Nice essay on the production of local news and networks of communication in yesterday's Cap Times

In an essay in the business section of the Cap Times yesterday, Mary Conroy, a freelance writer and business reporter, talked about the daily grind of producing news in Madison on a beat -- and how surprising networks of sources can come about:

"New to town and new to the newspaper, you need to establish credibility quickly. But since you have no built-in network of local experts, even the simplest stories take hours to complete. Meanwhile, residents who barely skim headlines can rattle off the names of key players as if they were relatives.

When I started on the business desk of The Capital Times as a newcomer to Wisconsin, I tried to cover the vacuum in my brain labeled 'Madison history' by researching old articles in the newspaper's clip files. I figured I could bluff my way through and impress the boss with the names of a few Madison movers and shakers.

Once, my editor assigned a story about real estate development. A few hours latter, he checked back to see how I was doing.

I was excited at having found the name of a UW professor with a specialty in urban development. So I mentioned the 'new' source to my editor.

'You might run into a problem interviewing him, Mary,' he said. 'The guy died last year.'

So I started paying more attention to names I heard on the radio as I drove around town. Rushing to lunch one day, the last thing I heard as I turned off the radio was 'Eugene Parks.'

'Who's Eugene Parks?' I asked my waitress.

'Some guy with a lawsuit against the city,' she said. 'The whole city's in an uproar over him. He's crazy.'

When I got back to the newspaper, I boned up on the lawsuit. About a month later, I read a really incisive letter to the editor. In 50 words, the writer said more than most pundits do in 500. The letter was signed 'Eugene Parks.'

Crazy like a fox, I thought. So I started paying attention to his letters."

Full story ends talking about the question of whether citizens or developers are benefited when new quasi-suburban schools are built on the Madison fringe. See: madison.com