Gerry Shih (left) listens to his translator while covering a political protest in Mongolia for the Associated Press. Photo courtesy Gerry Shih (click to enlarge)

THE JOB MARKET for rising journalists over the past few years has become smaller and smaller, making the competition for those few jobs that much harder.

It takes people who can balance deadlines, ask the right questions, and most importantly make their articles interesting for their audience. Even with those qualities, it's still pretty darn hard to get a job.

Former Gargoyle editor Gerry Shih (Class of 2004) has followed his journalistic urge out into the real world. Shih attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., where he studied economics and wrote for The Stanford Daily and Stanford Magazine.

Shih has spent time abroad working in places such as Mongolia and China, where he covered everything from political riots to the Beijing Olympics for the Associated Press.

This summer he worked as an intern at one of the most recognized newspapers in the world, The New York Times. His byline appeared on an almost-daily basis as he covered business and financial news for the paper. Occasionally Shih's articles made it into The Times' list of most-read articles, as with his story on how the recession has dampened the job prospects of students at even the most prestigious law schools.

Although his New York-based internship ended on Aug. 28, he will continue to work for The Times out of its San Francisco bureau. Despite his globetrotting ways, Shih doesn't forget his roots in Champaign-Urbana, and we were able to catch up with the rising reporter.

So, Gerry, what sparked your interest in journalism, and when did you know you wanted to be a reporter?

To be honest the Gargoyle sparked my interest, and it’s never really stopped. Back in the day it was a big deal to be an editor on the Gargoyle and to have a column in the newspaper. I would write mostly about the news of the administration and the "What to Do in C-U" section.

So do you remember your first story?

-Oh definitely. So my first year on the staff was also Sue Kovacs’ first year as the assistant principal, so my first job was to profile this new staff member who through her love/hate relationship has become a legend at Uni. It was an interesting place to start, to say the least. (Note: To read Gerry's first Gargoyle article, click here.)

So when you were writing for the Gargoyle did you think that one day you would be a big-time reporter?

Not exactly. When I was at Uni my aspirations to be a journalist were not that high. The paper just gave me free rein to speak my ideas and improve my writing. But definitely a big influence on my career path was Mr. Porreca [Gargoyle adviser Dave Porreca]. He would tell us these heroic stories of journalists reporting from helicopters in warzones and reporting in Vietnam that today you just don’t see any more. It is like the media has recoiled from its tooth-and-nail atmosphere when every kid wanted to be Woodward and Bernstein and break the next Watergate.

So how were you able to get the internship at The New York Times?

I just applied (laughs). Honestly, I applied and showed the paper what I was capable of writing and what I could bring to the table. Every year the paper usually takes in four interns, but this year there is either six or seven. I’m the only intern working for the business section and already have had a lot of stories published in the paper and also online.

So is there any major difference in the way you have to write for the actual paper versus the online version?

Definitely. When you are writing online we are talking about breaking news so you have to try your best to get the facts out as quickly as possible. When you write for the paper you get time to massage the story and not just tell what happened but tell the reader why it mattered.

So how involved were you with journalism when you were at Stanford?

Oh, well, my first day at Stanford I just walked into The Stanford Daily, since it just felt normal going to my journalism class just like at Uni. The first day I was assigned to a cover story, so that got me pretty excited. For the first two years I was really involved in the paper and was an editor and all that good stuff. But then my third year I went abroad and when I came back I would do stories for other papers in different places. I went in a '95 Saab and wrote in a small town about public defender negligence, which is still an important issue in Cali.

You said you went abroad. Where did you go and what did you write about?

I went to Mongolia and was working with the AP during the 2008 Olympics and planned on writing a story about uranium smuggling throughout the country. My first person I interviewed I was able to get the foreign minister of Mongolia to comment on the crisis. So when I was interviewing her, though, I had to follow her from town to town since she was running for re-election. I would follow these stump speeches, and when the election actually took place there were mass riots because of voter fraud and apparent meddling in the total ballot. It was great since I was the only AP journalist in the area, so I was writing and taking pictures of anything I saw while dodging bricks and running away from tear gas. It was my first real experience at going head to head with other papers to get the main story out first.

That sounds crazy. Did you ever feel like you were going to be killed with all that going around you?

Not really. I think that in the heat of the moment when your adrenaline is pumping you are more alert and aware of things, so it wasn't that bad. It was kind of funny one time when I and another young journalist and this senior Russian journalist were in a building that had just been hit with tear gas. The younger reporter and I came running out of the building almost coughing our lungs out, and then the Russian reporter just walked out, dusted himself off and blew his nose. He was definitely used to this. The worst things that happened to me would be when I would be detained by the local soldiers and they would erase my hard drives and work.

How do you see the future of newspapers evolving?

Well it's obvious that everyone is cutting back and that the online versions of newspapers just cannot make the same type of money that the print ads make. We will have to find a way to correctly monetize the paper if we are going to continue the online supplement. Free news puts journalists out of jobs.

How do you think Uni shaped the work you do today?

Well the most obvious is just the range of the fantastic teachers we had. Rosemary Laughlin gave me a long leash on behavior but really instilled an appreciation for language and English. Mr. Butler [Chris Butler] and Mr. Sutton [Bill Sutton] were awesome to have in class and both gave a great look at the gravity of history. And of course Mr. Porreca who, without him, I never would have got the interest in journalism and probably would have finished my econ major at Stanford and become a banker.

So how is the life in the Big Apple versus the small college town of Chambana?

I like New York a lot, and I knew that when I grew up that I would end up on one of the coasts, but I also think that Champaign-Urbana was probably the best place for a kid to grow up. It wasn't too big and it wasn't too small.

What advice would you give to someone trying to advance their writing skills?

Once you start writing, don't stop. Write as much as you can and get your work out into the community so it can be critiqued and acknowledged. Don't try and hurry to aim for the lofty goals of the best writing you have ever done or read. The key to good writing, or pretty much anything, is to continue to practice it. If you keep at it you will be just fine.

From the Archives: Gerry Shih's First Story for the Gargoyle

Note: This article, titled "For 'just an old grandma,' Kovacs sure knows how to get Uni’s attention," appeared in the September 2001 print issue of the Gargoyle. It was Gerry Shih's first published story.

FOR THE STUDENTS who used to smuggle out pocketfuls of Jolly Ranchers from Room 214, there is some bad news. The candy is gone. And along with it is Linda Morford, Uni’s former assistant director. Now, everyone is curious about the new woman behind the desk: Sue Kovacs.

Kovacs was hired over the summer as Uni’s interim assistant director for the 2001-02 school year to replace Morford. Her familiarity with Uni and her wealth of administrative knowledge will make her a valuable asset.

Kovacs is the mother of a Uni alum (Stephanie Kovacs, Class of 1989) and was a very active parent and volunteer.

“Back then, I was in and out of the school all the time. I made Madrigals costumes, the play costumes, and I subbed a lot,” she says.

From 1995 until this year, Kovacs served as the principal at Prarieview K-8, another academically oriented school in the area. Overall, she has more than 30 years of experience as a teacher and administrator at local schools, including Centennial High School and Jefferson Middle School.

As surprising as it may seem, earlier this year Kovacs was not one of the original applicants that the school considered as a replacement for Morford.

“[Morford, Micele, and I] decided not to hire any of the original applicants, so my initial idea was to form a co-assistant directorship committee with some of the executive teachers,” says Director/Principal John Hedeman. “They would perform the various tasks that Morford used to do.”

But during the summer with the sudden departure of many of the key people involved in this plan (including English Department head Audrey Wells), the school administration was forced to abandon it.

“[Morford] was a Prarieview parent — her son attended my school — and she knew I planned to retire this year,” recalls Kovacs.

Morford and Hedeman made the approach, and soon a deal was sealed: Kovacs would be the full-time interim assistant director for 2001-02.

Now that Kovacs actually works here, she says she loves it — especially the academically focused atmosphere and the diversity.

“I grew up in the segregated South in Tennessee. The school I went to was all white, and it was a shock when I first went up North for college,” Kovacs says.

Hedeman is very happy with Kovacs and believes she will be a positive influence to the school.

“It is her style,” Hedeman says. “She is very active — in and out of classrooms, a very obvious presence. She always has her ears to the ground.”

As if to prove his point, students have already received e-mails on school regulations from Kovacs, who appears to be on top of her job as the school cop. However, don't get the wrong impression.

“I’m not mean,” she says with a smile. “To you, I’m just a nice, old grandma.”

But the e-mails have not been popular with many of the students. One sophomore in particular openly challenged Kovacs via schoolwide e-mail on the topic of cell-phone use in school.

“I don’t think it would be a problem if students used their phones outside of class and the library,” comments David Grayson, the sophomore. “Using a cellular phone is just like talking to someone, which is allowed.”

Kovacs is not bothered by the recent negative student reaction. She says it’s only healthy questioning.

“I love students who question, and I don’t want to just answer off the top of my head like a mom would. I don’t want to stifle their creativity,” she says, obviously not concerned. “I don’t want to take away students’ rights. People have the right to learn uninterrupted and people have the right to use cell phones. We want to strike a balance.”

Kovacs says she and Greg Smith, the computer science department head, will continue to work on the student handbook to make sure the rules are easy to interpret without ambiguity.

Apart from discipline, Kovacs is also in charge of many other aspects of student life here at Uni. Kovacs will be responsible for setting up dances, overseeing student activities, and making sure students get counseling or extra help.

“I also work on the handbook, with SFAC, and I do the curriculum scheduling,” Kovacs says.

It sounds like a tough job, but it seems there are few people who would be better suited to the job.

“She has so much administrative experience that there will be few things she hasn’t handled before,” Hedeman says. “I feel incredibly fortunate to be able to work with someone of her quality.”