Cristina's Public Affairs Blog

Steve Andrews.  Need I say more?  Well, I will.  Six-time Emmy award winner.  One of the best investigative reporters in the nation.  This man is a legend.  And I, for one, was in awe at the importance of this trip.  As journalists, we know who Steve Andrews is and we know how influential he is to investigative reporting.  I was sitting in the room at the News Center in downtown Tampa completely in shock at who was standing before me.  I guess you could say I was star struck.  This is the day I realized I was absolutely sure of what I wanted to do in life.

Steve showed the class several of his investigative reporting packages and they were amazing.  He and his multimedia photojournalist, Gordon Dempsey, went around Tampa and the surrounding counties finding stories to investigate.  Some were even ideas given to them by residents in the area.  One story I found so interesting was about Harry Lee Coe, a state attorney, who was gambling with other people's money.  He borrowed money from friends who happen to be some important people within the great state of Florida.  When Steve tried to interview some of Coe's friends, they laughed in his face and told him nothing.

One thing Steve told the class that is very important to a journalist is to "dog 'em."  Dog 'em, meaning be persistent.  Get a story out of your interviewee and don't give up.  Chase them if you have to, and sometimes you will.   Of course the chase will get to a point where you must stop, but the silence can sometimes tell a story better than a journalist ever will.

Steve and Gordon are a great team who just want to inform the people of the Tampa Bay and surrounding areas of the goings on in the world.  That is our job as journalists, to inform.  And Steve Andrews does it with such poise and persistence.