Justin McLachlan

Washington, DC 92108 USA
Website: http://justinmclachlan.com
Contact

Professional Experience

I'm an award-winning freelancer in DC who specializes in scene-based features, observational pieces, long form investigative work, short FOB pieces, courts, lawsuits and legal issues, some travel and the intersection of culture and technology.

Expertise

Reporter
10 Years
Writer
11 Years
TV Reporter
2 Years

Specialty

Government
10 Years
Law
10 Years
Science
2 Years

Industries


Broadcasting - News - Cable (Local)
2 Years
Newspaper - Local/Regional
5 Years
Online/new media
10 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

11 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Voiceofsandiego.org (1-2), Popular Science (1-2), San Diego Citybeat (10+), Mother Jones (1-2), Wired (6-10), San Diego Magazine (1-2), San Diego News Network (3-5)

Other Work History

Dominion Post, Morgantown WV, 2007-2008 -Sunday columnist Times West Virginian, Fairmont WV, 2005-2006 -Education and Youth Issues reporter (full-time, staff) Corridor Magazine, West Virgnia, 2006 -Contributor Herald Standard, Uniontown PA, 2004-2005 -Bureau reporter About.com, 1999-2002 -Wrote weekly news stories geared toward kids and teens

Technical Skills

Video editing, photo editing, Web Design, Database Design, Computer-assisted reporting, social network analysis

Foreign Language Skills

Some Spanish

Computer Skills

Ruby on Rails, MySQL, PHP, Windos and Mac, Photoshop, Illustrator, MS Office

Equipment

Audio recorder, Digital SLR

References

Contact me for references.

Awards

IRE Awards finalist, 2007 ONA Awards finalist, 2008 WVPA Best Columnist, 2006 WVPA Public Service, Second Place, 2006

Associations

NLGJA, SPJ and IRE, SPJ Digital Media Committee, Media Bloggers Association

Showcase

Writing Samples

A plastic surgeon convicted in an international murder-for-hire plot stirs lingering questions about the case against him and the evidence used to convict him.
Two samples of a Sunday column on West Virginia University for a local newspaper.
This is one of the stories in an online series I produced as part of my graduate eduction. The project, Where Doubt Remains, was a finalist in the Investigative Reporters and Editors Awards for 2007, alongside Vanity Fair, ESPN.com, MSNBC.com and the Center for Public Integrity. The project was also a finalist in the 2008 Online News Association awards.
An overview of three ballot initiatives in California would legalize marijuana for personal use.
An observation piece on the birthday of Geocaching for San Diego
Two arts pieces for the February 2010 issue of Wired.
A story about the use of fMRI evidence in court in the March 2010 issue of Popular Science.
A feature about immigration in San Diego Citybeat.

Broadcasting Samples

Two-minute video preview of stand-ups from News 19, a small cable station near Pittsburgh
A selection of news and sports reads, along with some VOs and VO-SOTS
A story on body image.