Elise Hu - covering politics and taking names

I first heard about Elise Hu at Belo, when she worked as the political reporter and blogger for KVUE-TV in Austin and I was the go-to blog chica. Out of hundreds of reporters who blogged , she was one of around five who really enjoyed it and "got it". Her blogging style is great - smart, in-touch, and focused - and she was one of the first women I thought of in making my list of kick-butt women to feature.

Elise left KVUE last year, and is now working at The Texas Tribune - a non-profit online news source covering the policy makers in the Texas capitol. While all news media has taken an economic hit, lately, a lot of us thought that moving from a broadcast spot to a print or online spot might be risky. Elise didn't see it the same way though, and made the exciting move to a new organization that delivers content solely through the internet.

She is probably one of the best around to take on the task. She's been blogging since 2001, covering Texas politics since 2006, and even interviewed Obama in a bathroom (check it out on the left.) Talk about persistence.

We are fortunate to have Elise as our Featured Woman this week, to hear more about covering politics, the new options coming up for news delivery and about some of the cool assignments she's had. She offers some great advice for young aspiring journalists as well:

K: When did you first get into journalism? Did covering politics happen accidentally or did you always want to be a political reporter?

I naturally loved politics so much that when I was ten years old, just for fun, I made three columns in a notebook, one for Bush, one for Clinton and one for Perot and made detailed notes of one of their presidential debates, organized by issue. After Clinton was elected, I tracked his approval ratings in a homemade line graph. I actually found that notebook just recently and it's been a source of great comedy for my coworkers. As for journalism, I came to it through a class in third or fourth grade where we spent an entire semester learning about broadcast news. At the end of the semester we put together a full 30 minute newscast for cable access. I decided then that news reporting was for me. Combine that with my natural interest in politics and voila! Here we are today, 20 years later. I'm so grateful I get to do what I really feel passionate about.

K: With the state of newspapers today, it was a big risk to leave television. What made you decide to take this on with a non-profit news company?

Elise: I didn't think of going to The Texas Tribune as a risk, because it's not just newspapers that are having to make cut backs and adjustments because of a business model that used to be a lot more profitable. Television news is also facing a decline in ad revenue that's affecting news gathering. Just look at the ABC News decision just a few weeks ago to reduce its staff by 25%. The Texas Tribune's founder, John Thornton, started the organization as a response to shrinking state government and politics coverage. He basically came to the conclusion that coverage of the people who represent you and how your taxdollars are spent and what decisions are being made that affect traffic and education and the workforce -- that kind of reporting was too important to be left to the vagaries of the free market. So we're a non-profit. Much like NPR, we're "supported by viewers like you". I believe it has as good a chance of keeping explanatory, investigative journalism alive as the traditional for-profit models. If not, at least we're trying.

K: Do you think that non-profit news will become more prevalent throughout the country?

Elise: We are already seeing a lot of non-profits pop up around the country, the most notable, perhaps, being Pro Publica, the investigative outfit based in New York. California, Minnesota, the cities of San Diego, Chicago and soon, the Bay area all have non-profit news sources that have been started recently and are making an impact in their communities. It's exciting because we're in an experimental and crucial time as we grapple with what will replace some of the news sources that are going away, and how to better provide satisfying coverage for the public. I love hearing about new non-profits OR for-profits cropping up, so long as their mission is public-oriented.

K: You're billed as the social media nerd for the Tribune. How important is social media to your readers?

Elise: It's important to a big segment of our readers since our audience tends to be web-savvy and well educated. They tend to get their news from their friends - which is to say, through social media (the people they follow, etc.). But you don't have to have every RSS feed we offer and follow us on YouTube and Twitter and Facebook to enjoy the Tribune. We want our readers to get to us however they feel comfortable.

But when it comes to us as an organization, us as news producers, social media is highly important. Our CEO/Editor-in-Chief, Evan Smith, really believes in the power of the social web and I'm grateful for it and the responsibility he's given me in keeping an eye on our social channels, because it's no secret I probably have more friends in social media than I do in real life. But really, it's not Twitter, or Facebook, or FourSquare or whatever brand name social platform is out there that makes social media so important. It's how all those services, taken together, have changed the way we communicate. News is now no longer a lecture, it's a conversation. The best we can hope is to help moderate that conversation, make big, complicated ideas clearer and educate the community. But gone are the days of news organizations as the "gatekeepers" of information, and social media -the way it allows us all to communicate with one another directly - has been a huge force in breaking down that old model. I'm excited about it, but I know it can be difficult to adapt, so we don't force our reporters to tweet, all of them have really come to do it - or love it- on their own.

K: What has been your favorite assignment so far in your career?

Elise: This is a tough question, because I've covered so many random news events with so many unforgettable people so it's hard to decide with which factors to judge my "favorite" assignment. My first trip to a national political convention, in 2000, as an intern for WFAA-TV, will always be memorable for the frenzy of it all - we were in Philadelphia for the RNC and there were famous people everywhere. I was so young and eager that seeing all these bigwigs and getting a chance to ask them questions was exciting. While there I got Sam Donaldson (former ABC political reporter) lost on an elevator when I was supposed to lead him to our studio booth. It was embarrassing at the time but kind of hilarious now that I'm looking back. It's also a great experience to look back on because that was one of the last presidential years that local TV stations sent crews to national conventions.

I also loved covering the Daytona 500 since NASCAR is so out of my normal "range", there are all kinds of crazy assignments from my stint in South Carolina that I look back on, and the 2008 presidential primary in Texas, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were battling it out in the Lone Star state for a few weeks, that was intense and fun -- the Obama campaign gave me a one-on-one interview with Obama in a bathroom. Can't forget that memory.

K: Is there any advice you would give to young journalists out there who would like to be in your shoes someday?

Elise: The one thing I keep passing on to aspiring journalists is to do it all. What I mean by that is, if you're on the broadcast side, be sure you know how to shoot and edit your own stories -- don't just be able to write stories and be on camera. It's not enough in this brave new, multi-platform world. If you're an aspiring newspaper reporter, specialize. Try out database journalism - the National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting has great training and resources for you to get better at using raw data, raw numbers to find trends or break important stories. Continue to read everything. Know about where the industry is going. Get your feet wet and try out some ways of delivering news that are new or unfamiliar - live streaming, video blogging, etc. The most valuable young journalists our there have the classic fundamentals -- curiosity, tenacity, good instincts -- but the best ones bring more to the table. Whether it's varied skills in multimedia or technology or programming or what have you, try it all and master what you're most interested in. But being nimble, being good at a little of everything, that's the price of entry for the world of journalism today.