By Christopher Ramirez

Ernst Lamothe Jr. was a Chips Quinn Scholar during the summer of 2000, working for the Star-Gazette in Elmira, N.Y. A Chicago native, he graduated from the University of Illinois in 2001. He went on to The News-Gazette in Champaign, Ill., where he reported first on business and then on his alma mater. Lamothe is currently a reporter at the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle, where I met and interviewed him. He covers government, schools and public safety in three surrounding communities.

Q: Do you prefer covering a range of topics or a beat?

A: I like the variety. If I had to pick one thing I would want to do, it would be a schools reporter. But if I can’t do that I like the ability to cover many different things. You’re able to pick and choose a bit … and you get your hands in everywhere in town.

Q: Were you nervous going to your first internship through the CQS program?

A: It was (a nervous experience). I was pressured to find an internship for the summer after my junior year, and after I found it there was pressure to actually do well. You can work at the school paper, but it’s not like being in a newsroom where you have to write every single day.

Q: Did you feel prepared going into the internship?

A: I felt semi-prepared. I could do the basics of writing, but you often don’t get much editing at school papers. Ninety-nine percent of what I wrote would fall into the paper in the exact way I wrote it. (Going to a professional newspaper) was kind of a culture shock. You see how much you don’t know when you are working with professional bosses and they’re telling you how to improve your writing and pointing out something you did, like burying the lead.

Q: What attracted you to journalism?

A: I wanted to be a doctor or lawyer, something with good money. But did I like science as I much I thought I did? Probably not. …I started working for the (high) school paper because I wanted to add activities to my resume for college applications. It was so much fun. I was always a reader of newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Sun Times. And you see newspaper movies and it seems like it’s going to be fun, and it is. So in my freshman year of college, I just jumped in.

Q: Tell me about having to cover the university from which you graduated.

A: I covered business for a year at (The News-Gazette in Champaign). They liked what I was doing and created a new beat for me, covering the University of Illinois, the biggest university in the state, a top 20 university overall. It was nerve-wracking at first, but it was also exciting because what young journalist is able to cover something that big? The fact that I could relate to those kids because of my age made it easy for me to talk to them. But talking to officials was a different story. They would look at me like, “You’re my son’s age.” That was the hard part. But the more articles I wrote, the more they realized I was not some random kid and started gaining respect for me. That is everything, especially when you’re starting out. Most of the time you’re never going to get the respect you want when you’re young. But officials can tell the difference between someone who knows what they are doing and someone who doesn’t. When they know you know what you’re doing, your age no longer becomes a factor. They’ll return your calls and respect you more when they see the quality of work you can do.

Q: How do you cope with the downsizing and other changes in the industry?

A: It is difficult to see the layoffs, but two things are happening within Gannett papers, one good, one bad. The good thing is that Gannett is always ahead when it comes to technology. …The bad thing is that with these layoffs you’re being asked to do so much more than you’re able to. Even though the paper and staff are shrinking, your requirements aren’t. I’m doing the job of three and a half people. So even though I’ve been trained to shoot video, where is the time to do these new things? …How do you balance wanting to be tremendously good at every aspect of your job and not feel like it’s drive-through journalism?

Q: What does it mean to you to be a person of color in media?

A: It is very important. I like that Gannett really focuses on (diversity) because I was coming from a newsroom where maybe another reporter and I were the only persons who weren’t white. To be able to cover an area well, you’ve got to have a diverse staff because people have different experiences. …It’s important to have … a face of someone who is a minority covering news.

Christopher Ramirez is a reporter for The Press of Atlantic City in New Jersey. He was a Summer 2009 Chips Quinn Scholar for the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle. A journalism graduate of Arizona State University, Ramirez was a reporter for ASU’s student newspaper, The State Press, where he covered football and women’s basketball before becoming sports editor. He worked at The Arizona Republic in Phoenix, covering breaking news, public safety, neighborhoods and, as a Pulliam Fellow, sports. He has participated in The New York Times Student Journalism Institute in Miami and provided freelance coverage of the 2009 World Baseball Classic in Mexico City for MLB.com.