While many spent their summers venturing to locations far and wide, traversing the globe and experiencing a host of new environments, I journeyed across Central Park to the School of the New York Times situated at Fordham Law on the Upper West Side and took on the world of investigative journalism. Going into the program with Sherlock Holmes-like aspirations and little idea of what investigative journalism actually meant, I ended up discovering more than a cohort of similarly curious peers, my love for writing commencement speeches and my new favorite bagel order; I found my interpretation of the importance of journalism and storytelling, but that did not happen right away. So, how did I get there?
Physically, via taxi. Fresh from the airport after reuniting with California friends, I poured my clothes, hopes and nerves into two large duffels; I was ready to become a serious writer. Equipped with a notepad and oversized luggage strapped across either shoulder, I strolled into McKeon Hall certain of what the next few weeks would look like. I would go undercover to expose injustice. I would probe the great minds of the New York Times and join the publication’s ranks in a matter of days. Realistically, I would come to find that my expectations were far off. I would also discover that maybe this was not such a bad thing for I had a lot of learning to do.
Day one was all about developing an investigative mindset. Before I could start any real investigation, I had to understand what it meant to be skeptical, to seek the truth in whatever form it manifests and to face the obstacles that both protect and conceal it. An investigative mindset requires resilience and leaving no page or document unturned — this I learned from New York Times investigative journalist, author of “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” and Columbia journalism professor Kim Barker, my lead instructor for the weeks to come. Barker’s own investigative mindset had led her to various stories like that of a state trooper remaining employed even after multiple killings, a neighbors’ fight in the Bahamas that prompted a sexual exploitation lawsuit and her most recent development: a podcast that looked into a cold case in her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming.
Barker described the many ways stories came to her: through tips, being a so-called “watchdog” and looking deeper into the subjects of headlines she saw or discussions she was involved in. In the meantime, however, my peers and I would go elsewhere for our story ideas. With the voice memo app, smiles and cordial introductions at the ready, we set out to interview the pedestrians of Strawberry Fields. Somewhere between blatant rejections at our attempts at conversation and overzealous interviewees, we found the story of a woman moving back to Poland so she could afford to appreciate both life and art. Another regular parkgoer expressed her dismay at the fact that her neighborhood had been priced out. With each new interaction, potential stories permeated my mind. How had New York disadvantaged long-time residents? What type of investigation could be done?
Before I had any definitive idea of the investigation I wanted to pursue, I was introduced to a new way of thinking altogether: the document-oriented mindset. A documented-oriented mindset is one that relies on documents and tangible evidence to not only provide narrative detail but answer questions and shape an investigation. For the next few days, my fellow writers and I found ourselves surrounded by documents as we perused the New York City Municipal Archives and the New York Times archives, warmly regarded as “The Morgue,” familiarizing ourselves with Form 440’s, files and FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests.
It was our trip to The Times that imposed the ultimate journalistic mindset onto me: the mindset that emphasizes what a story can achieve. As we gathered both at Fordham Law and at the center of the page one floor, we heard from writers who had investigated the exploitation of migrant children by large corporations such as Cheerio and broken the story of Harvey Weinstein paying off sexual harassment accusers.
These journalists, through employing investigative and document-oriented mindsets, wrote stories that worked towards tangible change and cultural shifts. They used writing as a means of demanding accountability and wrote in a manner that, more than anything, illustrated the gravity of words. People tend to think one story can change the world, but I think one story can tell the truth, and the truth, in whatever way it appears, influences the many stories to come. So, I suppose the journalistic mindset is not one sole mindset at all but rather a way of life that prioritizes words, stories, truth and what I consider to be the intersection of the three: journalism.
