Rich Barbieri has an interesting version of lucky that involves paying rent with credit cards while working odd jobs. During this time, he was planting the seeds for at top-tier career that now has him working as an editor at The New York Times.
He’s previously worked at CNN — where he managed an astounding 50 editors and reporters — Crain’s New York, the AP and American Lawyer, giving him a resume that would stand out in any situation. These days, he’s based in the Times’s Asia hub in Seoul, where he runs the business and economics coverage.
I chatted with Rich about his first journalism job, his biggest career mistake and the glamour of editing:
Dawn: How did you get started in journalism?
Rich: My first job in journalism was an unpaid internship at the Columbia Journalism Review. This was before the internet, and I was still in college. I was a sponge. At CJR, we got stacks of newspapers mailed to us from all over. I combed through them looking for story leads, some of which I got to write, others that the editors assigned to freelancers. I also did a lot of old-fashioned magazine fact-checking. I got to walk in the shoes of the writer of a story, re-reporting their work to make sure everything checked out. I was 20 years old and paying my rent with credit cards and a telemarketing job at night selling memberships to a roadside-service auto club. I felt like the luckiest guy in New York.
Dawn: How were you able to sell your experience at one to move on to the next, and how might it help others?
Rich: First, I wouldn’t use the word “sell.” If you’re trying to sell yourself to a potential employer, you are probably not coming across well. You’re a journalist talking to other journalists. It’s a big red flag if you can’t detect your own bullshit. I had no pedigree, and the only credentials I had (have) are the ones I earned along the way with my work. So I always figured that above all else, I had to be smart, curious, informed and prepared – those are hard qualities to fake. So you have to do the work, a lot of it. That’s always been easy because I love what I do.
Dawn: How did you convince The New York Times that you could successfully make the leap from CNN Business, which doesn’t have a print publication?
Rich: I have a lot of experience with print as a reporter and editor. But The Times didn’t hire me to work on print. For a long time, I was an editor and manager of a 24/7 digital newsroom at CNN, which has a TV network. I do the same thing at The Times, which publishes a newspaper. Not for nothing, I learned much from the video journalists I worked alongside at CNN, and I marvel at my Times colleagues who produce a newspaper every day.
Dawn: What advice would you offer to someone trying to get a job at The Times?
Rich: Same as any job — Be honest and genuine. Use your resume and a cover letter to show that you know how to think and write like a journalist: clearly, concretely and concisely. Exhibit your interest, your curiosity and your character.
Dawn: What was the biggest mistake you made in your career?
Rich: I took a job without doing any due diligence. I liked the top editor, who was thoughtful and serious. But he was on his way out, and the newsroom was a clown show – two things I didn’t know because I didn’t do my homework. I was miserable and got out as quickly as possible. Lesson learned. Report the story of the place and the people, as you would any story. And if any potential employer is put off by that, you don’t want to work for them.
Dawn: Who mentored you?
Rich: Too many to name. A mentor is someone you can learn from. Of course, some of the most important mentors I’ve had were above me in whatever hierarchy I happened to be in. But I learn every day from my reporters, other editors, and people in other parts of the newsroom. I’d offer this advice: You are cheating yourself and your career if you don’t look around you for people with life and work experience you don’t have and ask them lots of questions.
Dawn: You’ve overseen teams of reporters. How did you move into leadership roles? What advice would you give a reporter looking to move into editing jobs?
Rich: It’s not glamorous. Don’t do it if you’re not ready to work even harder than you already do, and you are probably already working hard. Editing and managing, or leading, is complicated. You really have to enjoy the work, all aspects of it. Talking about stories, teaching, listening, learning, spending an hour on the phone with a writer, laboring over sentences and paragraphs until they are crystalline. Writing headlines that engage readers, and URLs that stay one step ahead of the bots. And you have to love reporters and reporting. You probably won’t get famous, but it’s incredibly dynamic and intellectually inspiring. I recommend it wholeheartedly.
Dawn Wotapka is a former Wall Street Journal reporter who loves to read and write. She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children. She is a slow runner and an avid Peloton user. To submit tips for her Media Movers column, connect with Dawn on LinkedIn.
