Staff Q&As: Meet business reporter Sean Adkins
To help you get to know our newsroom staff a bit better, a series of question-and-answer posts with each journalist will run on Mondays. This morning, meet business reporter Sean Adkins. You might have seen his stories online at ydr.com or in print, or his blog posts at Common Cents.
Name: Sean Adkins
Lives in: Dover Township
Hometown: Middle Island, NY
Position at the YDR: Business reporter
Years with the YDR: 12
Graduated from: University of Miami
With a degree in: Masters degree in communication
Twitter: @sadkins75
Email: sadkins@ydr.com, sadkins75@gmail.com
Whatever you’d like to tell us about yourself: I spend most of time away from work with my wife, Christine, and our new daughter, Emily.
1. What made you want to become a journalist? For more than a decade, I’ve been able to work at a job that allows me to uncover information that not many others have had the resources or time to find. I’m not out to change the world, I just like to look under the hood and see what make it spin.
2. How do you see journalism changing? Reporting is reporting. Getting the story first and accurate hasn’t changed. What is different is how we deliver the news. For example, on many of my stories, I’ll use my tweets as my notes. Also, the digital age allows reporters to interact with their readers in real time, benefiting from immediate feedback.
3. What do you like most about your job? The least? Crafting a story is fun. Putting together a puzzle where your notes are the pieces is always a good time.
4. It’s 9:30 a.m. on a day off. What are you doing? Hanging out with my wife, my daughter and our two dogs.
5. What’s been your favorite project or story recently? Why? Recently, a co-worker and I reported a story on a local businessman, Shah Mathias. The reporting took us to nearly every corner of the York County business community.
6. The drink that’s on your desk right now is: Coke
7. What’s your favorite movie? Book? Movie: Jaws. Book: Still Life with Crows
8. What’s your favorite place in York County? Pinchot State Park
9. What’s one piece of newsroom jargon that had to be explained to you? Double truck. [Editor’s note: A double truck refers to a pair of facing pages in the newspaper, with content that stretches over both. It’s typically used for prominent, longer stories with multiple photos or graphics.]
Last week, we ran a Q&A with suburban life reporter Teresa Boeckel. To read all of the staff Q&A interviews we’ve done so far, click on the “Staff Q&As” under “About us” at the top of the homepage.