JournalismJobs.com:
Mr LeDuff, where did you get your start as a journalist?
.Charlie LeDuff:
The
New York Times
was my first newspaper job. I was an intern for three months at
the Alaska Fisherman's Journal. That was my first pub
lication-type job. But the first thing I ever wrote
that got published? Well, my Russian friend in the Nort
heast got killed with alcohol. I just sort of wrote
an obituary for the high school paper. And I wrote that
and I think I wrote it pretty well. I felt good and I
felt like, hey I'm smart enough. I can do this. That's how I got started.
.JournalismJobs.com:
You've had a number of occupations
before you became a reporter, right?
.Charlie LeDuff:
Oh yes, I worked as a school teacher and carpenter in Michigan and at a cannery in
Alaska. I also worked as a baker in Denmark and as
a bartender in Michigan, New York and Australia.
As you can see, quite varied and all over the world.
.JournalismJobs.com:
Why did you decide to go into journalism?
.Charlie LeDuff:
I was with some friends in New York and we were talking about what we were going
to do and some guy mentioned he was going to journalism school and I thought that would be cool.
And it turned out that my parents were proud of my
decision, although they didn’t think I could earn a
lot of money doing it.
.JournalismJobs.com:
Let’s turn to your article now. Why did you pick this slaughterhouse in North
Carolina to write your story?
.Charlie LeDuff:
The editor wanted me to look somewher
e in the southern United States. It's the
biggest slaughterhouse in the world. I got to this
town and there were a lot of Natives there and that
was good. A lot of Lumbee Indians.
.JournalismJobs.com:
When you went to the slaughterhouse to fill out an application to work, were
you scared or thinking 'what did I get myself into'?
.Charlie LeDuff:
What was I thinking? I was excited. I want
ed the job. I didn't know what was going on
in there.
The Times
was going to let me actually work. ... I thought... ‘I'm going to get into people's
lives. And I get to write about something important. I
hope it's interesting’, that was what I was thinking.
I'm interested in who does the work.
.JournalismJobs.com:
What surprised you most abo
ut working at the plant?
.Charlie LeDuff:
Well,
what surprised me the most was how
mechanically people worked. People living
by the hour, living three hours for the next 15-minute
break and then three hours for the next 15-minute
break. That's how you live your lif
e. The degree of numbness surprised me
. The fact that there were so
many Mexicans in the place surprised me. I didn't know there were so many.
.JournalismJobs.com:
What sort of feedback have you
received about the documentaries?
.Charlie LeDuff:
All kinds. Some people said "Thanks for doing that. Gee I didn't know." They were
surprised and interested. Other people didn’t like them at
all. I guess it was hard for them to accept the
way things are in America. One thing is
clear, though, it left nobody indifferent.
.JournalismJobs.com:
Some say the New York Times race series could win a Pulitzer. Do you think
it's worthy of a Pulitzer?
.Charlie LeDuff:
I couldn’t care less. If it does, that's gr
eat. You know, this business is funny. It’s
important to some people, so I hope we do. That would be nice. Is it important to me? Nah!
.JournalismJobs.com:
How does being part Native American affect your work as a journalist?
.Charlie LeDuff:
Either you are or you aren't. I've got wh
ite blood, yes, but am I Indian, yeah. How
does it affect my work? Well, who I am affect
s my work. How I approach people. How I approach
elders. Being honest. Trying to stand up if someone
isn't happy with you, you know, face to face. I
went down there for another reason. I was attracted to
it because it was Indian country. I'm looking to
write about Native people, but it's
hard when you're in New York. It gives me an outlook. It's me, the
person and the way I'm raised. It just affects me because that's the way that I am.
.JournalismJobs.com:
Thank for your time, Charlie and congratulations on your work!