MAJ Archives

A journalist's profile, stories and career in the field of journalism. Know a journalist who should be profiled here? Send an e-mail to Janet E. Bardon.

October 27, 2000
Peter J. Gallanis
Owner , Gallanis Freelance Writing Solutions
Freelance Reporter, Writer, Author
pjgallanis@comcast.net

Peter J. Gallanis is the co-author of two books, How to become a personal shopper, and, How to become an event planner. He's also writing a solo work, How to become a fashion designer.

All are published by fabjob.com

Peter J. Gallanis is also the former associate editor of DSN Retailing Today, a national, retail trade publication. They cover (mostly) American retail companies including, but not limited to, Wal-Mart, Kmart, Target, Sears, Roebuck and Co., JCPenny, Wards and others.

Attended: Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, USA
Major: English
Minor: Journalism
Graduation: December 1993
Years in the business: 7

Why did you choose Journalism?

This is an interesting question for me to answer.  My grandfather immigrated to the United States (from Greece) shortly before WWI. He was in the American Army and hit with mustard gas, I remember him shaking till the day he died. My grandfather (in Greek, we say Papoo) used to take me fishing. While we fished, he used to tell me what a wonderful country we lived in, where we could say what we wanted to say without fear of persecution from the government. Even at that young age, I understood the importance of the freedom and the power of the press and how those who came before us appreciated it.

It was my mother's wish to be a newspaper reporter, but she never went after a career, she had four children instead. In high school, quite by accident, I ended up in a Journalism class. I immediately fell in love with reporting. My teacher had always told me I was a gifted writer, but it wasn't until that time that I knew reporting was going to be my profession. I loved all of it. The tick tack of the typewriters (no computers in those days)- the phones ringing - people chasing after stories. I thought, here was a profession that I could not only excel at, but have a lot of fun and personal pleasure from. There is an excitement to journalism that you won't find in any other profession. While journalists never get rich, the rewards you get from doing your job more than compensates. Remember, in one hundred years, society is going to care very little for what we do here and now.  But the writing we leave behind us (think Shakespeare kids) has the chance to last centuries. It's the closest thing to immortality.

As a second career choice, I would one day like to teach. I'm going to begin in a masters program in journalism within the next year and one day; I'd like to teach college English, journalism or literature.

One of the most popular questions student journalists ask me is, "what skills do we need to be successful journalists?"

Well the obvious answer is you must possess the basic "mechanics" to do the job. Good grammar and English skills, the ability to write a compelling lead and structure the story in a manner that keeps the reader interested. You have to be able to lengthen or shorten a story on a whim and have the presence of mind and the ability to handle grace under pressure.

The most important skills for a journalist can't be taught, you must be born with them and those with those skills are the ones who shine in the business. You must have the ability to read, absorb and translate information quickly and in a manner that the everyday reader can understand. You have to possess the innate ability to detect if someone is lying to you, deceiving you and attempting to mislead you. You have to be able to think like a detective, a criminal and a politician. You have to have the ability to get people to trust you because not everyone loves chatting with the press. You have to be aggressive to the point it's ridiculous, because if you're not, the competition will be. You have to have the ability to not let personal feelings interfere with your work. As human beings, we think, we feel, we form opinions but none of that has any place in this business.  You always have to maintain your objectivity.

Believe it or not, what best prepared me for my career as a journalist began all the way back in high school. I routinely go back to my high school to talk to the journalism students (my journalism teacher is still there) and I tell them the same thing. It all starts with the basics of reporting, interviewing and learning how to create a compelling piece of writing. I know for a certainty that I can't sit in front of my computer and write anything without relying heavily on the teachings of my high school journalism teacher. So for those students who are serious about a career in journalism, learn everything you can from your teachers, never be afraid to ask questions, to show your work, to share that work with your classmates.

As a newspaper journalist, I had many highlights to my career. On one occasion I covered a story about a 10-year-old girl who woke up her family in the middle of the night because she smelled smoke, the girl was able to roust her parents and everyone got out safely. Unfortunately, the house was ruined and the family found themselves homeless. After my story broke, dozens of people started calling me asking if I knew where the family could be located so they could donate food, clothes, furniture, money to the family. I stayed on the story for weeks (you have to follow up on stories gang) all the way until the family was resettled in a new house. To me, this is journalism at its finest. Sometimes in this life to see a change boils down to this: One Voice, and that one voice can become two and those two voices four, until there are so many voices making noise, that eventually the issue at hand can't be ignored and a resolution is found. That is what you may become a part of if you enter into a journalism career.

Of assignments that terrified me. I once broke a story about a woman who was selling cocaine, on Christmas Eve, the woman's husband found about five pounds of "coke" in the apartment and he turned his wife in. After she made bail, a few days later, she skipped town, leaving her husband and baby daughter behind. Several days later, I was planning to visit the husband and attempt to get an interview. As a courtesy, I called the police and let them know what I was up to. Lucky me. The police told me that the house was staked out, fearing that street gangs, so often associated with drug selling, may retaliate against the husband (who was also caring for his baby daughter). I had to tell the police what kind of car I was driving, what I was wearing and they told me if I saw trouble, to run and if I head shots, duck! Walking up to the front door of the house was one of the longest walks I ever had to take, I felt as if I had a target painted on my back. All of that trouble, and the husband wasn't even home!

Of stories that inspired me, I once interview a young woman, a grade school girl, who was suffering from a terrible form of cancer. She had a tumor removed from her body that was the size of a grapefruit. She was in dire need of chemotherapy and her parents didn't have health insurance. So I wrote a story about the girl and a fundraiser that was going to be held in order to raise money for her medical treatments. Never in my life have I met such a brave young woman. She had no hair, was thin and obviously sick, but still attended school. When I asked her how she was bearing up, she said to me, "I think God gave me this disease instead of someone else, because he knows I can handle it." After becoming somewhat jaded, as many journalists do, having to cover crime, corruption, rape and murder, this young woman was and still is, an inspiration to me.

For those of you considering a career in journalism I would offer this advice: don't expect any romantic notions that you're going to go out and save the world. That may be fine for television, but it doesn't work in the real world. We're just people, be prepared to take a lot of abuse. Remember, as a writer, your work is your resume, and it's out there everyday under the public microscope. If you make a mistake, every reader will know. If you miss-quote someone, they'll be all over you, demanding a retraction and most likely your head. Be prepared if you break a controversial story to be accused of malice, of misusing a quote, of slanting a story. You have to stay tough and report responsibly. A great power and clout comes with being a member of the press and it has to be used wisely and treated with respect. Never use that power to extract revenge, it will only come back to haunt you.

Learn all you can from your teachers, your peers and experts in the field. A good writer has to be a good reader, read all the newspapers you can, study the work of the great ones, determine what it is that they do to be great and attempt to let that influence your work. Never settle for second best, always strive for excellence. Try to remember that you write for the readers, not public relations executives, advertisers, politicians or your mom.

The biggest challenge facing journalists today, in my humble opinion is staying true to what you do. As journalists, we are held to a higher moral standard than those in other professions, because of the power, clout and influence that the newspaper industry has. We are pulled between reporting the news and making a profit. Always remember that the purpose of any publication (with the exception of non-profit organizations) is to make money. Where we'd like to think the first priority is to report the news, we have to remember we're in the business to make a buck, same as any other business. The challenge is we are pulled by advertising sales people, who may want us to write stories about advertisers, free publicity if you will. We are also pulled into a circle by trying to "sensationalize" news, to break a story before the competition. What executives may not realize, and this is unfortunate, is great news needs no dressing up, but in ratings wars and the attempt to sell more papers, sometimes your ethics can take a beating.