FOIA, Bruins, & the Lowell Goat: The Many Stories of Kyle Clauss

Boston Magazine news journalist Kyle Clauss has had an interesting career. From chasing wild goats to getting his hands on an Olympic bid book, Clauss has seen it all. He’s even had the chance to cover his favorite hockey team, the Boston Bruins, as well as teams in the newly created National Women’s Hockey League.

Before starting at Boston Magazine, Kyle worked as a reporter for the Lowell Sun, covering the small town of Billerica. “It was a blast because something was always going on. Someone was always willing to call me up and tattle about someone else.”

Transitioning into Boston brought a lot more competition into Clauss’s work. “You have literally 100 reporters [in Boston] all going after the same person, all trying to get the same access. That forces you to change your approach.”

Still, he was able to make his mark with his coverage of the controversial Boston 2024 Olympic bid.

The CEO of Boston 2024 swore that he wouldn’t be using any taxpayer funds or public funding for the games. Able to “smell the blood in the water”, Clauss decided to dig deeper into the story to find out the truth. “I tried to look for any point where the bid came in contact with a public institution because that’s where I could get the documents through a FOIA.”

Clauss ended up getting his hands on the bid book for Boston 2024 and publishing an article for Boston Magazine on the discrepancies of what wasn’t in the version of the book passed along to the public. “I think that was the biggest flaw of Boston 2024:
they never really thought engaged with the public meaningfully. They never really took the press seriously.”

Despite being the first person to break this story, the Boston Globe gave credit to the Boston Business Journal, who published three hours after Clauss.  “That was the worst part of it… I had the scoop. I wanted it to be known that I had the scoop. The Globe gave it to the other guy… [It] kind of hurt.”

Despite this, Kyle has been credited with writing a lot of exciting stories.

One such example is his coverage of the Boston Bruins. He was given the opportunity to cover the 2013 Stanley Cup after creatively using an app to post about the Bruin’s going-away rally that year. From that connection, he was able to continue covering the Bruins, including the season when they won the President’s Cup.

Perhaps one of his most intriguing stories surrounds the somewhat infamous “Lowell Goat”.  During his time at the Lowell Sun, Kyle followed the rampant goat’s trek around town. “It took on this mythical quality to it because no one could capture this goat… Exactly a month later, it was caught.”

When finally captured, Clauss was able to capture a selfie with the goat. His overall coverage of the story has landed him the nickname, “the Goat Guy”. But Kyle doesn’t mind.

“I owe that goat a lot… I might just go have a glass of scotch with the goat in a field one day.”

Reporter/Editor Cara Sprunk: ” I Should Have Known Journalism Was My Fate”

As both a senior reporter for Us Weekly and managing editor of Her Campus, you’d think Cara Sprunk has had her sights on the business of journalism since the beginning. “ I toyed with being a doctor for a short time, same with being a lawyer,” she says. “However, journalism was always a passion of mine – I wrote a ‘newspaper’ with my friends for our neighborhood, always loved writing, and adored reading. I should have known journalism was my fate.”

After deciding to put her pre-med plans aside, Cara started working for the Cornell Daily Sun in college. This experience truly shaped her as journalist, giving her “a foundation in journalism, a love of ‘breaking news’ and a passion for writing.”

The summer after her sophomore year at Cornell, she applied for an internship at Life & Style and “fell in love”. She says, “I loved the weekly pace and the excitement of the celebrity journalism world.” From there, she completed two more internships, one at OK! Magazine, the other at Star Magazine. Her internship at Star led to a temp job and, soon after, an editorial assistant position.

It was her experience at Star that got her where she is today. “I never would have gotten my foot in the door with Star for a real job, had the intern coordinator/editorial assistant not liked me and started to groom me as her replacement.”

She now had the dream job, but not exactly in her dream location. “I greatly disliked NYC and wasn’t sure how I could possibly get out,” she explains. “I worked up the courage a year after graduation to tell my boss I would love to move… It pays to speak up! By the end of the day he had my move approved by HR and a few months later I made the switch [to LA]! I would not be able to the kind of reporting I’m doing now if I stayed in New York.”

A few short months after she had packed up and moved to LA, Cara was presented with an opportunity to work for Us Weekly, where she now writes as a senior reporter. Cara writes about everything from celebrity news to gossip to style. Her favorite subject? “I don’t write about them often, but I would read anything and everything on The Olsen Twins.” You can check out her archive at Us Weekly here.

Meanwhile, since November 2009, Sprunk has also served as the managing editor of Her Campus. “Being the managing editor for Her Campus has helped me be organized, have a greater vision for the brand, and inspires me to continue doing great things when I see the impact we have on our girls.”

Most recently, Cara was given the opportunity to help edit the Her Campus co-founders’ first book, The Her Campus Guide to College Life.  “The book was something I had dreamed of us doing for a long time at HC,” she says. “We did it on a quick turn around – it was a lot of working to kind of meld articles our writers had written before with new content on things we hadn’t covered as much. It all happened so fast! There were a lot of long nights and weekends in the process, but it was all totally worth it. “

Juggling two different positions at two hard-working publications would be difficult for most, but for Cara, it’s no hard thing. “I like to stay busy,” she explains. “I never stopped doing Her Campus after college, so the concept of coming home from work [at Us Weekly] and doing nothing was never really something I got used to. I just like working.”

Luckily, she has a bunch of people she can turn to for help, her bosses being her biggest source of inspiration. “Both of my bosses are incredibly hard-working women who are phenomenal at their jobs.”

From running around covering events to doing phone interviews with celebrities to meeting with sources, there is never a dull moment in Sprunk’s life. She feels that the best part of the job is working with so many different people. “In both positions I am relying on other people – my sources as a reporter and my writers as an editor. Maintaining good working relationships with both keep things running smoothly.” 

With so much experience under her belt, those looking to break into the business would be wise to follow her advice. Her biggest tip? “Get as much as experience as you can! The more you write, report and meet people – the better off you’ll be. People don’t forget people they like – so always make a good impression!”

Cara can be found on Twitter at @CaraSprunk.

5 Things You Can Learn from Lara Salahi’s Career in Journalism

Lara Salahi has a lot of journalism experience under her belt. She completed her undergraduate degree at Boston University before working on-air in different markets across the country. With a background in television and broadcast journalism, Salahi returned to Boston to complete her master’s degree in Health Communication at Emerson College, and work as a producer for ABC News‘ Medical Unit. She describes balancing graduate school and her job at ABC News at the time as “crazy, but worth it.”

She moved with ABC News to New York City for a few years, only to return to Boston when given the opportunity to work at the Boston Globe and cover the New England region for ABC News. “How could you not say yes to that?,” she says. “Plus, I knew I always wanted to be here in Massachusetts and Boston.”

Salahi recently started a new position at CBS Boston as a Digital Producer. She is working on integrating CBS Corporation‘s Boston hubs– 98.5 Sports Hub, WBZ NewsRadio 1030, and CBSBoston.com— into the world of digital and social media.

Perhaps her most noteworthy experience, Lara Salahi won a Pulitizer Prize for her part in the Boston Globe‘s coverage of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing. Her efforts to report on such a serious and widespread story quickly and accurately are what make her an incredible journalist. There are many things you could learn from studying Lara’s work, but the following five are essential to know if you wish to become an accomplished journalist:

1. You never know when a story might happen. On the day of the 2013 Boston Marathon, Lara Salahi was working a regular 9 a.m shift in the Boston Globe newsroom, putting together photo galleries of the race with pictures sent in from those out in the field. She was wrapping up to go to lunch when her editors began running around and shouting about some sort of explosion at the Marathon. Everyone immediately sprung into action. Salahi stresses how important it is to be prepared in these situations, “When initial reports come in, it’s absolute chaos. It’s chaos in the newsroom. The number one goal as a journalist is clarity, just understanding and clarity.”

2. There is a difference between being first and being right. With so many reports circulating on the cusp of a newsworthy event, it can be difficult to figure out what to do with all the information. Salahi explains, “There’s this concept of being first and being right. Sometimes you have the Holy Grail, which is being first and being right. But the business side of us sort of thinks ‘Let’s just be first. Let’s just get something out there. Let’s do it.’ Then the journalist in us thinks, ‘Okay, let’s get things right’.” She likes to reference an article from Boston.com on “What Twitter Got Wrong During the Week Following Last Year’s Boston Marathon” to exemplify just how quickly rumors spread and the importance of being right, versus being first.

3. Following a story strictly on social media can cause a skewed perception of what really happened. When describing how quickly rumors spread on twitter in the hours after the Marathon bombing, Lara says, “If you were just watching Twitter, or even a 24 hour news station like CNN or something, you were just thinking that Boston has turned into a war zone. You had no idea what was happening.” It’s important to not believe all of the reports posted on social media.

4. Go straight to the source for the best and most accurate information. When asked how she goes about figuring out what is true when reporting a story, Salahi’s answer is simple: go straight to the source. “A lot of us [reporters] have good relationships with officials. Sources are so important. They’re cultivated over time, over confidence. And, even if you’re just somebody who’s starting out, I think trusting your instincts—if something is too good to be true or too quick—those are all really important.”

5. Covering certain stories can change you. Stories with serious or difficult subject matter, such as the Boston Marathon bombing, can have a lasting effect on the way you handle things in the future. When it comes to the bombing, Salahi says, “It is something that I hope we’ll never see again here. It has so impacted, just, every large event that I ever go to, and probably ever will go to, and probably ever take my kids to now.” She also feels covering this story has greatly affected the way she reports on other events. “I think I’ll never look at a story the same again,” she says, “Just seeing how people were impacted… Stories don’t always have a happy ending; sometimes there is no ending… I see reporting differently now.”

Featured image courtesy of The Boston Globe YouTube Channel