My First Byline: Matt Dempsey
Senior investigations editor, Spotlight PA
What is your current job?
Senior Investigations Editor at Spotlight PA. I oversee a team of four reporters, one of whom I share with an editor. The editor for our new Berks County bureau also reports to me. My job is great and Spotlight PA is a fantastic place to work. They're all excellent, talented people who also happen to be kind and considerate. I consider myself very lucky to be working here.
What was your first byline?
Technically, my first byline was when I was in fourth grade. I was a young reader book reviewer for the Asbury Park Press. If I remember correctly, I reviewed five books for the paper as part of that program. They typically ran in the lifestyle / arts section. It was a thrilling experience to see my name and picture in print for the biggest newspaper in the area.
While it was a huge moment for me as a kid, it also led to a very complicated situation. An adult living a few towns over from me saw my picture in the paper and... basically stalked me? He was clearly a troubled individual. He wrote multiple letters that he sent to my elementary school. Inexplicably, the administration put the letters in my teacher's mailbox, who then thought it was a good idea to give them to me. I read them. They were.... troubling. A lot of sexual language that I didn't understand at that age. It wasn't until the third letter that I said something to my teacher. Authorities finally got involved at that point.
For the next year, my parents went through hell and I was basically on lockdown. I couldn't go anywhere without an adult present, even within the school walls. Thankfully, the postal service recognized the man's handwriting. He was arrested, charged, and convicted for molesting his two young nephews. It was a traumatic situation but it taught me a lot about the reach of mass media and the responsibilities of newsrooms when featuring minors in stories.
All that being said, my first professional byline would have been with the Arizona Republic in 2005. It was probably for a city brief. I found a link to a Oct. 2005 brief about a Maricopa County Sheriff's deputy having his gear stolen from his patrol car.
What was your first real job in journalism?
My first real job in journalism was as a part-time news assistant at the Arizona Republic. I got the job while I was in grad school at Arizona State University.
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How did you get it?
As I said, I was a grad student at ASU at the time. My second semester, I was interviewing for internships with a number of newsrooms, including the East Valley Tribune and the Arizona Republic. The Trib offered me a position for the summer. In my interview with the Republic's Bill Hill, he noticed that I was Steve Doig's teaching assistant and had data skills. He said they just found out their news assistant on their one-man data team just gave his notice, and they needed to replace him soon. I remember being confused. I was looking for an internship! I wasn't thinking about an actual job yet. Bill didn't offer anything to me that day and I thought nothing more of it. After all, I had achieved my objective. I got that internship.
A few weeks before my time with the Trib was supposed to stop, I got a call from the Republic's Mary Ann Nock. She dove right into telling me all about my new job and that everything would be ready for when I arrive. Confused, I muttered out that I didn't understand, I didn't have a job. I had an internship with a different outlet. She groaned and apologized for me finding out this way. Apparently Bill had told Mary Ann about my interview a few months prior. Someone was supposed to call me and offer me the job but I guess I slipped through the cracks. When I protested that I had already made a commitment to someone else, Mary Ann told me no one would be upset over a young guy taking a job over an internship. I called the Trib and the editor there did exactly what Mary Ann said, congratulating me and wishing me well.
For about a year and a half, my job was split between doing briefs, cops coverage and working on bigger investigative projects using my data skills. But after I graduated with my master's, I really wanted a full time job. Mary Ann ended up being the key to obtaining that goal. She tirelessly advocated for me to then-managing editor Randy Lovely. The two of them had weekly dinners and she made it a point to pester Randy about bringing me on full-time. I'm forever grateful that she made that effort for me.
What advice do you have for people looking to break into journalism?
When I was an undergrad at Mizzou, I really struggled to get a paid internship. I interviewed with a ton of places but could never get my foot in the door. Some places that offered unpaid positions suggested one could be mine if I wanted it, but I needed to get paid. I worked part time jobs during the school year and shifted to full time hours in the summer. I couldn't sacrifice the money to work without pay.
The summer between my sophomore and junior year, I quit my grocery store job in annoyance. It felt like it barely paid what I needed and it wasn't helping my career at all. Justin Ellis, a roommate and good friend of mine, said the non-profit he was working at was hiring for some positions. That's how I ended up working at Investigative Reporters and Editors. I was a part-time resource center staffer and a part-time Boot Camp Coordinator, which was just a fancy way of saying I made copies, and made sure attendees at the IRE CAR Boot Camps had coffee, juice and donuts.
But that's really how I got my break into journalism. It was at IRE that I learned that data journalism existed. I then took Mizzou's data class, then taught by Jen LaFleur and Jeff Porter. It was there that I met Steve Doig, who was on the board of IRE at the time. I went to ASU for grad school because Steve had the Knight chair at the Cronkite School. I asked Steve if I could be his TA and he said sure since no one had ever asked before. And having Steve's name on my resume as a reference was why the Republic trusted me with a part-time job despite having zero real-world experience.
My advice sounds hokey but it's true. Making connections with people in the field matters a lot. Work hard, be kind, and form bonds with people while you're doing your thing. Take risks. Ask for help or assistance, even if it feels embarrassing to do so. I know I've been incredibly fortunate throughout my career. But practically every job I've ever received in journalism was due in part to people I knew through IRE who had positive experiences when working with me.
When I've taught as an adjunct, I've told my students to keep in touch with their friend groups in school. And to do the same once they get internships and jobs. Those connections make a huge difference in your career, not just in terms of employment but also your well-being. It's a tough industry. It's often cruel to the people it needs the most. But if you form a tight social group and use those ties to lift people up, we can make this challenging job better for everyone.