My First Byline: Orlando Flores Jr.
My First Byline: Orlando Flores Jr.
Digital editor, Gulf States Newsroom
What is your current job?
I’m the digital editor for the Gulf States Newsroom, a regional newsroom collaboration between NPR and its public media member stations in Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi. GSN is a team of 12 reporters, editors, producers and business folks spread out across the three states. I’m stationed in New Orleans, Louisiana.
My role does a little bit of everything, but my primary goal is to help the reporters turn their audio stories into something for a digital audience. That usually means coaching and editing them to produce a traditional, online version of their stories. But it can also include helping them script, shoot and post a social media reel or some other piece of media that helps us meet our audience wherever they get news at now.
What was your first byline?
My first byline was for my college newspaper, The Wichitan, at Midwestern State University (Go Mustangs!). I covered a fraternity that attempted to save their off-campus house some of the members lived in by throwing a party and passing a jar around for donations. A friend of mine in the fraternity tipped me off about it/asked if I wanted to go to the party, and I thought it made for a funny, but feel-good story.
But with the help of the newspaper adviser, I dug a little deeper and found that the reason the fraternity had to throw the party in the first place was due to years of unpaid property taxes on the home by current and former members. Also, despite being off-campus housing, they were still supposed to abide by MSU’s campus housing rules, which included alcohol being prohibited at all times.
My adviser and others on the newspaper stuff loved the story. The fraternity, and my friends, hated it — especially after it got them in further trouble. But as most things in college life, the heat quickly blew over.
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What was your first real job in journalism?
My first “real job” in journalism was working as a general assignment reporter at the Times Record News in Wichita Falls, Texas — my hometown newspaper. I got it just after graduating from college in 2013.
How did you get it?
I got that job through a post-grad internship through the Scripps-Howard Foundation, who owned the newspaper at the time (during the four years I was at the newspaper, we’d change ownership 3 times before finally settling in with Gannett). It was for six months, June-December, and I think I got paid maybe a dollar above minimum wage + a stipend SHF gave me.
This internship was not my actual starting point with the Times Record News, however. I transferred to Midwestern State University, also in Wichita Falls, at the beginning of 2009 from Baylor University after learning hard and fast as a first-gen college student just how expensive private institutions can be (no matter how many scholarships you have).
The transfer opened a lot of doors for me, though. I had a much easier path to working with the student newspaper, leading to real job experience (and my first byline mentioned above) and an opportunity to work on the phone lines for the TRN sports desk’s high school football coverage on Friday nights. This led to me eventually having a formalized internship on the sports desk for a semester during my junior year of college, followed by working as a freelancer for sports during my senior year.
I think me being around the newsroom and willing to learn and work on the job as much as I was in the classroom helped me land that SHF-sponsored internship, which then led to my full-time job.
It was not easy, though. It took a lot of sacrifices — socially, financially and time-wise — to make it work, but in the end it was worth it.
What advice do you have for people looking to break into journalism?
I worked every beat you can imagine while at the TRN — mostly out of necessity due to it being a small newsroom. At times, it was a little frustrating. I think when everyone comes out of j-school, or whatever path they take to become a journalist, they want to jump right into whatever specialization they imagine themselves doing. It’s not fun to only chase ambulances, write up crime briefs or work the weekend shift. The tasks no one else wants to do.
But it’s in that early stage that you don’t really think about or realize just how volatile this industry can be — layoffs, buyouts, outlets folding … you name it.
An early mentor (the late Jason Feller) took me aside and gave me the following advice that gave me a new outlook and purpose: Always be nimble. Make yourself as well-rounded as you can be. Learn how to report using as many different platforms as you can. And always keep your options open.
It feels like such a cliché thing to say, but being a “jack of all trades” really helped open doors for me that otherwise weren’t there — especially as someone who came into this field with no connections and from an unimpressive-on-paper, small liberal arts college (when compared to other resumes I’ve had to compete with).
I took a role on TRN’s digital desk shortly after this conversation (working directly under Jason), adding online news reporting and platforms, social media, audience engagement and insights and more to my reporter tool kit.
Being able to do all of this helped me eventually get noticed and recruited by The Advocate in Louisiana. There, I grew further as a reporter and digital producer, but also discovered that my real passion for this business was on the editing side (also… can’t go without saying I got to help with a Pulitzer Prize-winning series — very cool).
From there, it took me being bold and betting on myself by moving from newspapers to public media (always be nimble!) to get more experience as an editor.
Some other quick, general advice:
Keep your LinkedIn profile updated (you never know who will slide into your DMs with job offers)
It can be awkward, but go to journalism conferences (get your newsroom to pay for it if you can!), put yourself out there, meet other journalists, connect with and learn from everyone.
Seek out a mentor. My general experience is that most people in news care about the future of the industry and want to help young people grow and thrive. And don’t be shy or intimidated to seek out even very experienced, high-profile people.
Journalism functions SO much better as a collaboration rather than a competition. Reach out and befriend other people in other newsrooms. Tell other journalists how much you enjoy their work. Find ways to possibly work together — on a story, project, etc. Pass on stories to other journalists if you think it doesn’t fit you/fits someone else better. The goal is to inform others as best as we can!
Advocate for yourself and know your worth — no one else will do it for you.