Interview with a Journalist

Our podcasters interview Reporter June Portnoy, managing Editor of O'Rourke Media Group, about what it's like to become a writer and journalist.

Transcript

Brianna
Welcome to the Giving Youth A Voice Podcast where we share information to youth by youth. Stick around to hear what we've chosen to share with you in this episode. Check out more information and resources about the Neshaminy Coalition for Youth at our website nc4youth. org. That's nc 4 youth. org. There you can find our program and resources and become a member for the betterment of our community. Also, check out our Facebook page to see our latest news and events. Give us a like. I'm Brianna, the host of this episode, and please enjoy. 

Patrick
Hi, my name is Patrick McCullough. 

Brianna
Hi, my name is Brianna Aspero

Patrick
Today, we're here with a special guest. 

June Portnoy
Hi, I'm June Portnoy. I am the Managing Editor of O'Rourke Media Group. We publish 11 community newspapers, predominantly in Bucks County, and also in Montgomery County. All of our news is unique because it is positive news, so nothing controversial, nothing political, just good positive news about people making a positive contribution to their communities. 

Patrick 
Thank you for joining us. We are really honored to have you on here today. We have a few questions listed here that we want to ask you, and yeah, let's get started. 

Brianna 
You mentioned that you work in a media group and that you do a lot of reporting and editing, what led to you wanting to become a reporter? 

June Portnoy 
I think I've always wanted to write since 3rd grade at a creative writing class, and I remember we had to write about an inanimate object coming to life, and I really enjoyed that experience. The teacher I had was really passionate about writing, her enthusiasm about it motivated me, and I realized that I was pretty good at it. From 3rd grade on, I really couldn't think of anything else that I would do besides writing. I went to school to pursue a degree in journalism at Temple, they have a really good program, they still do. My thought was always to write, so I've had a lot of diverse writing experiences, so I've written in print and broadcasting. I used to write those infomercials that you probably see in the middle of the night. Slicer dicers, they're on different gadgets, and I would actually write and produce those infomercials. That was my first two jobs. Then I ended up in print. I was writing for healthcare, moving forward. I really liked the idea of writing community-oriented news, thought that was more interesting from me. So I started after I had children. I got a few ideas. My neighbors were on the show called Trading Spaces where they trade homes and they decorated. I had called a publisher of a local newspaper and asked if I wrote an article about it on spec, meaning they didn't have to pay me if they didn't take it. Would they be interested in looking at it? That's basically how I started. I wrote the article. I took the photos. They shot it off of my house, so it was easy enough to do the interviews with my neighbors and also with the people on the show and submitted it. They liked it and then they started assigning me freelance assignments. As my children got a little older, I started working there a part-time and then full-time. That's basically how this blossomed. When the managing editor retired, they offered me his position, so I was very excited about the prospect of taking it and that was about a year and a half ago. I've been back, but it's grown and evolved and we were taken over, we used to be times publishing newspapers and we were acquired by O'Rourke Media Group, so they have about 18 different publishing groups throughout the country, we are one of them. So, they all have local, very hyper local newspapers and additionally we now have a digital component as well. 

Patrick 
Nice. It sounds like you have like quite the story. But yeah, I like how the detailed you went into it, the thing that kinda like caught my attention immediately is the fact that you said you'd like one to write, for instance, ever since like third grade, and that creative writing class. And I relate to that immensely because I've always liked writing as well because I like using it to like, either as an outlet or just to be creative and stuff like that. And I like how that started you on a path to like where you are right now so that's awesome. 

Brianna 
Since you realized your passion for writing so young, do you have any advice for other students or younger people who are also thinking of continuing a job or future in writing or journalism? 

June Portnoy 
Sure. I would definitely suggest if you're interested in writing to write as much as you can, because the more you write, the better you get and I would definitely suggest looking into internships. That was a huge, hug plus for me. I had three very good internships. I worked at, it was a local talk show, AM Philadelphia. I worked as an assistant there, gave me great experience. I was actually writing for the two co-hosts of the local show, it would go on stage, bring the guests in, it was really exciting. And we would have guests just like you do come in, but it was televised every day instead of on audio. So that was exciting and I gave me a great opportunity to learn the broadcasting industry. And I think I was a little bit more hesitant to write conversationally until I started working there and realized that it needs to be much more informal. They teach in school that write formal, write business-like, that's not how it is you are writing for broadcasting or even with print, it tends to be more conversational unless you're writing for a clinical type of journal. So internships, writing, I also wrote a novel many years ago. It was just a story I came up with and it just evolved and it ended up being published. That was really cool and that was learning experience too, because I had to learn the process of how do you get published? Do you need an agent? You go directly to the publishing company. I went to a lot of conferences, writing conferences, to learn how to do that and networked and met a lot of people and went to workshops at the conferences. So the more you can learn, the more you can network with people in the industry, the more information you'll learn and networking is really important in this industry. It's not just write a resume and get a job, it really helps to know people in the industry. And like with me, I just took the initiative. I was having trouble getting freelance jobs but I kind of thought outside the box and decided that I would write this article whether or not they decided to run it or not. I took that chance and it actually worked out to my advantage and ultimately led to this job because I was freelancing for the previous company and led to a part time job and a full time job and me coming back as managing editor. You just never know how one step you take might end up, where it may end up leading. 

Brianna 
So would you say that your internships definitely helped you with your networking? 

June Portnoy 
Absolutely. Yeah. And it's a great way to get hands-on training in your field.

Brianna 
Yeah. 

Patrick 
I guess the question I would ask with this, if you hadn't taken that step, how different do you think everything would turn out? 

June Portnoy 
Yeah. I mean, I might have decided to go to a different publishing company. There's plenty of different publishing companies I could have reached out to or I could have suggested a different article, but I do think that it really did help me. If they had turned it down, I probably would have gone elsewhere. Perseverance is important. 

Patrick 
Yes, I agree. 

Brianna 
So would you say that over the course of your career, is there an article that sticks out to you the most compared to others? 

June Portnoy 
I've had an opportunity to interview so many different people over the years. It's hard to pinpoint one. I think the most meaningful interviews I've done were of people who were making some kind of a positive contribution to the community. And it's nice to know that in today's world there are still people that are doing nice things for people because you turn on the news and you're seeing just the opposite. Wor at this particular publishing company is a very nice experience because I do get to talk to people that are helping people like you do with mental illness or people that are helping the homeless or people that are building houses for people that may not have them. So anybody who is there trying to help others and there are so many and there's also so many nonprofits out there in the community who strive to do that. I don't think they get the recognition they deserve. That's what we try to highlight. Every time I leave an interview with someone who's telling me what they're doing to make someone else's life better, I feel good about myself and I feel better about society knowing that there are people out there who are doing good. And I think it would be great if more people like that were recognized. 

Brianna 
As somebody who hopes that they're making a positive impact on youth in their community, it's really inspiring to see other people who are doing that kind of work and who are also helping their community in positive ways because then that's also people that we as podcasters can look up to. 

June Portnoy 
Definitely. 

Brianna 
Obviously we want to thank you for joining us today, but not only for joining us, but for giving us insight as to what it's like with your everyday life of doing this professionally, of being a reporter and writing articles for your community and professionally, for not only giving us that insight, but for people who are listening to our podcast who have an interest, but they don't know where to start. So I'm hoping that by listening to our podcast, you've inspired some of the people who listen. 

June Portnoy 
Thank you. 

Patrick 
Adding on to that, I think one of the things that when you work getting your point across explaining your background and stuff like that and where you are now, I think you did a good job of paying a picture of the choices you make really early on. You'll go on different paths where you'll be able to go to many different places and meet a lot of people and also help a lot of people as well, so I think that's really awesome. I think a lot of people can't learn from that. That's just one thing I want to comment on. 

Brianna 
Yeah. The choices that you make early on can positively impact where you are now. 

June Portnoy 
Thanks for having me. 

Patrick 
Thanks for coming on, we really appreciate it. 

Brianna 
Thank you

That's it for this episode. Thank you for listening to Giving Youth a Voice. Any questions about this podcast or a coalition can be emailed to podcast@nc4youth. org. That's podcast@nc4youth. org. Make sure to follow us on your favorite podcasting app and sign up to our email list on nc4youth. org so you don't miss our next episode. This project is made possible by funding from the Drug Free Communities Grant. I'm Brianna wishing you a happy and healthy future. See you next episode.