An Interview with Wendell Jamieson

Wendell Jamieson, an accomplished author and storyteller, recently gave an interview — discussing his life, his work, his books, stories, and his passions.

You spent a lot of your early career as a police reporter. What drew you to that discipline, and how would you say that it influenced your later work at the Metro desk?

Readers have a bottomless fascination with crime; I would say that the interest in crime is as old as crime itself. I want to write stories that readers wanted to read — and in the early 90’s, when there were 2,000 homicides a year in New York City, crime reporting was the hot seat. I wanted to be in the middle of it. I would say that I covered roughly 300 murders during the three years I spent covering the police department for New York Newsday. It was an incredible experience, but three years was quite sufficient; I can’t imagine how people do it for twenty years or more. It did become quite soul-bending for me after a while, but it was always fascinating and it took me to all corners of New York City.

How was the transition from reporting to editing?

It was great, because I learned that I’m a much better editor than I am a reporter. I realized that I didn’t miss having my own byline at all. I was so proud of the stories that I got to be involved in, even if others wrote them. There was no greater feeling than having an interesting idea for a story, handing it to a reporter who I knew would do a better job than I ever would, then seeing them put in the hard work. When they delivered the final story, I always felt a great deal of pride for helping conceive it. Also, after ten years of standing out in snow storms at police precincts or on sidewalks during the hottest days of the year, it was nice to come into the office.

To you, what does being the leader of a journalistic team mean?

It means inspiring talent and getting out of the way. It means listening to everyone’s ideas and embracing them; sometimes, it means having to put your visions forward over the objections of others. That said, if you’re lucky enough to run the Metro Desk at the New York Times like I was, you’ll find such a wealth of talent and knowledge that it’s really just helping people be the best that they can be.

Click here to listen to the full interview!