Interview: New York Times Reporter Brian Stelter Discusses Page One: Inside the New York Times

Read Shockya's virtual roundtable interview with ‘New York Times‘ reporter Brian Stelter, who writes about television and the web for the newspaper and its blog, Media Decoder. Before joining the daily newspaper in 2007, Stelter founded and edited the television news blog TVNewser. Stelter, who can be seen in the upcoming documentary ‘Page One: Inside the New York Times,’ discusses with us, among other things, how he reacted when he found out he was hired by ‘The New York Times’, and why he thinks using Twitter is so important for journalists.

Written by: Karen Benardello


Question (Q): How much of what you cover is determined by what you can write in ‘The New York Times’ versus Twitter?

Brian Stelter (BS): Everything I write about adheres to the standards of ‘The New York Times’, whether on Twitter or any other site. For me, Twitter is an early warning system for breaking news; a tool for interacting with readers; and a great way to promote and improve our work.

Q: You were hired by ‘The New York Times ‘ when you were featured on a first-page story for founding the blog TVNewser. What was your reaction when you heard you were hired?

BS: I thought they had made a mistake! Joking aside, I was thrilled to have a job right out of college, but I was intimidated at the prospect of writing for such a widely read outlet. When I arrived, I kept my head down and wrote as many stories as I possibly could — assuming that the more I wrote, the better I’d get. Thankfully, there was lots of space in the paper and even more space online for my stories.

Q: Has how your approach to a story or the people in a story changed since ‘Page One’s film release?

BS: I might be a bit more sensitive to the people who are on the other side of the camera. And I’m definitely a bit more interested in documentary film. Other than that, it hasn’t changed a bit. And since I cover television, not film, most of the time, it hasn’t been a conflict.


To read the rest of this interview, please click here.