Last April, two young reporters from the Tampa Bay Times, Will Hobson and Michael LaForgia, received the Pulitzer Prize for their relentless investigation into Hillsborough’s Homeless Recovery program. Hobson received a tip on the horrific conditions of a squalid trailer park and decided to look into it. Laforgia helped Hobson with databases and locating records. The reporters found that Homeless Recovery spent millions to house the homeless in rundown, crumbling, bug ridden facilities. The Times editors and lawyers played a major role by making sure all the information put into the newspaper was supported by interviews, documents and facts. We asked the reporters about the impact they made when their story was published and what influenced them to pursue journalism as a career.
The Minaret: What do you think is the most important lesson for a young journalist to learn?
Michael LaForgia: There’s several. I think they ought to develop a good relationship with their immediate supervisor, first of all. And, always be working on something that is special in addition to getting the job done. You want to show these people, your bosses at your job, that you’re capable of doing everything that is required of you, plus something that is really special. You always got to be going, and you got to work hard at it. Sometimes it bleeds into nights and weekends, and you have to be willing to do that if you want to stand out.
Will Hobson: I think the most important lesson is to work on reporting. A lot of kids want to get into journalism, because we want to write, we want to be seen as writers, and it takes a while to realize that really good writing in journalism comes from reporting, comes from knowing a subject, or a person or a company up and down, forwards and backwards.
M: Were there certain stories that influenced you to go into journalism?
ML: There are two stories that I’ve read that influenced me to go into journalism. The first story was about a grocery store, believe it or not, in Washington D.C., by Anne Hall. She wrote a very long narrative feature about a grocery store, but it was really about gentrification and new money in Washington D.C., taking over previously poor neighborhoods. The second story is by Katherine Boo. It was a series called “Invisible Lives.” That story actually made me want to be an investigative reporter. I was outraged and inspired at the same time.
WH: I was really into it [journalism] initially from magazines. As a kid, I was really into writers like Mark Bowden,who wrote the book Black Hawk Down. I really enjoyed Friday Night Lights, the book by Buzz Bissinger. I looked at these guys, and said, “where do these guys come from?” The answer for a lot of them, is they came from newspapers.
M: What is the best newspaper story you have ever read?
WH: A piece by Katherine Boo of the Washington Post 2001, called “Invisible Lives.” It was a story about these horribly misrun homes for the mentally handicapped in Washington D.C. It was a hardcore investigative story that was told through two mentally handicapped men, who had grown up through this horrifically run system. It was extremely well-written, and almost poetic.
M:What are some of the faults in many reports from publications nowadays? What challenges do you think are presented with a bigger audience relying on online news?
ML: I think a lot of stuff right now is kind of shallow, and it doesn’t have any real reporting in it. People don’t want to put in the work, especially in some of these online publications, though there are exceptions in places like Republica, where they’ll put a lot of reporting into something. The other thing I don’t like about online is that a lot of stories run on, there is no conscion or brevity.
WH: I think some of the concerns many people have about where the industry is going is that there is more of a hook on opinion, and working on a “quick beat,” than on a deeply reported piece of journalism, which takes more than just a few hours.
M: Did you at times find it hard to detach yourself from the situation you were reporting? How did you manage to do so?
WH: It’s something that journalists deal with- everyday I was writing about someone who died, or something bad happened to them. And calling families of loved ones. You get used to dealing with very depressing subject matter. And you detach yourself from that, so you’re not the most horribly depressed person ever.You always have to step outside that, and leave the emotions aside. It’s something you get used to over the years.
M: What was your reaction when you found out the Port Authority chairman resigned?
ML: I thought that was interesting. I wasn’t really working on the stories then, so I was only kind of half following it. But, it did surprise me how quickly and dramatically things started changing both when Will was writing his stories, and when we started writing together. In other cases, it’s more difficult to shock people into changing.
WH: I was kind of surprised that it happened so quickly. It was like four or five days after the first story had been published.
M: What does it mean to you to be one of the youngest journalists to win a Pulitzer prize?
ML: Being really young, and having won is a really humbling experience and I’m still sort of in disbelief over it. This type of reporting is something I’ve worked very hard at since 2005 basically. I had the advantage of starting right out of school.
WH: It’s kind of scary. There are a lot of journalists who have won that are younger than myself and Mike, and now I’m sure they’re dealing with the same thing that we’re dealing with now, “holy crap, now we gotta kind of live up to that standard.” It was an immense honor that we won this award this early in our career, but it’s also a little frustrating. You win an award like that, people expect that from all of our work going forward.
M: Did you receive any negative feedback after publishing any section of the series?
WH: There were people who worked for the county homeless agency who lost their jobs. I don’t really know if they deserved to lose their jobs, but the organization was poorly run. They and their families were not happy with us. It was our job to document how that happened- If the outcome of those stories, is that the people in charge decided this needed to happ en, that’s the nature of the job.
M: What topics will your talk at the University of Tampa cover?
WH: I think we’re gonna talk a little bit about how the story came together. We’re gonna talk a little bit about our career, how we got to where we are. I found when I was in college, which was not too long ago, it was very valuable just to talk to people that were in the profession I was going to- to find out how they got to where they are. Particularly with Journalism, there’s not a prescribed path, like say becoming a lawyer, or a doctor. There’s not a certain way to get where you want to go.
M: What do you hope journalism students take away from hearing about your experience?
ML: I hope they’re inspired to do this type of work, because it’s really important, and there’s not a lot of it going on right now. We need to have a next generation of reporters who are really interested in the books and storytelling side, but also the accountability side, and holding powerful people accountable. There aren’t many people who can do what newspapers do when it comes to sticking up for people, who can’t stick up for themselves. If nothing else, I want people to gain a sense that, that is the most important thing we can do as reporters. That’s something that they ought to make a priority.
WH: I would hope they take away the value of journalism, what we do, and why it is essential in modern society. I hope young kids who want to get into this industry really want it. You gotta really want it, because, you’re going to work for a while not making very good money. But if you like the job, it could be a very fun job.
If you’re interested in learning more about A Home, But No Help, you can attend a seminar where both investigative writers tell their story, at 4 pm in the Plant Hall Music Room.
Theresa Stanton can be reached at theresa.stanton@spartans.ut.edu
Brianna Kwasnik can be reached at brianna.kwasnik@spartans.ut.edu