E102: Bethesda Today

Join us for an insightful conversation with Amy Orndorff, managing editor of Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Today. Amy shares the evolution of Bethesda’s local news, the challenges of covering Montgomery County with a small but dedicated team and how her experience at The Washington Post and as a volunteer firefighter shaped her approach to journalism. From breaking news to long-form features, hear how Bethesda Today fills the local news gap and what’s next for the publication.

Chapters

• 0:00 The evolution of Bethesda Today
• 5:31 Balancing daily news and long-form journalism
• 10:16 Covering Montgomery County with a small team
• 17:01 Journalism, public records and transparency
• 26:01 The future of Bethesda Today

Transcript

0:01

Welcome. I am delighted to have Amy Orndorff in the studio today. She's the managing editor of both Bethesda Magazine and Bethesda Today. And so welcome to the program, Amy. Yeah. So you are entering your second year in Bethesda Today, which just for those of our listeners who aren't following along has had a has had name changes and ownership changes in the past couple years. So Bethesda today was once MoCo 360, and before that it was Bethesda Beat. So why don't we start with kind of that evolution and then we can sort of get into other topics. But tell us about sort of the evolution of that product and how it fits in to Bethesda Magazine. Sure, so the Bethesda Beat started out with this idea that we're going to hyper local coverage news. And then when it became MoCo 360, which was about two years ago, it was right as I was starting, the idea was we're going to cover all of Montgomery County. We are going to expand our staff, which was all great. But about a year into it, we were bought by Today Media, which was great. And we went from five reporters to three reporters. And we decided to change the name because while we're still trying to cover all of the 1.1 million people in Montgomery County, Maryland, we are also trying to push that we are connected to Bethesda Magazine. And so Today Media has other. lifestyle publications that also have the same kind of naming convention. And so it seemed like a natural change for us to kind of go back to our roots and to really emphasize the connection we have with Bethesda Magazine. Sure. And I think it's so interesting, sort of that dichotomy or bifurcation, whatever word you want to put in there about having a magazine which comes out on a monthly basis, print glossy, and then this news site, which you're updating daily. And we'll get into sort of coverage areas and how you try and cover a county as populous as Montgomery with the resources that you have. what is it like having those two outlets, like editorially and do you share resources? Tell us a little bit about how you make it work. So in terms of sharing resources, that would be me. am, yes, I am 50-50. And then we have executive editors for each product who focus full time on each product. And so I'm kind of the bridge between the two. Our three reporters are all on the dot com side. And our magazine is a lot freelance. put all the magazine content on our website as well. And we, of course, mention in the magazine a lot about, hey, go to our website for more and that sort of thing. So overall, we all sit in the same office. But there's definitely a really fun difference in timing between working. We actually come out six times a year. And so working on something that a couple months out versus, my gosh, we need to get this up for the newsletter that goes out in, you know, half an hour. So it's a lot of fun for me to be on both ends of that. And I think our reporters really like it. They do occasionally write for the magazine and they like having their name glossy with all the pretty pictures. So it's a lot of fun. But I think that idea of the long form articles that maybe are features or lifestyles, it allows you, if you come across just a really interesting nugget in the day-to-day news cycle, you have an outlet to kind of really go deep. And have you seen that happen? Are there some nuggets and gems that you've seen on the daily or the hourly piece of the website that then unfurl in the magazine? Sure, we have something in Montgomery County called Vision Zero, where the idea is that no pedestrians will be killed in roadways, for example. so this is, I know it's also completely never gonna happen, but the idea is that they are aiming for that, that that is the goal. And so that's very admirable. But we took a step back and after doing stories, about pedestrians being hit and killed in our on our website, we turned to the magazine and did a deeper dive to look overall at how how is this program working? Is are there a reduction in pedestrian fatalities and kind of got to do a really nice long long form story. And so, yeah, that that happens all the time and it's so much fun. I bet. And so I wanted to also talk about the sort of that coverage area because we talked before we started recording about some of the challenges of covering such a populous county and a diverse county. I there's there's a lot of threads running through Montgomery County. And what is your what's your strategy on on how you. On what you cover and how you cover it. Sure, so with three reporters, it can be very limited, but our main areas are county government and local government. We do a little bit on what our local legislators are doing at the state and national level, but for the most part, we have a reporter today at our weekly county council meeting. We have a reporter who is dying in crime. And she does a lot about, you know, what's coming and going in the food world and as well as public safety and, you know, the breaking stuff of, you know, who somebody just got shot and she'll be the person to go write about that. And then education is huge in Montgomery County. And so we have an education reporter. And all three of them really are great about jumping on breaking news. If we have, you know, a fire, we had a fire at an elementary school that was under construction. yeah, nobody got hurt or anything. It was late at night. But but it was the most expensive fire in Montgomery County. And this was nine o'clock at night. And I was reading my I have two little boys and I was reading to one of them and see an alert on my phone. And immediately I was just like, OK. You live closest, can you go get some pictures? And can you start writing? And can you reach out to the PIO? So all three of them are really versatile. But yeah, that's kind of how we're limited. We do occasionally use freelancers, especially on kind of more fun, feature stories. So we have some options, but mostly it's those three, and they're just very, very, very go, go, go. Well, and I feel like those are the three areas. we do, MDVC does a white label survey that we offer our members to do a readership survey and universally the things that people are most interested in. It's going to be crime, breaking news. County government is sort of the vegetables that I feel like if you're a hyper local publication. even if nobody wants to read it, they should and you have to cover it. And then education, you know, those are, I think that's really strategic in terms of using your resources to the best ability. And I feel like that also really dovetails with like that's, that's not replicating or competing with the magazine content. So like if you look at the whole media company, you're really in a allowing a you're getting a really wide range of topics. Does that sound right to you? Am I off-bath? yes. I mean, that's what we're going for. We do. also missed we have a audience engagement social media person who also does a weekly things to do and she'll do roundups like we just did a Valentine's Day one of different Valentine's Day things you can go and do. And so we we do have her as well, but three full time reporters. Yeah. And so how do you think that makes you different? mean, when we look at Montgomery County, it's such an odd situation because there aren't, you you have the Washington Post and you have a lot of intimate experience with the Post having worked there for a good chunk of your career. that is a chunk. But there aren't a lot of, and you have the only news and greater only, but there's not a lot of publications that really focus on the county as a whole. So can you kind of talk about what makes you different or what you bring to the table in terms of your coverage that differentiates you from other outlets in the areas? Sure. We are, I think what makes us different is that we, all three of our reporters are full-time journalists. This is all we're doing. We are going beyond the press releases. You know, we are calling up the people. I think some of the other blogs which serve important purposes will just report what's going on and not do the background work, not do the, that. next level of journalism that it's really important and vital. think having worked at the Post for 20 years, I think they're moving away from local news, which is understandable. They want to get as many eyes as possible using national and international news. So, you know, I don't fault them for that, but it is leaving a void and it's leaving a void that we're happy to step into. Absolutely. so, you know, tell me a little bit about what drew you to working at Bethesda today. I guess then it was Mocha 360 and stepping away from, you know, for many journalists, it's the pinnacle to be the New York Times. So tell me about kind of your evolution as a journalist and what made you make this So I started at the Post when I was 17. They did not ask how old I was. They didn't ask how old I was and they just needed somebody to answer phones in the sports section. So I said, no, I'll do that. I can do that. So I attended the University of Maryland. And so I worked mostly full time while going to school full time. By my senior year, I was working pretty much 40 plus hours a week at the Post. and I just picked up whatever job anybody would give me. so I got to work on all sorts of sections and do all sorts of things. my last post there, I spent about eight years with the news service as a copy editor. And I absolutely loved it. And it was so much fun. I spent my day reading and editing news. It was a dream job. There had been several rounds of layoffs though, and I could kind of feel the acts coming closer and closer. And I was also working, not odd hours, but we were a 24 hour, more or less, news service. And I would work nights, I'd work weekends, I'd work holidays. And I had two wonderful little boys that I wanted to see too. And I think a lot of journalists run into that. I used to want to be the Capitol's Pete reporter until the Capitol's Pete reporter went, what are you talking about? I don't get to go to my son's soccer game on Saturday because I'll be in Calgary. And so finding that balance, especially after COVID, I was looking around and I've always lived in Montgomery County besides well, besides going to Maryland and living a couple of years in D.C., but born and raised in Montgomery County. My grandparents, at least both sets of great grandparents, all Montgomery County people. So to me, this was very much a area that I know it's an area I love. And so it was I was coming to a place where I could be much more creative. I could have more of a nine to five. And it was a much smaller, what's the saying, big fish in a small pond versus a little itty bitty guppy in a very big pond. Yeah. Well, and I think also as a managing editor, get to, you you're, you're setting in some ways you're, you're collaborating on setting the tone, you know, your, your decisions are really helping to steer that ship. You're understanding what, goes in rather than being, you know, the post is a really big place and you know, as as a copy editor, yes, you're, you're making the world a better place, but you're not. Right. like, let's go and cover this or, or, you know, let's change the tone of that. So it sounds really like a wonderful way to get back. enjoyed especially working with young journalists, working with these fresh out of college, very motivated, very exciting. They're not, everybody at the Post was wonderful, but these aren't divas. These are people starting out in their career and they're hungry and it's so much fun to see them be successful. So I absolutely, it's a blast. Well, and I do feel like we're in just at MDDC. We're in the midst of our intern selection. We run a program where we embed interns and host newsrooms during the summer. And just it's a little bit of a contact high when you deal with with interns and promising young journalists because they're so excited and they're really like they they're very mission centered. And I do feel like journalists are very are idealistic people and they want to see change happen and they're interested in why people do the things they do and how they do them. And so for you, like working at the post for so long, but then also you have a journalism degree from Maryland, like what keeps you, what made you want to become a journalist and what keeps you in the business? Well, I never wanted to be anything other than a journalist. I can remember being a little kid watching the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and wanting to be April O'Neil. And I looked at Superman and I was like, Superman's a journalist and Spider-Man has journalism connection. He's a photojournalist. And so I looked at all these heroes. Yeah, they're all journalists. They're all in journalism. That's what I want to do. There was never a point in my life that I wanted to do anything else. So it made sense to me to go into journalism. Mm, I love that. And now you're able to kind of impart that in the reporters that you work with, like that superhero aspect. So yay, truth and justice. I wanted to talk a little bit about that ownership change and sort of what comes along with, because today media, who is your new owner, has Delaware, I think The Delaware Today, they have some other publications. also in other states, which is a real difference from the previous ownership, which was really focused. yeah, we shared an office with the ownership and the real estate side of that company. So far it's been great. Rob Martinelli comes down at least once a month and then we have weekly meetings and that sort of thing. what's great about it is that we can share some resources with the other outlets. So for example, Accounts Payable, we're able to kind of share that. IT Art Design, we all share. One of our art designers is in Miami that we're able to kind of share with some of the other publications. It's neat to be able to talk to them and see what has been successful in their lifestyle brand, magazines, and that sort of thing that we can replicate. So there's been a lot of opportunities for for learning and for growth. So it's been good. I'm very happy that we are by them. And I do feel like many, what I'm seeing among our membership is that there are, people are spinning up magazines that come out on a regular basis. So can you talk a little bit about, and we've talked about sort of the long form versus short bursts or whatnot, but as when you're covering a community, where does that lifestyle magazine kind of fit in? What purpose do you feel like it serves? I think it's clear that, you know, the transfer of information about dining, crime, education, county government, legislation, that's all handled by the day-to-day of the website. But in terms of like fully covering a community that you deeply care about, where does that lifestyle magazine fit in? there's so much that we get to do with the magazine that not that we can't do with the website, but in terms of longer form, in terms of just really getting into a story. But we also we want to do with our our lifestyle magazine. It's it is a slightly different demographic are the people who read the magazine are people like my mom. who are a little bit older. So we try to keep that in mind when we're coming up with our stories and our ideas. But there is such a thirst for these big glossy, beautiful pictures and our dining coverage, for example. We have a magnificent Dave Hagenhorn, our restaurant critic. His stuff just always does so well. And when we put out a big glossy spread about a restaurant that's opening that's really over the top and delicious, that does really well. And that's the kind of thing that lifestyle magazines are there for that our dining reporter, she's not going to have time to go do all of that. it's a lot of fun that they really compliment each other and a yin and a yang. It sounds like it kind of slows it down and like celebrates sort of the unique aspects of Montgomery County. And you can just kind of do a deep dive. So in looking at your tenure as managing editor, what do you look back on and say, gosh, I am so proud that we did that. Wow. think, let's see, what was I most proud of? We've had some, we had big coverage of the superintendent change over at MCPS, which was a very big deal because of, it was a little scandalous with our, with the old superintendent going out. And that was a lot of, a lot of news that we got to break, which was very exciting. What else? I've been very proud of. us with our breaking news coverage, especially we're much more oriented toward the scanner now than kind of we were in the past. We would kind of wait until the police put out a press release. And since I've been here, we've kind of gotten ahead of that. And we've gotten, we'll listen to the scanner. And if something is sounds really interesting, you know, we'll, we'll pick it up quicker than we used to. What else have I been very proud of? I've really been proud of seeing the growth among the three reporters. And I don't know that there's one specific story that each of them have written that have really demonstrated that. But all three of them have really grown a lot within the past couple of years. wonderful to see them sort of like in a time whenever there's change, there can be uncertainty or instability. And I think it's really telling that those reporters have stayed with you through that arc and have continued to grow and find new challenges and ways to work through it. from what you're describing, It's not theoretical. You're not like, we have a news site, but you're breaking news. You're at the junction of substantive issues and really putting out a daily product. it is like real hard news. And it's also interesting when you say, listen to the scanner. I know in some areas of Maryland, the scanners are being scrambled. So, you know, police are not as amenable to news coming in or news reporters working through. Talk a little bit about that. Sure, they so I I'm also a volunteer firefighter and actually that's how I learned about Bethesda magazine because several years ago they did profiles on mothers who are also firefighters and so they wrote a nice little piece and I mean I was just one little part of it, but I kind of got my introduction to the magazine several years ago and thought it was such a cool product. But because I have that background, I am a little more familiar with how to navigate the scanner and that sort of thing. And yeah, the police will encrypt radio frequencies if they don't want, they'll switch radio channels if they don't want people to be able to listen to them. But it's public, you know, it's a website that you can go to open megahertz and you can listen to the scanner. And I think that's an important bit of transparency. Absolutely, and I think also when so many things under like the Public Information Act and government transparency, that's open to the public, to everyone. And journalists are just professional users of those mechanisms. We may know some more tips and tricks because we're working with those things every day, but that doesn't mean that there's some sort of special rule or special access that journalists receive. Correct. Yeah. So can you talk a little bit about the role of public records and sort of what you're doing to, sounds like you're using things like police scanners and whatnot, but are you using public records in a different way or working with that in your reporting? I wouldn't say a different way. I don't think we do anything exceptional from other news outlets and with public records, but I think it is a good practice, especially for young journalists to be in the habit of filing for public records, and especially with the police asking for the charging documents, that sort of thing. For our reporters, really want them to get in the habit of knowing what they can access and how long it might take, but going ahead and getting that information. So I don't think we're doing anything different or special, but we are doing it. Yes. you when we look at the smaller newsrooms, which are sort of endemic to the industry right now, you need to make sure that you're doing all the things that you have access to, like filing for public records requests. pushing on transparency issues so that it doesn't become commonplace that you're not asking. You know, don't want to create situations where like, well, nobody asked for it. So we don't have to do that any longer. for that matter, go with whatever the press release said. I mean, I think especially we have a pretty good relationship with our police department, but in terms of saying, hey, can we see the charging documents? Because the press release is kind of vague and we want to be able to really sink our teeth into what's going on. And we want to be able to look at court records and know has this person been charged with anything else in the past. And so it really is important to go well beyond the press release. Right, absolutely. Now, just because it's fascinating, how did you get into firefighting? So as much as I wanted to be a superhero reporter, I was at the Post. I was a Metro intern out in Prince William County way, way long ago. And I was sent out to do a story about a car crash where I think it was there were five girls who had just graduated high school and all four of the five died. The only one who lived was in the back seat. And I was told by my boss, go to the hospital and find, know, see if you can find him for a quote. And I was like, oh my God. And I mean, it was an A1 story. was a, I mean, and I of course played a very small role in it, but you know, I was sent to the hospital and then I was sent to the candlelight vigil. And I came away from it wanting to do more to make the situation better. But I started firefighting in 2009, and I'm also an ambulance driver and an EMT. And is that all volunteer in Montgomery County? Okay. it's one night a week. It's 5 p.m. until 7 a.m. We have little bunk beds. It's great. And at the time, I told my boss I was working in the weekend section at the post. So this had nothing to do with anything that I was covering. And I told my boss, know, I'm kind of interested in doing this and it doesn't overlap with what I'm covering. Can I do it? And she said, yeah, sure, go ahead. So. That was 15 years ago now. And yeah, it's been very fulfilling, especially to... There's a lot of good moments. Mm-hmm. No, I would imagine so. And in some ways, it strikes me that being a firefighter and a journalist, you like, you have a real addiction to the adrenaline of something that's breaking. is exactly, it satisfies that itch as well. Sure. But then I also feel like, know, and journalists, you were talking about this with trying to get a quote from the only survivor of the crash. know, journalists also like police officers, like firefighters in some ways are specialized in seeing people in the worst day of their lives and talking to them about it, you know, except with police and firefighters. those people kind of have to talk to those entities where journalists, they could totally say just no comment, stay away or whatnot. like, you feel that there's, how does both sides of that coin, how does that inform each other? Do you take some of your journalism skills when you go and firefight and do you find it flowing back as well? Yeah, so I think one of the things that I've noticed that I do more than some of my colleagues on the fire department side is that I'll notice all sorts of little details about the people when we go into their house. And, you know, I'll talk to the person about that when we're transporting them, for example, in the ambulance. And I think there is a significant element on the journalism side of having encouraging my the reporters to be very compassionate, very understanding that this is the worst day of somebody's life and they might not get back to you on deadlines. So take your time, be interested in the person, maybe put your notebook away for a second and just talk to them person to person and then worry about your deadline a couple minutes later. As a boss, I'm kind of like, but get your stuff in on time. Right, there's still the deadline. You're still a deadline, but yeah, think being very, very sensitive and remembering that you're still a human too when it comes to interviewing people who might have had a traumatic event is very important. Yeah, no, and I think bringing that humanity in and it's not just about the story or just about the job, it's that you're dealing with a real life person. So those connections are so critical. So thank you for your work as a firefighter. Being a volunteer firefighter, that's a uphill climb. So yeah. So I wanted to look ahead to the future. we're in like the last bit of January. So new year, new you, new Bethesda today. What are you looking ahead and excited to either implement or try in the coming year? Sure. think after, so in addition to the new ownership, we also moved offices back in August and we had at least one new hire since August. And I feel like this year we were all kind of settled. You know, we've gotten to the point where hopefully there aren't any big changes coming and we're really able to focus on the journalism and what we do and what we do well. And not have to kind of. we're not on kind of a shaky ground anymore. And so I'm really hoping that this year we're kind of able to grow a little bit more than just being kind of a little on edge. But it is just the instability of like, we're switching office spaces. mean, every journalist I've ever worked with has piles on their desk that are just overwhelming and just the sheer thought of like, do I move the pile or do I go through the pile? The moves are just a stressful part. And so I totally honor the, okay, all that transition is behind us and now we're gonna roll up our sleeves and do the work that we like to do. we had with the new ownership, we also had significant cuts to our staff. And so I think the last year we've also been trying to figure out, okay, with fewer people, how do we keep doing as much as we need to do? And it's really a testament to Julie Rascott. She sits over there. She's really really gotten the best out of our three reporters. And we aim for seven new pieces of content every day. And we'll take things from the Capital News Service and Maryland Matters. yeah, it's really a testament to her that we're doing our... We did a thing where we studied how many posts we had year over year. And even with a smaller staff going from five reporters to three reporters and from more or less two editors to one and a half editors, we're still getting out the same number of posts. And yeah, that's really a testament to Julie. So I think I think that, we're feeling a little more settled now that we're decorating our new office and. and we have our new brand and yeah, hopefully it's time to take a deep breath and do what we're what we really want to do, which is good journalism. And I do feel like when you're, and it's good, you nobody likes to have a cut or anything like that. But I think when you look at what's important to readers and to making sure that the publication is fulfilling its mission, like every once in a while, you do need to sit down, like lay all the cards out and say, OK, what do we have? Because it will never be enough. know, five readers was not enough. You know, 15. you know, like what is enough? And so I think being clear-eyed about what you want to accomplish is critical and then putting the pieces in place to make it achievable. And that is hard work to do because it's that discernment of understanding like, why are we here? What are we doing? How does it fit in with the rest of, you know, this? either stable of products or the media landscape, like what can only we do? And those were real soul-searching tough conversations sometimes. yeah, I mean if I had an unlimited budget, we would have someone dedicated just to features. We would have someone dedicated just to business in Montgomery County because that's also a big traffic getter for us. Yes, I guess we can just sit here and dream. That's where we are. But we have three and they are dedicated and they are strong and they are very willing. Well, and it sounds like you're covering the community in the way, you know, you're covering some of the hit parade pieces of education, government and crime. And there's also, you know, there's room to grow and room to do some different things. So do you have some special features coming out that we should know about or people should be looking out in the next couple of months? So here in Montgomery County, have a lot of government workers and we are doing a lot of reporting right now about how the current administration is impacting Montgomery County. And so that's multifaceted and it touches all three beats, not so much the dining, but. Well, starting out, maybe that's going to be cut down a little bit. But if we're, that's going to be kind of a big source of a big area of coverage for the next foreseeable future and what we're going to really be working on in the next couple, couple months. We look forward to hearing more about that coverage. feel like Bethesda today is now set to really go deep in your coverage areas. And I'm really excited that you're the managing editor and bringing those stories to light. So thank you so much for talking with us today. And I hope we'll see you again soon. Yeah, thank you.