My alert husband cut out a howler headline and put it on the refrigerator: “Ebola Contest Brings Some Nifty Ideas.”
Thank you, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Dec. 13, 2014! You made me laugh while heroic medical people and others work to resolve a human tragedy.
So as I tried to think of a headline for this humble column, I felt mindful of the nifty Ebola contest. I was chosen for a grant-funded specialized reporting institute this week: Yippee! I expect to get some nifty ideas—on a very serious subject.
The message telling me I got in went like this: “On behalf of Al Tompkins, congratulations! You have been chosen to attend our Specialized Reporting Institute, Covering Ebola and the Next Killer Contagion, in Washington, D.C.”
We journalists generally refer to him as The Great Al Tompkins, because he is the Swiss Army knife of highly versatile and effective journalism mentors, able to bring the most anxious Baby Boomer to social media comfort, able to bring the most social media addicted youngling to see the beauty of shoe leather reporting.
