

Since taking Debra Alfarone‘s Intro to Reporting course, Katie Bogey has secured a freelance associate producer position at News 12 Connecticut and is now working as a reporter for YNN (Your News Now) Buffalo.
Says Katie, “Debra went above and beyond by helping me secure the position at News 12 Connecticut. This class taught me what I needed to do in order to get a reporting job.”
Katie has observed that a lot of news stations are hiring one man band reporters.
She advises those attempting to break into the industry to “make contacts with people in the news business and get a job at a local news station doing whatever position they have available.”
–William Battaglia
RELATED: Reporting Courses at mediabistro.com

Lakshmi Anantnarayan co-authored an op-ed titled “A War on Pakistan’s Schoolgirls” which was published in The Washington Post.
Lakshmi Anantnarayan is the Communications Director for the international women’s human rights organization Equality Now.
Said Lakshmi, “The experience was an eye-opener because The Washington Post op-ed led to several other media opportunities for us. Our print pieces were accepted in The Independent (UK) and the International Herald Tribune and we were invited to five radio interviews.”
Lakshmi worked on the article in an Op-Ed Writing course with Lionel Beehner.
Says Lakshmi, “When I signed up for the course I had been in non-profit communications for six years, and although I was successful in getting journalists to cover our stories, I had never successfully published an op-ed that I had drafted.”
–William Battaglia
RELATED: Op-Ed Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Janet Lombardi‘s Mortgage & Marriage Modification personal essay appeared in Newsweek‘s “My Turn” column.
In the piece, the mediabistro student shares the hardships of her marriage with her husband, a heroin addict who was able to hide his addiction well and managed to clean out his IRA account in the process.
In this compelling piece, Janet recalls the pain and shame her husband felt when he told her he had lost it all. She writes, “His body slumped in relief. ‘I’m tapped out,’ he said. A look of shame crept over him. His pleading blue eyes looked tired and rimmed with dark circles.”
Janet took Andrew Craft‘s Personal Essay Writing course with mediabistro.
–William Battaglia
RELATED: Essay Writing Courses at mediabistro.com

Danny Fingeroth, who has taught comics and graphic novel writing at mediabistro, was quoted in Peggy Orenstein’s editorial in The New York Times Magazine this Sunday.
“Little girls these days have lots of real-life role models, lots of ways they can be in the world, but they still have precious few larger-than-life heroes, especially in the all-important realm of fantasy, where they spend so much of their free time. And that’s a shame,” writes Orenstein.
She goes on to quote Danny. “Superheroes, according to Danny Fingeroth, onetime editor of the Spider-Man comics and author of Superman on the Couch, give kids (read: boys) a way to feel in control in an arbitrary world, where adults appear to make on-the-spot rules that they’re forced to obey.”
“‘And then they look at the larger picture,’ he adds, ‘and see war and plague and people abusing authority. The idea that there’s this superhero who uses the means of evil — violence — in a restrained, smart way to do good: that’s appealing.’”
Danny’s new book, The Rough Guide to Graphic Novels, is out now.
–Lisa Fraser
RELATED: Upcoming Comic and Graphic Novel Writing courses at mediabistro