He went to college in the heart of what may be the most famous city in the world-- New York City. He was exposed to the thrilling sights and sounds of the city that never sleeps as a student at New York University. There he studied the fundamentals of journalism and the importance of commitment to community. With these principles in hand, Kevin Miller marched full force into the news business.

Miller, 30, covers stories about Virginia Tech and higher education for the Roanoke Times. The reporter, who refers to himself as “an average Joe journalist,” agreed to an interview about his time at New York University and his experiences living in the vast world of media. The following is a portion of the interview.
 
Q: How did start working for the Roanoke Times?

Miller: I first applied for a state government-reporting job, but they guy who actually covered higher education for the paper before ended up getting that job. So the position here opened up for me.

Q: You moved to Blacksburg, Va., from New Jersey, was that a major change for you? How is it different here?

Miller: Well I lived in Maryland for about three years. I grew up in New Jersey and lived in New York City during college. When I moved to Maryland that was a pretty big transition, because I lived in a fairly rural part of the state. It wasn’t far from Baltimore, but it was mostly an agriculture county. So that was a pretty big transition, but moving down here to Blacksburg wasn’t so much.

Q: You graduated from NYU, how was the experience going to college in a metropolitan area like Manhattan? It had to have colored your college experience.

Miller: It was a great experience. That’s why I chose NYU. All the schools I had looked at were in cities. I grew up outside New York, and I knew I always wanted to live in city. I figured living there and going to college at the same time was like killing two birds with one stone. It was great though. I also knew going into college that I wanted to study journalism, so that’s why I applied to schools in New York and Washington. I thought it would give me a good environment.

Q: Did you find living in the city distracting at all? There is a lot to see in New York. Were there constant distractions that were hard to deal with?

Miller: (Smiles) Yeah, certainly, you deal with much different issues in a city school as you would let’s say here, but any college has a lot of distractions. I found that going to school in N.Y. was a lot different because you didn’t have a campus… You had New York City. There was a sense of independence because I was in such a large city. That’s a definite difference in going to school like NYU and going to a school like Virginia Tech.

Q: International students make up 9.7 percent of the NYU student body. Is that something that enhanced your college experience when you were there?

Miller: Wow, you really did your homework. My first roommate my freshman year was an international student from South Korea. He always had his friends over. I only lived with him for a semester. My roommate for pretty much the next three years was from the United States, but his parents were Korean immigrants. He had a lot of friends who were international kids. Then I was in a special dean’s program that had a lot of international students so I had friends who were from Nigeria and Israel.

Q: Was that the dean’s scholar program? What exactly was that about?

Miller: It was a program that was for honor students, so you had to keep a high grade point average. Basically we met a couple times a month, but the biggest part of it was going on trips. We went to South America for 10 days and the university paid for it. They pitch it as a chance to kind of broaden your horizons.

Q: How was that trip to South America?

Miller: It was amazing.

Q: Where in South America did you go?

Miller: We went to Chile and Argentina and pretty much all over the countries there. That was my first time. I had been to Europe before, but that was my first time in South America, and it was pretty eye opening. I couldn’t speak Spanish.

Q: Did you pick up on the language a little bit?

Miller: Oh, yeah, a little words here and there, but I spoke French which really didn’t help me at all. (Laughs) I had to basically hang around my friends who spoke the language because although a lot of people in the country can speak English there some were people don’t. But overall the experience was great. I went with about 30 students who were extremely intelligent, really motivated kids, and it was nice to be in an environment like that.

Q: Speaking of people who are very intellectual, the center of NYU is the Washington Square campus in Greenwich Village, which is known for attracting writers, musicians, artists, and creative thinkers. Was that something you were personally exposed to? Can you tell me a little bit about that?

Miller: Yeah, NYU and Greenwich Village has the reputation of being somewhat of an intellectual artistic type of city. A lot of artists come into Washington Square and do performances or paint pictures, so it was definitely a strong artistic community. NYU has a pretty strong theatre program, as well as a strong film program, and even one for art history. That combined with the setting of New York City develops more of an appreciation for the arts. Allen Ginsberg, the poet, … used to come and read poems. We always had famous filmmakers come to school and so it was neat.

Q: You were a part of Phi Beta Kappa. I know a little bit about the organization, mainly that it was founded in 1776 and is the nation’s leading advocate for the liberal arts and sciences at the undergraduate level. Can you tell me more about the organization and what it stands for?

Miller: Phi Beta Kappa would probably never come to me to be a spokesman for them. I know that the organization is about promoting liberal arts, but I haven’t done anything with them. I was inducted right before I graduated. Most people enter during their senior year, so it’s not a program where you meet and do things. You basically join at the end of your college year.

Q: So it is more of a distinction or an honor to be in it?

Miller: Exactly, to be quite honest it’s something you put on your resume and it hasn’t really affected me in journalism. I think most journalists don’t really pay attention to something like that. I think it’s one of those things that could start conversations when you meet someone who was in Phi Beta Kappa also.

Q: Is that true for Kappa Tau Alpha as well?

Miller: Yeah, that was another journalism body as well.

Q: Ok. I was on their site and apparently the Greek letters mean, “The truth will prevail.” And in news writing accuracy is very key. Is that something that influenced you?

Miller: No, I can’t say that I’ve done anything with them. I’m definitely guilty of joining and putting it on my resume… But going back to what I was saying about people who were in the groups recognizing and using it to start conversations, during my first job interview one of the editors I interviewed with was a Phi Beta Kappa member. He pointed it out and was like “Oh you’re in Phi Beta Kappa. I was in it too.” I don’t know if that helps, but I got the job. (Smiles)

Q: You were the vice-president for NYU’s Habitat for Humanity chapter. How was your experience working with that organization?

Miller: It was great. I tried to do different kinds of volunteer work. At NYU there was a good emphasis on volunteerism because you’re in the middle of the city. I joined habitat because I thought it sounded neat. Right when I joined was when it started. Over the years it was a good experience to help build the program. By the time I left it was still a fairly small program. We had maybe two dozen active members…but now I think it is a much larger program, so it was good to be a part of the beginning stages.

Q: Even though it was the beginning stages of Habitat for Humanity, do you guys go and build homes for families?

Miller: Oh yeah, we worked with Habitat for Humanity of New York and New Jersey. We worked on homes in Newark, N.J. Big cities that have a lot of urban problems. There’s a lot of run down buildings and property. We went all over to places like Newark, and Brooklyn and Queens. We probably went out once a month to do projects in the cities. Habitat was great just because it brought me to parts of N.Y. where most students wouldn’t normally go. I saw impoverished parts of the city and got to interact with people, who without volunteerism, I probably would not get a chance to meet.

Q: Was there a particular case that got to you?

Miller: They all were pretty different. I remember Christmas in April, which is like a big cleanup day. It’s similar to the Big Event here, where teams go out into the community and help with projects. We worked on one family’s house and I think it was in Queens. We had a team of about 20 people that when in there. The family had a fire and we helped them repair things. We repainted and cleared some debris around the house. It was a good experience to see how much difference you could do in just one day.

Q: Do you work in Roanoke a lot or do you generally stay in the New River Valley?

Miller: Our office is here in Christiansburg, so I mainly work here most of the time, unless a story takes me to Roanoke. For the past four years, I’ve also worked in Richmond. I work there between 45 to 60 days a year, when the Virginia General Assembly is in session. They send me there to be kind of the backup general assembly reporter. They have someone that works full time in Richmond and does the reporting, but for two months or so I go there to help him out.

Q: What exactly is the Virginia General Assembly responsible for?

Miller: Any kind of laws, any state laws, and Virginia codes. Basically the assembly covers anything from taxes to crime and punishment or any big issues. Like for example this past year there was a lot of attention paid to methamphetamine abuse in this part of the state. So as a result, there were a lot of bills introduced to stiffen the penalties for people who were making or dealing meth. The general assembly deals with thousands and thousands of issues every year, mainly on the state government level.

Q: You worked with the Washington Square Newsat NYU. That was a student run independent newspaper, but was there ever a time where the publication experienced any form of censorship? Maybe where the university may have stepped in because of a controversial issue?

Miller: No, I don’t remember any cases of censorship. I was a contributing staff writer, so I just showed up whenever I wanted and asked for stories, or periodically they would ask me to cover a story. I wasn’t on the editorial board or anything, but I don’t remember any censorship when I was there. It was an independent paper, so there weren’t any problems with censorship.

Q: You had some success working for the Carroll County Times. I thought it was interesting how you covered the farm and environmental issues in a county near Baltimore. Can you tell me a little about that?

Miller: (Laughs) It was an eye-opening experience for a kid from suburban New Jersey who had been on farms but had never really experienced being on farms. That county is increasingly becoming influenced by Baltimore, but there are still a lot of dairy farms and crop farms out there. There’s a struggle between the expansion of the suburbs with new houses that are going up all over the place. These farmers would like to keep their land in agriculture, but face troubles with making enough money to support them. I dealt a lot with that struggle of development and agriculture. Again it was just another eye-opening experience to be on farms to see how it all really works. I guess I had a lot of misconceptions about farm life. It turns out that most farmers out there are college educated, really hard working and intelligent folks. To be a farmer today you pretty much have to have a college degree, and a lot of them even have master degrees. Farming is a business. It was just a great experience. It peaked my curiosity. I was always interested in environmental issues growing up, but this experience broadened my horizons more. Now I’m really interested in agriculture and how it relates to environmental issues.

Q: You’ve been given awards such as best breaking news, general news and local government. Were these awards for particular stories that you covered?

Miller: I think they were usually for specific stories. Working for a small newspaper, you cover everything even though you’re assigned to a particular beat. There were times when I had to cover car accidents, fires, breaking news, scandals and things like that. I think one of the breaking news awards I got was for an accident that killed two teenage girls and injured two others. It was a small town in the county and it had a huge impact on the high school. They were fairly popular girls. I did a lot of coverage on that.

Q: Was it just a random car accident or was there alcohol or controlled substances involved?

Miller: It was late at night and I don’t think they ever figured out if the driver might have fallen asleep. She were driving down a country road when she may have lost control and overcorrected. The car crossed the centerline and collided head on with another car. Actually the woman driving the other car was also killed. I don’t think there were any drugs or alcohol involved. But as a journalist you cover a lot of those; the bad news, that unfortunately we have to cover.

Q: Now I’m going to switch to questions more specifically towards the Roanoke Times. Could you describe what a typical workday is like for you? I know that with news is always spontaneous. Things happen that you don’t expect, but do you have a certain routine you go through?

Miller:  Well, I’m not really an early morning person. I’m more of a late night person, so I usually get in my office somewhere between 9 and 10 a.m. Sometimes I swing through campus on my way to the office because I live in Blacksburg. I usually stop in and pick up a Collegiate Times to see what they’re writing about or I talk with people I know. When I get into the office, I generally check my email and check a lot of the other newspapers. I look at the other papers in the state that cover higher education issues, like the Richmond Times Dispatch, The Washington Post, the Daily Press, and The Virginian-Pilot. I check all those newspapers to see if they’ve written anything (about higher education) and I scan the wires to see if there’s anything out there. Then after an hour or so I start making calls about whatever I’m working on. I may set up interviews, but generally I work on stories from the morning until the afternoon. Then depending on whether what section I’m writing for my deadlines vary… Then I usually get out of the office around 7 p.m. unless there’s a night meeting.

Q: You’ve worked for several different newspapers, how is the Roanoke Times different from the others?

Miller: This is only my second full time professional job. They’re pretty different just based on pace. At the Carroll County Times we had a staff of eight reporters. But there were so many turnovers, so you rarely had eight reporters… because there was always someone leaving. There we had a lot more pressure to produce stories daily. It was pretty rare to have a day where you didn’t write something for the paper. There were days were you wrote two or three stories. Here (Roanoke Times) it is a little more laid back. We have a larger staff. We have eight reporters in the Christiansburg office alone and another 30 downtown in Roanoke. You have more time to work on stories. Certainly when things come up there are daily stories that need to get done in one day, but if it is an issue that I’m hoping to delve into a little deeper, I have a little bit more time here. And that’s one of the things that I think is good about the newspaper. Part of that is because we don’t have as much competition. There aren’t any other large newspapers that circulate in this area. We have TV that we compete with, but that’s not the same as newspaper journalism.

Q: I noticed that the organizations you’ve written for are all very community-related or have something to do with education. The Carroll County Times is involved with the News in Education program and offers journalism scholarships. Is that something you personally look for in determining who you work for?

Miller: When I’m looking for a job I can’t say that’s the first thing I look at, but most newspapers these days have News in Education programs. It’s a good chance for them. They see it as a way to try to build readership. They’re also educating kids of course, which is the first priority I’m sure, but they’re also trying to cultivate future newspaper readers. You always want a newspaper that’s committed to your community. Different papers have different ways of expressing that commitment. There are some newspapers that have pretty active scholarship programs. I think Landmark Communication, which owns The Roanoke Times and the Carroll County Times, does have scholarship programs and internships. Generally, I look for the quality of writing in the newspapers and what sort of issues I can cover.

Q: Speaking of internships, you had one with Popular Science Magazine where you did the “What’s New” section. How did you get that internship?

Miller: I was looking for internships and that one was posted on one of the sites at NYU. I applied and got it… I guess I expressed enough interest in science to get the internship. I wrote about a lot of different gadgets. It’s interesting to see where technology has taken us today. I think it’s neat to see how technology becomes more high tech and how the gadgets get smaller and smaller.

Q: Your work involves a lot of education-related stories aimed at young people, how has that influenced you as a reporter?

Miller: With any beat you cover, you learn so much. There’s so much I’ve never realized about higher education, about how much goes on behind the scenes. When you’re a student pretty you’re much only thinking about the classes you take, the professors you have and tuition. I guess I didn’t realize how universities like Virginia Tech and NYU deal when there’s so much going on. Virginia Tech for example is such a big factor to the economy in this part of the state. Anything that Virginia Tech does affects not just Blacksburg, but the entire Southwest Virginia Parts of Southwest and Southside Virginia, where the economies are really struggling look to Virginia Tech to for help. That’s been a big revelation to me to see how much these universities are doing beyond just educating kids on campus.

Q: For a student like myself, what issues in higher education should we be aware of but don’t pay particular attention to?

Miller: Well first of, students tend to get involved with things on campus when it starts to affect them personally. Like two or three years ago when the state was having a lot of economic problems, the general assembly and the governor had to cut a couple billion dollars out of the state budget. One of the first places they turned to was higher education because unlike the K-12 schools or the Department of Health, colleges can raise their own money; they can raise tuition. That’s an issue that’s political, and I don’t think most students seem to equate the politics involved. They don’t seem to realize that what happens in Richmond affects them. All of a sudden tuition jumps up every semester… I guess what I try to do in my reporting is show the connection between what happens here on campus and what happens in the state… I think that it’s something to consider because it’s important to realize why tuition is going up. It’s not necessarily because Virginia Tech just wants to spend more money. It could be that Virginia Tech isn’t getting as much from the government. But I have seen a change since that budget cut a couple years ago. Students seem to be more active and follow politics closer now.

Q: You have been covering Virginia Tech since 2001 for The Roanoke Times, can you tell me a little about how that experience has been for you?

Miller: Well, it’s been a great experience. I’m going on five years at this job and its nice to work on a beat for that long. You get to know sources well and I’ve been able to develop a good grounding on the topic. At the same time though, I am looking for other jobs. While I’m looking for other jobs, part of what I’m looking at is higher education, because I’ve grown to enjoy it a lot. It offers variety. One day I’m covering an event like a pillow fight on the drillfield… then there are things that go on with the administration like financial issues. (Laughs) Sorry I’m babbling. I’m an interviewer not an interviewee, so this is different.

Q: No, it’s fine. I’m learning a lot from it. I know that you’ve written a lot of stories. But is there a story that sticks out that particularly influenced or affected you?

Miller: There are some stories that I’ve particularly enjoyed writing more than others. I actually really like the science and research stories…but I don’t get to do that as often as I’d like. I’ve written stories about a slave cemetery that they discovered down in Kentland, which is the university’s agriculture research farm. It’s an old plantation, and I got to spend a couple days learning about the history. That’s a feature story that I really liked.

Q: What about Virginia Tech as a whole appeals to you?

Miller: I like the size of the university. From a reporter’s perspective it just gives me so many options in what to write about. Like I said before I can write about research… or I can write about the pillow fight. There really is so much variety.

Q: What would you say is the hardest thing about being a reporter?

Miller: I think deadlines are hard to deal with. The hardest thing is learning how to write clearly and fast. Learning how to develop sources is also a huge challenge. I don’t think I’m the most outgoing social person; I tend to be shy, so it’s always been a challenge for me to get up the courage and talk to people. It’s not normal for everybody to just walk up to someone and start a conversation where you ask personal questions, but that’s what reporters have to do. In fact, I’ve heard other reporters say, and I tend to agree, that a lot of reporters are probably introverts instead of extroverts. For some reason we’re drawn into this business because it forces us to go and talk to people… It doesn’t deter me because a part of why like journalism is that you’re always learning things. Journalists are knowledgeable on everything and an expert on nothing. It can get frustrating, but you’re always learning new things.

Q: You have a strong background in environmental science and natural resources issues. What do you think is the major issue that young generation should be concerned about?

Miller: There are so many issues.

Q: The main issue right now is obviously the oil crisis, but are there any issues that may be shadowed by that?

Miller: I think any kind of pollution issue is just going to get more and more complicated as time goes by. The world is growing, not shrinking. There are more and more people and they’re consuming more and more resources whether it is fossil fuels or food. There are so many different issues interrelated. I guess that’s why I’m so drawn to it, because it has so much variety.

Q: With the Hurricane Katrina, there were a lot of issues with accuracy in the media, which in a way caused public distrust of the media. What do you think public perceptions of the media are? What can the media do to make it better?

Miller: I think it’s a huge concern for journalists like myself. Why is it that the public has mistrust in the media? I think a part of it is because of the reliance on getting news fast. Everyone is so busy, so they want information right away. Well, you can’t get the full picture of things when you’re hearing a 15 second sound bite or reading a couple lines in the paper. Journalists have a huge responsibility to make sure that their reporting is accurate. Anonymous sources I think are a huge problem. I know as a reporter I get really dismayed when I read The Washington Post, The New York Times and all these big newspapers where there are major stories and all they have are anonymous sources. As a journalist, I know what they’re standards are, but I imagine that the general public may question where the reporter is getting the information. I think reliance on anonymous sources in the national media is really hurting journalists’ reputations. Part of it is our own problem when we use anonymous sources and our tendency to want to report things as soon as it breaks; inevitably we’ll end up reporting things that aren’t true. One the other side, I think the public just has misconceptions about what reporters do…Some media are trying to be more transparent to counter that mistrust.

Q: For a student who wants to get into the media field, what would your advice be for them?

Miller: I think the biggest thing is you need to get out there and start to write. You need to work for your college newspaper…if not that, some sort of publication. Get internships. Internships were encouraged when I was in college, but now it seems like internships are mandatory. The other biggest thing is just to read… just pick up things, pick up newspapers and magazines. One of my concerns is that people rely on TV too much. One of the values of newspapers and published media is that you usually get a more complete story. So definitely, I can’t stress enough how important it is to read. There’s so much to learn out there.