Following a reporting stint in the Alaska State Legislature, Sentinel Reporter Anna Laffrey says she’s ready to put newfound skills and friendships to work.
“[I became] familiar with the types of information presented to the legislature that might be really interesting for the public to know and that a local reporter would likely miss because they’re not in this building where all the hearings are happening,” Laffrey said in a Scoop interview. “Now I have a calendar with all the things happening each week.”
The program—the Alaska Center for Excellence in Journalism Legislative Exchange Program—hosts two local journalists in Juneau each year.
Reporters in the program live near the capitol building and have a cubical space in the legislature newsroom, alongside journalists reporting for Alaska Public Media, the Alaska Beacon, Anchorage Daily News, Alaska’s News Source, and other Alaska media outlets.
The program is now in its fifth year. It hosts reporters from all around Alaska and sends a student from the University of Alaska, Anchorage to fill in at the home paper’s newsroom.
The Sentinel hosted Andrea Burtzel of Anchorage while Laffrey was away. But this didn’t stop Laffrey from keeping up with her local beats while in Juneau.
“Keeping up as much as I could was fun to do from the capitol while surrounded by these statewide reporters who were hearing me make a call to a local basketball coach or city official,” Laffrey said. “I feel like everyone understands that’s vital to local news institutions.”
Laffrey said that continuing to focus on Sitka news while in Juneau also allowed for her to interact more intentionally with the legislature.
“I was really fortunate to have some established beats I felt I had to continue covering that didn’t have anything to do with the legislature, because focusing only on the legislature could be dizzying,” she said. “One of Himschoot’s staff said, ‘It’s like everything is on fire all the time.’”
And Laffrey’s proximity allowed her to better cover issues she knew Sitkans were invested in.
“I caught up on the Mt. Edgecumbe hearings and was able to ask questions that I had after watching the hearings,” she said, adding that she was then able to walk down the street to attend the Federal Subsistence Board meeting.
“[In Sitka,] I would have watched those meetings on Zoom,” she said. “It was really fun to be walking back and forth.”
Now back in Sitka, Laffrey is incorporating her new relationships and skills into her Sentinel workflow.
“For me, just working alongside those individuals was an amazing education,” she said. “I learned a lot about how to report well from hearing about the techniques they’re using, the ways they’re accessing information and using sources, and just thinking about things in general.”
She said new skills include possibilities for incorporating AI into reporting and better use of legislative websites.
She also stressed her gratitude for the program, which she heard first about from Larry Persily, publisher of the Wrangell Sentinel and longtime Alaska publisher and journalist.
“I’m so thankful,” Laffrey said. “I feel like the whole experience was Larry making opportunity for people like me.”
