Interview with Eric Convey

Eric Convey, Editor of the Boston Business Journal

Eric Convey has been the managing editor at the Boston Business Journal for the past three years. Before that he was the senior executive city editor at the Boston Herald for one year, deputy business editor at the Herald for one year, a reporter at the Herald for nine years; a press secretary on Capitol Hill for two years; and a reporter on the North Shore for four-and-a-half-years.


How did you get to where you are today?

My first journalism job was as a Gordon student doing a co-op at the Boston Globe for seven months. I went in a happy business major and left focused on getting a job in journalism. I think I got where I am by working really hard and paying attention to what was happening around me. And journalism is a good fit for my personality.


What is a typical day on the job like?

I get to work between eight and nine a.m.; catch up on e-mail; check in with reporters so I know what they’re working on; assign new stories to reporters if necessary; edit stories for our Web site. And e-mail, e-mail, e-mail. It will be my undoing.


What’s the biggest challenge you’ve ever faced in the field of journalism? What are some of the typical challenges you face in the workplace on a day-to-day basis?

The biggest challenge was helping to cover the clergy abuse crisis. It was eighteen months of intense work. The biggest day-to-day challenge is not getting frustrated with reporters. It probably is every reporter’s challenge.


What is the greatest ethical challenge have you faced? What do you think the greatest ethical challenge for modern journalists is?

My greatest ethical challenge was during the abuse crisis—not playing on my faith to build relationships with people I wanted help from. It was a big temptation. The greatest temptation in the field is to be lazy—to cozy up to news sources rather than fight for our independence as journalists.


How do you stay true to the fundamental elements and ethics of journalism when there is so much easily accessible, yet often unverified information on the Internet?

I don’t trust anything I can’t verify, regardless of source. The Chicago School of Journalism holds: “If your mother says she loves you, check it out.” Amen.


Do you think the new wave of immediate information is a positive or negative for journalism?

I think it’s a positive in that it allows much more context in stories and saves reporters considerable time. It’s a negative in that it breeds laziness and seems to tempt young reporters. Especially, to take information on a silver platter when they should be ferreting things out for themselves.


How do you verify facts? Do you have a kind of check-list that you go through? Do you have certain requirements when you verify facts?

I have a mental checklist. I ask myself: How do I know this? How do my sources of information know this? Do I have multiple sources? If so, did these sources get the information from different places? What motives would people sharing information have? What assumptions am I making? Do I have the context right? What could I possibly have done wrong in nailing this point down? And I try to be relentless in getting to the bottom of things.


How does one stay competitive and ethical on the job?

There’s no conflict there. Set high standards. Pursue stories aggressively. Don’t let fear prompt you to lower your standards. Write what’s true.


Where do you see journalism going in the future? What other forms of media do you see merging with journalism? Do you think journalism could possibly “die out” in the future?

I take issue with the question. In a sense, journalism is medium-agnostic. Sadly, opining is taking the place of reporting. Television news generally is vapid, radio news is almost non-existent, and print news is under financial pressure. I see no reason to assume journalism will survive more than ten or fifteen years.


What is the one most important piece of advice you would give to an aspiring journalist/editor?

Write as much as you can for the best editors you can find.