GRACE AIGNER: Hi everyone. I’m Grace Aigner from the Minnesota Daily. Welcome back to another episode of In The Know, a podcast dedicated to the University of Minnesota.
Today I’m sitting here with Shay Scanlan, a city desk reporter here at the Minnesota Daily. Hi Shay.
SHAY SCANLAN: Hi, Grace.
AIGNER: How are you?
SCANLAN: Good. How are you doing?
AIGNER: I’m well. Thanks for coming in today.
SCANLAN: Thanks for having me on.
AIGNER: I’m excited to talk!
SCANLAN: Me too.
AIGNER: OK. You do really excellent work here at the Daily. You’ve been here for like a year almost?
SCANLAN: Yeah.
AIGNER: Like the full school year?
SCANLAN: About a year. I started last July.
AIGNER: Can you tell me a little bit about what you do here at The Daily, what your experience has been like?
SCANLAN: What I do for The Daily is the city desk mostly focuses on hard news, politics, and I found that I really love that type of reporting. I’ve covered some protests, I’ve covered Operation Metro Surge and the legislature, city council.
AIGNER: Community events.
SCANLAN: Some community events too. I got tired halfway through last semester and covered a gingerbread event, which was a fun little break. So I like the city desk ’cause you can cover such a wide variety of things and topics.
AIGNER: I was on the city desk for a little bit. I recall the getting tired part specifically. Again, all of your reporting has been really great, like you’re, I think, underselling yourself about how many different stories like that you’ve covered.
You talked about, you really enjoy just city desk reporting in general, but is there a specific kind of subject matter or area of reporting that you found yourself really gravitating towards?
SCANLAN: Throughout the fall, I really liked covering protests or community led events. Like I covered Day for Recovery at St. Paul Capitol. And I love covering that type of stuff because it gets me out into the community and I’m able to just kind of approach people on the street and talk to them about their experience, and I think that’s such a cool way of reporting.
First of all, you don’t have to be an email warrior and go back and forth a bunch of times, but I love just being able to hear from everyday people about their experiences and be able to highlight that. And I think it’s also super important, especially for something like a protest or Recovery Day at the St. Paul Capitol, for people to know what’s going on in their community, what’s out there, and what resources exist and movements.
AIGNER: What was Recovery Day for those who don’t know?
SCANLAN: Recovery Day was organized by a group of organizations that work to aid people in, like drug addiction. I talked to a guy who was in jail and he was representing a program that let him kind of get back on his feet, and I think it was just a, such a cool day to highlight and a great way for people to know what’s out there for their resources.
And it was awesome to talk to people who are recovered addicts and they all said the same thing about like how much community is built through events like this and how much it’s like a support system. And I didn’t know anything about it, so it was so cool to hear.
And that’s also why I love reporting ’cause I get to learn so much about things that I never would’ve known about. I get to meet people I never would’ve interacted with otherwise.
AIGNER: One of my favorite things that professors and just like people have talked about, about reporting is that you start to become like a tiny expert on a ton of different stuff for the exact reason you said, which I think is so cool.
But when you’re kind of going into those spaces of like, okay, this is an event, I’m, my role here is to be a journalist, I’m here to talk to people. What are you thinking about before you get there? How do you kind of approach those environments where you are kind of an outside observer in a way, but you’re also trying to be a part of whatever is happening there. Like what goes through your mind?
SCANLAN: Well, I’m usually a little bit nervous.
AIGNER: Valid.
SCANLAN: I always feel way more nervous before I actually go up to my first person. Just cold approaching people is a little bit daunting, but I try to just like think about it. In a respectful way and kind of judge people’s like body language and like I don’t wanna interrupt their conversations or any of that.
So like I am an outsider and I think that is something to acknowledge. And also my role as a reporter is different than someone who’s just attending an event, especially at something like a protest. So I just try to kind of sit back a little bit and observe, and I don’t like create action myself, I just go where the action is.
AIGNER: That’s a good way to put it.
SCANLAN: Yeah. But once I start getting into the groove of things and I like actually go up to people, I realize that I get on like a bit of a, I get in like a groove where it’s like, yeah, OK, like I got this. I’m gonna just like, honestly, it’s fun to approach people and it’s fun to be an outsider because I feel like maybe I can bring a little bit more of an objective view to it.
And it makes me more observational because I’m like, OK, like what are their names? What are these organizations like? I really need to catch all the details.
AIGNER: You get to kind of become a little like a conduit of information for like everyone who’s not there. I kind of feel like, like you just absorb. You’re there to absorb. That’s so cool.
SCANLAN: Yeah.
AIGNER: For pretty much everyone at The Daily, between fall and spring semester, there was a pretty big shift in what we were covering because of Operation Metro Surge ICE was in Minneapolis, killed two people, two citizens. The Daily was really down on the ground, like boots on the ground covering that.
Your coverage, I was looking at your, your bio, your page, your portfolio on our website last night, and your coverage definitely took a shift as well to being what you were talking about, of like community events, legislature, city government, to a lot of the nooks and crannies of iCE and, and all of the effects of Metro Surge.
My question for you then is did you feel this shift happening when you were reporting, like in January-February, did you feel yourself taking on a new kind of graver, darker subject matter? Or was it just like go, go, go, go, go. This is my job, like I need to just keep doing what I’m doing. Have you reflected on what changed?
It’s like four questions in one. But just tell me about, about what you were feeling and thinking.
SCANLAN: I think it definitely, it was both, it was a shift to a heavier subject matter, but also like I felt that like drive to just keep reporting and it wasn’t exactly hard for me to keep reporting ’cause when Renée Good was shot, we were on winter break.
AIGNER: Mm-hmm.
SCANLAN: And we were on winter break for a couple of weeks after. I honestly felt like that was harder to process and deal with because I wasn’t out there reporting. So once winter break ended, I knew that I definitely wanted to cover ICE and everything happening, and I thought it was important to do also.
And then Alex Pretti was shot as we were like one week into the spring semester. And I remember I woke up, I had gotten a bulletproof vest because the day before I covered the statewide strike, nationwide strike, when hundreds of businesses shut down and thousands went downtown, and I covered that and Alexis originally had wanted me to wear that bulletproof vest, but I was like, girl, please, no don’t make me do it.
AIGNER: Alexis Letang, our editor-in-chief. Thank you, Alexis, don’t make me.
SCANLAN: Like, I get it. She wanted people to be safe and it definitely was a real concern at the time, but thankfully that event was pretty peaceful. But Alex texted me, my city desk editor.
AIGNER: Alex Deyoe. Shoutout
SCANLAN: Yes. And she said, “Hey, Tyler needs that vest.” And I was like, “OK.” Like I woke up, I saw the headline on my phone that he’d been shot, and I immediately knew that like I had to just kind of go out there and cover it. And I wasn’t gonna go out there right away ’cause I knew that it was pretty contentious.
But I kind of like hung around a coffee shop by there, and then a couple hours later I went to the site and I covered the vigil and I talked to people there and I saw the memorial. And it was like a dark topic, but I grew up in the Twin Cities, and it was good to be a part of the coverage of it and talk to people in my community about it, and I kept on with that.
I tried to cover some of the impacts of ICE too, after it kind of ramped down. And to me that wasn’t, it’s a, it’s a heavy topic, but it’s, it wasn’t dark to cover ’cause I felt like I was doing something, like talking to the right people. Like I talked to a Minneapolis parent and I talked to like business owners who have been affected, their loss in customers and, I felt like their voices should be represented in The Daily’s coverage.
AIGNER: Does reporting help you process?
SCANLAN: Yes. I would say definitely, because you’re able to go and talk to people. I went to Alex Pretti’s memorial and I went up to somebody, and this was before the vigil, I think it was about 3:00 p.m. so it had been a couple hours since he was shot and died.
And I asked someone why they came down here and they just said like, “When you live a few blocks away, like, what else are you gonna do, but just come down here and kind of observe it all?” And that’s also kind of how I viewed my reporting. Like where else would I be if I was sitting in my room, you know, scrolling on Instagram, like watching all the videos, it wouldn’t process in the same way. And that’s how I felt during Renée Good. And it was like harder to process everything. So when I’m actually out there, it’s easier.
AIGNER: I remember that quote, I was reading that story like two nights ago, and that quote, I was like this close to like reading it on air. It was like, “What else am I supposed to do?” Or something like that.
How could, how can you do anything else? Where else would I go, but go to where this person was killed. It helps you process, which I think is so interesting because even just last week we had a staff meeting for The Daily and we had some of the guest speakers from MPR News come in and they were talking about how like, and, and to be fair, I don’t know if this, like, they may find journalism, like, I think they were also talking about how it helps them process.
But there is an element where you have to compartmentalize what you’re seeing and, and keep yourself separate from it. So hearing you say it helps me process to be a part of what’s happening in a way, even though it is a different way than other people are out there, is really interesting.
Like, I think, I don’t know if that applies to everyone. I don’t know if that applies to me ’cause I think I approach it as like I need to be separate. But it’s cool that it helps you like process. Do you think it makes you a better reporter because you feel like you get something out of it? You, you get a handle on what’s happening by reporting?
SCANLAN: Yeah. I think that you can maybe capture that feeling of uncertainty a little bit more when you’re actively processing it in the moment because like covering Alex Pretti’s vigil, it was just kind of a surreal experience. Because yes, you’re a reporter, and you are separate from it. It is a different experience than going out there and holding a sign up.
But you still live in that community. You’re still, you’re still talking to people in the community and hearing their experiences. So, I think just through observing, that’s why it gives me a way to process it because I’m able to, when I’m writing it, I’m able to kind of put a timeline of like, this is what happened. This is how people are feeling.
AIGNER: Mm-hmm.
SCANLAN: This is what might happen, and I think that, you know, selfishly it is important for me to process. But also I hope that other people can read it and be like, “OK I know a little bit more about the response to this.”
Because I, I, what I was surprised about is that like people from like Ireland reach out to me about my reporting and they’re like, can you come on Irish radio?
AIGNER: Wow.
SCANLAN: I was like, you guys are reading my stories. Like, what do you mean? But like, yeah. So for them to read that and be able to understand a little bit more and get like a direct source of like, this is what this community member said like hours after, like I think that’s so cool.
AIGNER: Yeah. People can process alongside you.
SCANLAN: Yeah.
AIGNER: When they read your work and stuff like that.
SCANLAN: Yeah. For events like that, yes.
AIGNER: Yeah.
SCANLAN: For more factual information I’m processing before. Yeah. And I think that’s important, but like if you’re going to an event, obviously you don’t know what it’s gonna be like.
AIGNER: Right, exactly. So yeah. How have you—over the last year, like taking ICE coverage into account, but also just like the, your year here at The Daily, your almost year here at The Daily, how have you changed as a reporter? Do you feel like—she’s nodding, her eyes are wide and she’s nodding. Tell me.
SCANLAN: I mean, I joined The Daily immediately after our first journalism class, because I knew it was something that I really wanted to do. And I remember during that class we’d get this assignment to like go up to students on campus.
I would feel so nervous. I’d be like walking around, I’d be like, doubling back. I’d be like, OK. Like just ask somebody. And for me to do like the type of reporting that I do now I think is like directly because of The Daily and how much it does push you. Like you gotta meet that quota, right?
AIGNER: Mm-hmm.
SCANLAN: Like we were writing two stories a week last semester. Now we operate on like a one-two-one schedule. But just like the sheer amount of reporting you do has helped me so much. And it’s made me so much more comfortable with approaching people or, you know, talking to legislators, which was also something I was really nervous about.
Like, I don’t know, I talked to the St. Paul mayor, like that was such a, a cool experience. And I feel like it’s just given me a lot more confidence as a reporter or a lot more confidence in my questions. And it’s also given reporting, like builds on itself and like you were talking about what our teacher said about you can become like a mini like expert on different things.
AIGNER: Yeah.
SCANLAN: Now I just know so much about like so much random stuff. I try to like actually get a little bit in the community when I report, so I get other ideas and then like, yeah, like I’m able to pitch things based on my past reporting and kind of develop the idea.
AIGNER: It’s a muscle that you, you definitely build.
SCANLAN: Yeah.
AIGNER: Like the literal, like, I need to talk to this person. How am I gonna approach them? And also like knowing what’s going on right elsewhere and like having one story build on, build on the other.
Is there an interview or a moment that you maybe witnessed in any of your reporting? I guess I was maybe thinking about ICE when I wrote this, but like any of your reporting that has really stuck with you?
SCANLAN: I think it’s when I interviewed St. Paul, mayor Kaohly Her. I interviewed her right after her win.
AIGNER: Cool.
SCANLAN: I think it was like mid-November I interviewed her, but I went into the interview half expecting her to just kind of like, give me PR answers and like, you know, I’m gonna do the good work for the good people of St. Paul. But she was very open with me.
And I asked her about who she looked up to as a child, and she started talking about her grandma and how her grandma was an immigrant and she was a really hard worker and she visited her on her college campus and she was kind of walking around and being like, “Wow, like, I’ll, I’ll never have this.” And then she started crying
AIGNER: Her grandma?
SCANLAN: The mayor.
AIGNER: Oh, wow.
SCANLAN: She started crying and I was not expecting that at all. Again, like I, I kind of went into it like, OK, I’m a journalist, she’s a mayor, and with past politicians that I’ve interviewed sometimes that dynamic gets in the way of…
AIGNER: Realness?
SCANLAN: Realness. But she was very real with me and it just reminded me how yes, you’re a journalist, but also you’re having a human conversation, right? I think your reporting’s almost better if you ask just those like human questions, like who did you look up to when you were a kid? Not like what’s your favorite policy of yours when you ran on?
AIGNER: What’re you gonna change about the city of St. Paul by 2036?
SCANLAN: It gave me, it like, brought me a new perspective to interviewing and what types of questions I asked and I really appreciated all her vulnerability and candor. And it stuck with me ’cause I was also really nervous obviously going into that interview and kind of just like you have that like imposter syndrome.
Like why did this PR person allow me to interview her? I don’t know. It was like such a good interview and it gave me a lot more confidence in the types of questions I ask, so that sticks out to me.
AIGNER: That’s cool.
SCANLAN: Yeah.
AIGNER: Feeling confident in what you’re walking in there to do.
SCANLAN: Mm-hmm.
AIGNER: So important ’cause…
SCANLAN: Yeah.
AIGNER: Very different from the person who originally wanted to join The Daily, it sounds like.
SCANLAN: Right. I always like have had like a, like underlying confidence. But I was just a lot more nervous. I’m definitely a lot more like doubtful of myself. Yeah. You know, I think to an extent like that’s always gonna be there and like almost, it maybe should be there a little.
AIGNER: For those who somehow don’t know, all of our reporters here at The Daily are students as well. What is something about the unique experience of being a student journalist that you think people should know about or don’t know about? What about that dynamic kind of sticks out to you or has been hard?
SCANLAN: There’s the obvious one where it’s like, wow, I’m really busy and I’m really stressed out right now because I mean, you’re taking classes on top of reporting and it’s, I’m like doing interviews like five minutes before my class starts, you know?
AIGNER: Yeah.
SCANLAN: Which is an interesting experience. I think what I’ve noticed most about being a student reporter is like, you don’t know about stuff. You’re learning everything often for the first time. I just interviewed someone about insurance. I don’t know. I would never, like I’m on my parents’ insurance. Right.
AIGNER: Yeah. For the foreseeable future as well.
SCANLAN: Yeah, like, so it’s like. I think that’s, I’ve, I’ve tried to view it as a strength.
AIGNER: Mm-hmm.
SCANLAN: Because you’re going in and like the people you’re writing for might not know about all these complex politics and policies either. Like I wrote a story about Medicaid. I kind of had to like, I had to Google everything the legislators were saying about Medicaid.
And I think it makes you very thorough in your fact checking. And then also it makes your reporting more accessible, I feel like, because who actually does really know about Medicaid unless right, you’re on Medicaid or you’re a politician, or you know, very involved in the healthcare system.
So sometimes I read an article about like a policy or a politician, and I’m like, I don’t have any of the background for this, and I think that like, that was forgotten while a journalist was writing the article sometimes.
AIGNER: Because they probably knew.
SCANLAN: Yeah, yeah. Like you’ve had this beat for what, like 10 years? So you’re really entrenched in it. But as a student journalist, you are approaching things that you don’t have much experience with, and I think it’s made my reporting more accessible and it’s made me have really good fact checking techniques.
AIGNER: Yeah. And it goes back to what you said about doubt, like student journalists, we tend to be, not universally so, but tend to be more inherently doubtful in what we’re doing because of like what you’re saying is like, I don’t know how health insurance works, actually.
SCANLAN: Mm-hmm.
AIGNER: Not really. I kind of conceptually do, but…
SCANLAN: Right.
AIGNER: Which I think you’re so right. Like I hadn’t really thought about it. It makes us more accessible and assuming most of the, our readers at The Daily are a lot of students and stuff like that, but yeah.
SCANLAN: So that’s important.
AIGNER: Yeah. What’s an unexpected lesson that you’ve learned at The Daily? Maybe it’s about journalism, maybe it’s just about yourself.
SCANLAN: I think about myself is that it goes back to the process thing. If I am not reporting, I will go crazy. I just cannot sit around and like think about everything. Like if things are happening, like I wanna be there and I wanna understand it and I want to talk to people involved.
And that goes back to the processing thing, like that’s something that I’ve learned about myself. Because like growing up, I never wanted, I don’t, journalism was like not on my radar and it took me a couple years after high school too, not go right into college.
So just like learning that about myself has been something that’s really helped me stick with journalism in a scary time to go into journalism. I think that I just really love reporting and it helps me a lot.
AIGNER: That’s really lovely to hear because in times, like, you know, the ICE surge here, George Floyd, which predates our, like adulthood, but a lot of people can get pushed away for valid reasons of like burnout and like, this is too much. I’m, I’m putting too much of myself in this. It’s taking too much of me. So to hear you be like, no, actually to be there, actually it’s pulled me closer to the, to the fire.
SCANLAN: Like it really has.
AIGNER: That’s cool.
SCANLAN: I just, yeah, I wanna understand it.
AIGNER: What are you proudest of in your work?
SCANLAN: I really like the pieces that I like go and talk to, just like people in the community. And I think I touched on this a little bit, but I did a story during ICE in Minneapolis where I just kind of went around to local businesses and I talked to their owners and I like went there like, like I said, like in between classes on the weekend. And I just kind of like sat around and I interviewed them.
I think it was. Post Modern Times and then Easy Day Cafe and one other, Recovery Bike Shop. But the stories I feel most proud of are often when I go out into the community and I just kind of like observe and talk to people who are directly involved and like when the government shut down last fall I went to like food shelves and I went to food shelves again about a month ago and talked to them and saw their whole operation.
And not everybody gets to do that. So getting to do that and then also getting to write about it and then hopefully people learn something new is something that I feel proud of.
AIGNER: As you should. All right. That was my last question. Do you have any last words for us?
SCANLAN: No. Read the Minnesota Daily.
AIGNER: Hell yeah. Sorry, can I say that? I don’t know. Read it. Read Shay’s work.
SCANLAN: Listen to the podcast.
AIGNER: In the Know on Spotify and Pod Bean on our website. Let’s go. Shay, thank you so much.
SCANLAN: Thank you.
AIGNER: I really appreciate your time. You’re awesome. That’s all we have for you today, folks. This episode was written by Grace Aigner and produced by Ceci Heinen.
Thanks to our special guest, Shay Scanlan, and thank you for listening. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, don’t be afraid to send us an email at [email protected]. I’d love to hear from you.
My name is Grace Aigner, be well, be safe and I’ll talk to you next time on In The Know.
