Is there still a place for local journalism in today’s media landscape? This week, Roger welcomes the 2023 Joseph Rago Memorial Journalism Fellow, Sierra McClain. They discuss her experiences from the fellowship, the true value of on-the-ground journalism, the differences between local and national journalism, and advice for young journalists.
Sierra is the assistant editorial features editor for The Wall Street Journal, a position she secured upon completion of her Rago Fellowship. Prior to The Journal, she was a correspondent for the Capital Press, a regional newspaper covering agricultural business in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. She graduated from the University of Oregon, earning a bachelor’s in history and a master’s in journalism.
Episode Transcript
The transcript below is lightly edited for clarity.
Roger Ream [00:00:02] Welcome to the Liberty + Leadership Podcast, a conversation with TFAS alumni, faculty and friends who are making an impact today. I’m your host, Roger Ream. Today my guest is assistant editorial features editor at The Wall Street Journal, Sierra McClain. Sierra was the 2023 Joseph Rago Fellow at The Journal, and on completion of her fellowship, she joined the staff there. The Joseph Rago Fellowship was established by the parents of the late Joe Rago, who was an outstanding journalist and winner of the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing. TFAS works with the Journal and Joe’s parents, Paul and Nancy Rago, to select outstanding young journalists and provide them with an opportunity to work at the Journal for up to nine months. Sierra was our sixth Joseph Rago Fellow in 2023-24. Prior to becoming a Rago fellow, Sierra was a correspondent for the Capitol Press, a regional newspaper covering agricultural business in California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. Sierra attended the University of Oregon, earning a bachelor’s degree in history and a masters in journalism.
Roger Ream [00:01:19] Sierra, thank you so much for joining me. This week I was at the offices of The Wall Street Journal for a meeting, and when I walked around the corner there were three past Joseph Rago Fellows: you, Elliot Kaufman and Faith Bottum, and then I went into a meeting with our two current Fellows: Luke Lyman and Jillian Letterman. I must say, it was really a great thrill for me to see all five of you there and to think about the legacy we’ve created for Joe Rago, who was an outstanding journalist, and I know his parents just love the fact that we’ve got this line of young journalists now who are following Joe’s footsteps. Let me begin by ask you, what was it like to be a Rago Fellow during your nine months in that position? It was shy of nine months, actually. They hired you before the Fellowship ended, but I understand they treat you as regular staff once you arrive there to be the Fellow.
Sierra McClain [00:02:17] Yes, it was wonderful. I mean, completely life changing. I loved The Journal as a reader for years, but being able to be there in person, internally to meet the writers and the editors who I admired for so many years and whose writing had influenced me to be able to actually get to know them in person and learn from them was incredible. I was really blessed that they immediately trusted me to do challenging tasks that just helped me grow, everything from editing to working on writing assignments and sitting on editorial board meetings, hearing the strategy and the debate and the questions and the funny jokes. I mean, it was just amazing being able to sit in in person on all of that. I really think it’s the best fellowship in journalism out there, and I’m so thankful that you guys chose me for it.
Roger Ream [00:03:10] It wasn’t a hard decision, even though we had a lot of applicants and some really strong finalists, you stood out. Just a few weeks into your fellowship, you published a piece, a bylined piece. That must have been a thrill. What was that like to have a piece published and could you talk about that piece on Afghanistan?
Sierra McClain [00:03:30] Absolutely. It was so exciting, obviously. Just to pick up a copy of The Wall Street Journal I’ve been reading for years and to see my name in it, but it was also just exciting to be able to tell a story about something that I thought was so important about the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the consequences that that has had for so many families. I was able to interview military members who were affected, as well as people who had been Afghan allies working with the U.S., both those who had been evacuated and now had sort of a immigration status in limbo, but then also had the opportunity to interview someone there who was still trapped and obviously didn’t use his name to protect him, but who is continuing to suffer the consequences of that decision. So, it was both moving and interesting to be able to tell that story, but also just it was excited to see my name in the Journal and to be a part of this organization I’ve been a huge fan of for so long.
Roger Ream [00:04:28] You’ve written now, of course, many other byline pieces, and they they really are wide ranging. You’ve written about political races in Texas, you’ve written about Jewish businesses in Philadelphia being boycotted, about electric truck mandates in California. How do you go about kind of deciding, you pitch the story to someone there when you come up with an idea and then you see if they say that’s something to do, then you go out and do some reporting?
Sierra McClain [00:04:54] Yeah, it’s been a combination of different ways that stories have come about. In some cases, an idea has come to me and I’ve gone and brought it to Matthew Hennessey or James Taranto, who make decisions about whether or not it would be a good fit. In other cases, they’ve reached out to me and said: “Hey, can you do a piece on X, Y or Z?” So, in the case of the Texas race that I covered, for instance, Paul Gigot and James Taranto wanted someone to cover that race. So, they asked me if I would do so. I bought a plane ticket the next day and flew out the day after that. So, it was a it was a pretty quick turnaround and a wonderful adventure. I really enjoyed it. But in other instances, an idea has come to me. So, I wrote a piece, for instance, this week on the Western Wall and how each year, twice a year in the spring and in the fall for Jewish holidays, a Rabbi and his assistants removed notes from the Western Wall that people have left their prayer notes. And the way that that came about was just I had heard for years that this tradition took place, and one day I just thought: Wait, do all those notes still fit there? Where do they go? They can’t possibly all fit there.” So, I just was curious, so I just chased a curiosity that led to a really interesting story. So, it’s definitely a variety of different ways the stories come about.
Roger Ream [00:06:14] Yeah. It appeared today of the day we’re recording this interview. It’s great to see that in the paper this morning. My first question, I think when I read it was: “Did you go to Jerusalem to report on that one?” I assume you probably didn’t, given the situation there right now.
Sierra McClain [00:06:29] I didn’t. Not for this one. I have been fortunate for many of the stories this year to be able to get out on the ground, but in this instance, I was just able to meet virtually with the the Rabbi and his assistants.
Roger Ream [00:06:42] That brings up what I find very refreshing about The Journal opinion editorial pages is it’s not just opinion. The people who write there, report. They go out to cover the story and they talk to people and they’re giving us new information when we read it. Is that in your experience in writing? You’ve really done a lot of reporting for these stories you’ve written?
Sierra McClain [00:07:05] Absolutely. I think there’s nothing like being an eyewitness, being able to get out on the ground. Just taking for an example: the California races that I covered that are coming up in November, but I was there this summer. What made it interesting for me was I interviewed a lot of political experts in D.C., etc., with a bird’s eye view of these races, but even though they had the historical context and could tell me the statistics, they really didn’t have a flavor that they were able to give me of what the people on the ground are like, what really matters to them. So, getting out on the ground and actually talking to a huge number of voters, potential voters about what really matters to them, I got a totally different idea of what’s really important on the ground there, and also just a better sense of who the candidates are and what they’re about. So, I think getting out on the ground is the best way to report.
Roger Ream [00:08:00] How would you describe yourself as a journalist? I’m thinking a little bit of kind of you are in journalism for a good year or more after you finished school. And as you were going through school, you were doing journalism and then you became the Rago Fellow. How would you describe yourself as a journalist today versus before you started in the Rago Fellowship? Has it changed the way you go about doing things?
Sierra McClain [00:08:30] Yeah, I think some things have changed and some things have carried over. I think what has carried over has been, again, just on the ground reporting, really getting out there and doing in-depth interviewing understand an issue in depth before writing about it. I think that has carried over, but I think what’s new, especially with the Rago Fellowship, is because the emphasis is so much on editing, that has made me a stronger writer because as I’m working to improve the structure of other people’s pieces, outside contributors pieces, I feel like it’s actually improved my own writing in the way that I think about structure and themes when I’m going out to cover a story. As an example, covering one of the races recently, I had all this information that I had collected and then I had to sort of synthesize it and think about what is the main theme here, what is the through line in the story in a way that I think was more coherent and more structured perhaps than some of my previous reporting back in Oregon, where maybe the themes weren’t always quite as coherent.
Roger Ream [00:09:34] Why don’t you talk a little bit about your experience before coming to The Journal, in Oregon, because you did have interesting experience there covering the agricultural business and policy related to that. Could you talk about that a little?
Sierra McClain [00:09:47] I loved it. I was so blessed to have that job. So, the Capitol Press is the name of the newspaper, and it’s based in Oregon, but it covers California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, and it’s business news related to the food system, mainly agriculture, which sounds like a very nice topic initially, but it intersects with practically every area of life. I mean, it was international trade and labor and immigration and supply chain and policy and regulation. I mean, so many different aspects of our world intersect with agriculture. So, I was constantly learning. What made that job particularly fun was that I drove a lot, hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles, all over the western U.S. and got to do everything from riding horseback with cattle ranchers to helping make wine with winemakers and grape pickers to riding along with truck drivers at the ports, looking how food was shipped internationally. I think that was probably one of the most valuable reporting experiences of my life and also just prepared me for The Journal as well to better understand broader systems globally. But also, I think, being able to tell human stories as well about the people, the laborers, the business owners, etc., that policies affect, for instance, that regulations affect. These aren’t just abstract, but they’re people and their families and their businesses. So, it was a wonderful experience.
Roger Ream [00:11:22] It is fascinating that whole area you covered that we all take for granted. That we’ll have food on the table tonight, or that the grocery store will have food. I remember a documentary I saw where these container ships are coming into a port. The documentary I saw was on Rotterdam, a container filled with bananas, they’re adjusting the temperature slightly every day. So, the ripeness of the bananas is perfect when it gets to Rotterdam and they’re sent out to grocery stores.
Sierra McClain [00:11:49] It’s so elaborate. Now, one of my favorite stories that I did sort of on that topic. It was called the Secret Life of spinach. I followed a pallet of spinach all the way from the field to its final destination. So, it started at the farm and watched it get harvested and then watched to get put on a track and then followed it all the way through, drove with the truck driver, went to the warehouse. Like you said, with the bananas, I mean, just the perfect temperature control and all the different steps, all the way to the grocery store, all the way to the final consumer, it’s it’s pretty mind blowing.
Roger Ream [00:12:25] I was going to ask you another question about your work in Oregon, in school, in journalism school. Did that experience prepare you well for your work in journalism?
Sierra McClain [00:12:34] Absolutely. The University of Oregon, obviously, is is more leftist. So, I didn’t necessarily always agree with the ideology that I was taught, but in terms of just nuts and bolts, how to report, how to interview. I also learned photojournalism and videographer while I was there, which has proved useful. It was a really good program in terms of just the core hard skills that I’ve been able to apply. So, I was very thankful to be able to do that. My undergrad was in history, so that sort of prepared me more with the knowledge of the world and obviously was helpful in the writing sphere, but more in the academic sense. So, it was definitely helpful to be able to transition me to more newsy style writing.
Roger Ream [00:13:18] I’m curious, Sierra, whether you detect any kind of difference between working as you did before for a regional publication versus now writing for something that’s national or even international?
Sierra McClain [00:13:31] Oh, definitely, there are big differences and similarities as well. I think both are incredibly important. It actually makes me sad to see the decline of local newspapers and regional newspapers across the U.S. and I understand part of why that happens. Obviously, it has everything to do with a combination of readership and people turning elsewhere for news and profits and consolidation and a lot of different factors, some of which are inevitable. I think something about local news that’s different than national news is you can really dig into what’s happening in the state legislature or what’s happening in a local city council or community that otherwise might get overlooked by national newspapers simply because they have so much to cover. Sometimes, when I was at the Capitol Press, I was actually shocked by just the gravity of some of the regulations that were passed or things happening in communities that readers otherwise wouldn’t have known about that profoundly impacted their lives, their families, their businesses. So, I think there’s a real service there, but at the same time, again, local newspapers don’t necessarily have the capital, the resources to cover some of the global and national really important topics that national newspapers cover. I’ve I loved both, I think, in different ways. Like covering, again, local news, things that were overlooked, but that really impacted people’s lives but at The Wall Street Journal, we do cover regional stories as well and certainly do dig into state legislatures, but mostly covering like the top news stories of the day happening all over the world. I love that, too. I think it’s fascinating. I think larger newspapers have the ability to maybe equip reporters with more resources to go even further and dig even further, but again, I think there’s a value to both and I hope that both are able to continue thriving.
Roger Ream [00:15:30] Speaking of regulations that impact people, you did write a piece for The Wall Street Journal about the electric truck mandate in California. Why don’t you say something about that as well, because that was an interesting story, with a great headline on it.
Sierra McClain [00:15:45] Thank you. No, I absolutely love doing that, it was fun. I like telling stories, as I have mentioned, where it’s not just about the policy abstractly, but how it actually affects people’s lives. So, for that story, I rode along all day with a driver of an electric semi-truck and just saw what the California’s requirements for moving to electric semi-trucks, how that affected him and the business that he was working for, and it was pretty surprising to see just the hours that he had to sit and wait at a charging station. The fact that there weren’t charging stations at some of the places he needed to go, just how many hours and how much more burden it added to his day and overall than the cost that was passed on to the business and then ultimately to the consumer. I think just being able to get out there and see it in person made it very clear just how problematic this California policy was.
Roger Ream [00:16:42] Yeah, I wrote in a Lyft the other day and the driver had a Tesla picked me up at the airport and I said: “How do you like your Tesla?” He said: “I love it. I love it. The only thing I don’t like is I have to charge it when I’m still trying to get fares and pick up passengers, so I can’t get through the whole day without charging it.” I think the headline on your piece was about the California mandate that was: “Truckers charging overtime.”
Sierra McClain [00:17:11] Yes, “Electric mandates have truckers charging overtime.”
Roger Ream [00:17:14] Well, as I recall from a few years ago when we interviewed you for the Fellowship, you had, at least four part of your education, home schooled. I was impressed when you told me that you had really absorbed yourself in the writings of people like Milton Friedman and Tom Saul. I imagine that helped give you a good foundation for what you’re doing in journalism.
Sierra McClain [00:17:38] Absolutely. That was actually a combination of my high school years, but then also, even after. I was homeschooled K through 12. So, during those years, I was reading a lot of books like that, but it was also audiobooks that I was listening to during my long drives when I was a Capitol Press reporter. So, I’d be like driving seven hours from Western to eastern Oregon, listening to Milton Friedman or Paul Johnson’s history book or something like that. So, it was definitely time well-spent, but I was in the car enough that I read quite a lot of books that way as well.
Roger Ream [00:18:11] What advice would you give to young journalists, those in college? We’ve been working to develop and support campus newspapers. We’ve got a network now we call the Student Journalism Association. We have over 400 college students who’ve joined this. We did three training sessions this past year in Chicago, Charlottesville and in New York. Paul Gigot spoke at our program in New York. We’re trying to develop talent on campuses for careers in journalism and to give them the kind of support and encouragement so they want to pursue those careers that they don’t graduate and then go to work on Wall Street. The Rago Fellowship, of course, is a great way to make sure that students do go into journalism. We’re bringing some to Washington for summer long internships to get a taste of the profession, but if you are talking to a young person who’s on campus, maybe working for the school paper, what advice would you give to them if they’re thinking about a career?
Sierra McClain [00:19:17] I think, definitely internships, fellowships, anything that can give you sort of real life experience in journalism is probably the number one thing that I’d recommend just because whether you’re doing a program that is not journalistic in nature or whether you’re studying journalism, the pace in school essentially is very different than real life reporting. For example, my master’s program, I learned a lot of nuts and bolts of reporting, it was very helpful to learn how to write better, etc., but the pace wasn’t like cranking out daily news. When I actually went and did my internship that later turned into a job at the Capitol Press, it was a daily news stories running out there and covering things. So, I think just that sort of experience to actually getting out there and learning to adapt to the pace of journalism, I think is probably the the best advice I can give. Just try to apply for as many internships as you can as a student. I also really would recommend a lot of the training programs that are out there. I think everything from like, for example, SABEW, it’s essentially business editors and writers. It’s an association that’s been really great. I recommend that. They have great trainings on everything from using data in journalism to doing investigations. The Investigative Reporters and Editors program I mentioned again, didn’t necessarily agree with all of the ideology, but I learned how to place better public records requests and how to collect information that otherwise is hard to access. Or even just think in creative ways about the ways that, for example, government intersects with the private sector, where maybe you’re trying to investigate something and trying to find those points of entry where you can get public information. So, I think that that is very helpful. I also recommend, even like the Society for Professional Journalists has good trainings on things like if you’re going out to cover a wildfire, wildfire safety preparedness. I definitely wouldn’t underrate those types of organizations, even if, again, like ideologically, maybe they’re not necessarily in alignment with the average conservative, I think that they do have some useful tips and tools to offer.
Roger Ream [00:21:34] Yeah. I imagine in reference to that kind of pace you had at the Capitol press where you’re cranking out stories all the time. Where you are now, it’s a little bit different. I guess every day you might be under a deadline to edit pieces that contributors are submitting in while also working on a piece of your own that takes a few weeks of reporting and writing. So, is that kind of a balancing where some things you are working on or like daily deadlines have to be met? So, it’s going to get ready for the paper tomorrow and other things you have a little more a longer lead time to develop?
Sierra McClain [00:22:13] Yeah, definitely, and it can be hard to predict because we’re trying to work ahead as much as possible. So, like, for example, right before this call, I just edited a piece for Tuesday that is fairly static in terms of it could run Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday. It doesn’t need to be run immediately, but it’s quite possible that I’ll log into my email right after this and there will be some kind of breaking news and something that needs to be edited in a couple of hours today to run in tomorrow’s paper. That happens regularly. So, it’s a little bit of hurry up and wait. Sometimes you’re working ahead and the pace is fairly comfortable, and other times there, it’s like, Trump was almost shot or Biden just dropped out of the race or whatnot, and it’s: “Okay, here we go. Let’s get this done quickly.” And then in terms of the the piece of writing, that also definitely depends. The piece I wrote about the Western Wall this week, actually, I started reporting back in April and was originally going to run it for the Jewish holiday in April, and then it ended up running in the fall instead. So, it’s been months. Whereas the the piece on California’s races I reported on, I think it was a Tuesday, wrote it on a Wednesday and then it ran on a Thursday. And so, wow, that was a quick turnaround. So, it really depends on the situation.
Roger Ream [00:23:31] Well, it’s really great to know that you and two other Rago Fellows are there full-time now and we have two new Fellows working there now. One thing I didn’t mention in my introduction is we have the Robert Novak Journalism Fellowship program, which provide fellowships to young journalists who have writing projects they want to pursue, and we’ll give them a grant that will help cover their time and their expense doing that, and we’ve given those to three of our previous Novak Fellows who now work as colleagues of yours at The Journal: Kyle Peterson, Kate Odell and Mene Ukueberuwa. So, it’s great to have that connection to you. We’ve just will be announcing a new class of Fellows at our November 12 dinner in New York. So, the new Novak Fellows, plus the two Rago Fellows. So, I really think this is a way to encourage talented young people like yourself to go into journalism and can transform the media in the future. While they won’t all end up at The Wall Street Journal, I think that’s great, Carine Hajjar, who was a our Novak Fellow is working at the Boston Globe.
Sierra McClain [00:24:41] Doing an amazing job.
Roger Ream [00:24:42] Appearing on FOX Business regularly. It’s a great program and we’re pleased that you’re part of it, Sierra. Thank you for joining me today on the Liberty + Leadership Podcast. It’s been a pleasure to talk with you.
Sierra McClain [00:24:54] Thank you. I couldn’t be more grateful for TFAS. It changed my life in the best possible way. So, thank you for everything and thank you for having me today.
Roger Ream [00:25:03] Thanks.
Roger Ream [00:25:05] Thank you for listening to the Liberty + Leadership Podcast. If you have a comment or question, please drop us an email at podcast@TFAS.org and be sure to subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast app and leave a five-star review. Liberty + Leadership is produced at Podville Media. I’m your host Roger Ream, and until next time, show courage in things large and small.
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