So she has learned to make the most out of what she can get. LESSON: Even Lane DeGregory can’t always get what she wants. I only had an hour, including time for the photographer to make portraits, so it wasn’t nearly as long of an interview as I would’ve wanted. We agreed to meet outside at California Pizza Kitchen, where there’s a patio, and he brought his pink bikini-thong thing, and all the waiters and diners wanted selfies with him. When Yuri said he’d talk if she could meet him within 10 minutes, rather than fold, she “begged.” For reporters who think that approach might be too pushy or embarrassing, consider this: Letting a story subject know you are that interested in their story can convince them of your commitment, and be flattering. She asks, and asks again, for what she needs for her stories - and if you have ever met her or heard her speak, you know she asks with such enthusiasm and sincerity that any early resistance melts. But DeGregory hasn’t built her career by letting complications or hesitancy stop her. LESSON: It’s not easy to push forward when the request for an interview is met with “no.” Even complications of time and place can cause a reporter to give up on a story. We’re heading back to Boca this afternoon, but if you can be here in 10 minutes, we can meet in person.” I live about 40 minutes from the Hillsborough County jail, so I begged them, please, can you wait a little longer? But he said: “We’re still in Tampa, at the jail, re-enacting my release. I thought he was back in Boca Raton and was going to talk to him via phone since that’s four hours away. I sent him a message, and within two minutes, he called my cell. So Tuesday, I started poking around some more on the internet and found an email address I thought might be Yuri’s. I tweeted at them both on Monday and sent Yuri a Facebook message but never heard back. Luckily, both of these guys have very unusual names - and Vitaly is all over social media. How did you track them down and land the interview?
I imagine a flock of reporters were eager for access to the Super Bowl streakers.
Here are her answers, and my comments on the lessons they reveal: After reading “Super Bowl streaker recounts ‘the greatest moment of my life,'” I had two questions for DeGregory. DeGregory’s piece was a hoot to read, mentioned the money issues, and demonstrated the kind of journalistic chops that have led DeGregory to compelling stories that range from silly to profound. Many people, including some within the Tampa Bay Times newsroom, argued that publicity-seekers shouldn’t be given publicity I couldn’t easily find an AP image of the event, and other news sites have since reported on the streaker’s financial troubles, taking a less light-hearted approach to their profiles. It’s not the stuff of sober public affairs journalism. The quick blurt about the streaking event left me amused, wondering Who does that anymore?, before I went back to heating some soup.ĭeGregory followed up on her curiosity - and that of millions of others - and found out. For me, the game had become background noise by then. By the time one of the two buddies took to the field, costumed in a woman’s pink thong onesie (which, he told DeGregory’s in an interview, gave him a wedgie), there was little drama left in a one-sided game between the victorious Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the struggling Kansas City Chiefs. But she didn’t just wonder: She found out.ĭeGregory did that again this week when she hunted down the scamps who plotted a dramatic streak that briefly interrupted the late minutes of Super Bowl LV. “You wonder: Who’s the THE guy?” she wrote. As I remember the story, DeGregory was at a rodeo with her sons, watching the pre-show pageantry, when the banners galloped by. From her 2009 Pulitzer Prize for “The Girl in The Window” to what she calls a “quickie” feature about “Stormy Daniels: The President’s Porn Star,” DeGregory has built a career out of seeing, and then landing, the stories other journalists dream about, or that catch them by surprise: Damn, why didn’t I think of that? One of my all-time favorites was her profile of “the THE guy:” A rodeo cowboy who carried the flag that said “THE” in the lineup that declared GOD. Lane DeGregory finds and follows stories that give nonfiction storytelling loft and range. Following up on curiosity - wondering about everything, and then caring to find out - is what makes journalism soar.
7, 2021.ĪP Photo / Steve Luciano Curiosity grounds all good journalism. A streaker runs across the field during the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 55 football game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs, Sunday, Feb.
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