Getting the story - how I landed the new stadium story

Luck, persistence, reputation, and luck.

Those two words describe how I came to possess a report sent by City Manager Chris Murray to members of Hamilton City Council Friday evening informing members of Council the Ivor Wynne stadium renovation project was no more – it’s a new stadium.

The document, which is was* not publicly available on the City of Hamilton website and was not* only briefly discussed at Monday’s special meeting, landed in my inbox via an intermediary Friday evening – The Luck.

For the past few months, I’ve been chasing the velodrome story knowing that a decision was required this summer. I’m attracted to information voids much like matter is drawn into a black hole – I can’t escape my insatiable thirst for knowledge and my instinctual urge as a journalist to share information – The Persistence.

I practice open journalism. I upload the audio of my interviews, I share the source documents I obtain, I constantly effort to make public information public. The source wanted the information to be made public in its entirety – The Reputation.

99% of everything is preparation, but that 1% luck is important.

CORRECTIONS:

  1. The document is now on the city website.
  2. The item was discussed briefly at the end of the meeting on Monday. (Thanks to Carla for using Mediabugs ‘Report an Error’ to bring this to my attention)