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“ It is one of the things I use as a selling point when talking about our internship program . Staff size has come way down , but our aspirations haven ’ t changed . I tell people when they come into our newsroom , ‘ You are part of our staff . You are not just somebody who is going to write a brief or fetch copy .’”
Minshew said it was gratifying to be able to create the infographics that gave residents answers about whether their homes were still standing , badly damaged or completely destroyed in the Waldo Canyon fires .
The best quality of the community service aspect of a newspaper is for people to be able to you ’ ve done something that people don ’ t have to wonder anymore or second guess . They don ’ t have to wait and wonder any more they don ’ t have to second guess what ’ s happened . They were in shelters waiting and waiting .
“ Colorado Springs was not happy with us , but we kept saying to them ‘ We ’ ve got letters from homeowners left and right saying they needed to know ,’ and that ’ s what we did . So I was proud of that work ,” he said .
“ We were also nominated [ for the Pulitzer ] for the Colorado Springs fire . That was icing on the cake from the internship . It was bittersweet .”
The paper donated the cash proceeds from its prize to local charities .
Then , last June , the Friday night shooting death of singer Christina Grimmie sprang to Minshew ’ s mind as a friend sent a text about the heartbreak there . He was caught off guard to hear they were referring to a mass shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in the wee hours of Sunday morning .
As he reported to work , he said , he was shaking and thinking of Denver all over again . “ There was no air in the newsroom . You couldn ’ t breathe ,” he said .
Though not a breaking news reporter , he pitched in on that Sunday and in the hours that followed writing obits , rather the life stories of those killed . Once a profile was posted or updated they would send another tweet and invite friends to share their stories .
“ The biggest work that we did in the couple of days after the shooting was telling the stories of all of the victims . We had them done in 24 hours even though there were 49 . I still have a hard time wrapping my head around that .”
Thinking back to the CMA panel discussion , he said the best way to deal with the fame effect mass shooters crave is to limit when and where they are mentioned — hard
LINDA SHOCKLEY
Career Cues is a quarterly column by Linda Shockley , managing director of the Dow Jones News Fund . She joined the Fund as assistant to the director in 1988 and was named deputy director in 1992 . She holds a bachelor ’ s degree in journalism from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut . Before joining Dow Jones , she worked as a reporter , editor , bureau chief and city editor for Gannett-owned newspapers in Westchester County , New York . Reach her at 609-520-5929 .