read it here<\/a><\/b>) and I received great feedback and blog traffic so I followed it up with this blog a few days later. My newspaper experience wasn\u2019t long but it was memorable.<\/p>\nIn the last blog, I got a name wrong. I said Mike but our sports writer\u2019s name was Ray. He was a good guy and wasn\u2019t in the office every day \u2013 I think he bounced around covering other areas. Recently I thought of him as Beck\u2019s \u201cLoser\u201d came on the radio, a song Ray sang quite often. \u201cI\u2019m a loser baby, so why don\u2019t you kill me?\u201d Ray was also pretty amused that a \u201cgood Christian boy\u201d managed to finish his Snoop Dogg song one day, \u201c\u2026with my mind on my money and my money on my mind.\u201d Don\u2019t ask me how I knew it. <\/p>\n
Ray was a nice guy and almost looked like if the Burt Reynolds from the original \u201cLongest Yard\u201d and \u201cDeliverance\u201d had aged naturally with his own hair. He came to work with a stack of snapshots one day of a camping trip he\u2019d taken with some buddies. I saw a few but he was hesitant for the rest and refused to hand them over, fearing somehow I\u2019d be forever tainted. If it was indeed, as I suspected, naked old people, he was right. Thank God for small favors.<\/p>\n
I scooped the Atlanta Journal<\/i> once and that was a good feeling. The mayor\u2019s office had put out a press release saying something like the city looking into a public access television station. We ran a front page story picking up on one part of the release playing up the idea of the city doing its own show. Debbie said the AJC reporter called her up and cussed her out over it: \u201cWhy the &&@##%;(* did you not tell me this?\u201d Debbie told him it was in the release if he would have actually read it. As someone who didn\u2019t get many chances to break news, it felt good, especially since the guy rarely acknowledged me socially.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll never forget sitting for morning coffee at Harry\u2019s Farmer Market with gentleman from Ethiopia who was training to compete in the Olympic track and field competition. He was a nice guy and I was impressed that he had a picture of him and Bill Clinton (and there was no hot young babe anywhere in sight). A few years ago, I picked up the AJC and saw his name again. He\u2019d been arrested on suspicion of murdering his cousin, who came to this country and backed out of an arranged marriage.<\/p>\n
Contacts were key back then and still are. It pays to be able to have a few people you can call on to be the voice of the reader and not be afraid to attach their names to their opinions. It\u2019s even better if they\u2019re upset. \ud83d\ude42 As much as we read about \u201csources say,\u201d I\u2019ve never been able to get away with that. If someone won\u2019t speak up, it doesn\u2019t get printed. So I had a favorite new councilman who wasn\u2019t afraid to talk. He had a nice way about him and never refused to comment. The mayor would always be available as well, mostly on the record.<\/p>\n
I came into the job running fast to catch up and when I left, I was determined to not put the next person in the same boat. I made index cards of contacts (we worked mostly on paper) and personal tidbits on the back sides. I think I\u2019ve been blessed enough to always want my workplace to succeed after I\u2019m gone, even though it\u2019s human nature to want to be missed.<\/p>\n
My replacement called me a few weeks after I\u2019d gone and thanked me for the effort put into the files and cards. We shared some laughs and a connection, even though we\u2019d never meet. Like Debbie at the Alpharetta City Hall told me once, \u201cjournalists are the best group of people in the world.\u201d Even the one that cussed you out, Debbie?:-)<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few years ago, I wrote a blog post \u201cChasing the Stories\u201d about my time as a newspaper reporter (read it here) and I received great feedback and blog traffic so I followed it up with this blog a few days later. My newspaper experience wasn\u2019t long but it was memorable. In the last blog, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2815,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
Chasing the Stories 2: When Reporters Attack<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A few years ago, I wrote a blog post "Chasing the Stories" about my time as a newspaper reporter (read it here) and I received great feedback and blog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Chasing the Stories 2: When Reporters Attack\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago, I wrote a blog post "Chasing the Stories" about my time as a newspaper reporter (read it here) and I received great feedback and blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Reel Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dewaynehamby\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-02-25T05:52:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_uhlOPE2cFEY\/S4XnXr_xUZI\/AAAAAAAAAN8\/BCXlSpsgelI\/s320\/mental.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"DeWayne Hamby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@dewaynehamby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@dewaynehamby\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"DeWayne Hamby\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html\",\"name\":\"Chasing the Stories 2: When Reporters Attack\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2010-02-25T05:52:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2010-02-25T05:52:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c2f078f578d8a98ba8dc3f2dad0632e\"},\"description\":\"A few years ago, I wrote a blog post \\\"Chasing the Stories\\\" about my time as a newspaper reporter (read it here) and I received great feedback and blog\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Chasing the Stories 2: When Reporters Attack\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/\",\"name\":\"Reel Faith\",\"description\":\"News and notes on faith in popular culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c2f078f578d8a98ba8dc3f2dad0632e\",\"name\":\"DeWayne Hamby\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aec351f57e304d60b5ad6f6b589ee89?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aec351f57e304d60b5ad6f6b589ee89?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"DeWayne Hamby\"},\"description\":\"As a journalist for more than 20 years, DeWayne Hamby has covered the worlds of church and culture for a variety of publications and websites, including Charisma, Ministry Today, New Man, and Christian Retailing. He and his wife, LeAnn, live in Tennessee with their three daughters. Connect with DeWayne on social media\u2014http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dewaynehamby and www.twitter.com\/dewaynehamby.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.dewaynehamby.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/author\/dhamby\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Chasing the Stories 2: When Reporters Attack","description":"A few years ago, I wrote a blog post \"Chasing the Stories\" about my time as a newspaper reporter (read it here) and I received great feedback and blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Chasing the Stories 2: When Reporters Attack","og_description":"A few years ago, I wrote a blog post \"Chasing the Stories\" about my time as a newspaper reporter (read it here) and I received great feedback and blog","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html","og_site_name":"Reel Faith","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dewaynehamby","article_published_time":"2010-02-25T05:52:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.production.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/files\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_uhlOPE2cFEY\/S4XnXr_xUZI\/AAAAAAAAAN8\/BCXlSpsgelI\/s320\/mental.jpg"}],"author":"DeWayne Hamby","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@dewaynehamby","twitter_site":"@dewaynehamby","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"DeWayne Hamby","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html","name":"Chasing the Stories 2: When Reporters Attack","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#website"},"datePublished":"2010-02-25T05:52:00+00:00","dateModified":"2010-02-25T05:52:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c2f078f578d8a98ba8dc3f2dad0632e"},"description":"A few years ago, I wrote a blog post \"Chasing the Stories\" about my time as a newspaper reporter (read it here) and I received great feedback and blog","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2010\/02\/chasing-the-stories-2-when-reporters-attack.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Chasing the Stories 2: When Reporters Attack"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/","name":"Reel Faith","description":"News and notes on faith in popular culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/7c2f078f578d8a98ba8dc3f2dad0632e","name":"DeWayne Hamby","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aec351f57e304d60b5ad6f6b589ee89?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aec351f57e304d60b5ad6f6b589ee89?s=96&d=identicon&r=g","caption":"DeWayne Hamby"},"description":"As a journalist for more than 20 years, DeWayne Hamby has covered the worlds of church and culture for a variety of publications and websites, including Charisma, Ministry Today, New Man, and Christian Retailing. He and his wife, LeAnn, live in Tennessee with their three daughters. Connect with DeWayne on social media\u2014http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dewaynehamby and www.twitter.com\/dewaynehamby.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.dewaynehamby.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/author\/dhamby"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2815"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/720\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_uhlOPE2cFEY\/S4XnXr_xUZI\/AAAAAAAAAN8\/BCXlSpsgelI\/s1600-h\/mental.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n