Community Interest
A Day in the Life of LNP Journalist John Walk
In partnership with Fig, 'A Day in the Life' is an ongoing series about the importance of local news and how it gets made, written by LNP | LancasterOnline.
The internet, unregulated social media, and the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) have knocked local journalism off its foundation. Since the mid-2000s, more than 2,500 newspapers have stopped publishing and employment at U.S. newspapers has declined more than 50 percent. Many remaining newspapers are now owned by public companies or hedge funds without regard to the communities they purportedly serve.
But not here, not in Lancaster. In Lancaster, we are incredibly fortunate to still have a locally-owned news organization with reporters like John Walk, a life-long Lancastrian who cares deeply about this community. In the story below, John gives us a peek into ‘A Day in the Life’ of a local news reporter.
Meet John Walk
Features & Profile Writer | jwalk@lnpnews.com
As I grew up in Manor Township, my mom nurtured my passion for writing by subscribing to the newspaper. That ongoing exposure to local reporting gave me an understanding of how journalism serves the community, and developed in me a childhood dream to someday work for my hometown newspaper.
That dream was later fulfilled when I began working for LNP | LancasterOnline on Feb. 23, 2015.
To that point, I had spent most of my career as a high school sports reporter, a result of my father sharing with me his love for sports. While I tried but never succeeded as a student-athlete, the lessons learned through athletics proved valuable two months into the job here in Lancaster when, at age 27, I was diagnosed with stage two Hodgkin lymphoma.
In the months after I finished treatment, a fertility doctor informed me that chemotherapy likely wiped out my ability to conceive children. I felt helpless in the next moment to dry the tears from the eyes of my wife, who wanted nothing more than to be a mother.
We nearly believed this outcome was inevitable when our first pregnancy ended in miscarriage, confirmed at Women & Babies Hospital in East Hempfield Township on the night of Dec. 27, 2017.
Exactly six years and one week later, my wife gave birth to a baby boy inside that same facility in the early morning hours of Jan. 2, 2024. We now have three children. All have been conceived naturally.
These hardships have given me a passion to be a messenger of human-interest stories about how folks have overcome challenges. In order to dedicate more time to telling such stories, I took on a features/profiles writer role with LNP | LancasterOnline in April 2023.
My Christian faith has been a guiding light through the dark times. But the experiences from sports in my youth have also assisted me in navigating challenges in adulthood, like picking yourself up when you get knocked down, growing from failure, being a good teammate, and putting forth effort to achieve goals.
It’s why I still help our sports department by covering high school football games on Friday nights in the fall.
Doing so has become a bit of a sacrifice of sorts now that I’m a family man who values the moments with my wife and kids at dinner and bedtime.
But that sacrifice on Fridays is worth it not only because I love football, but because I know the value these games hold to people in the community in a broader sense, and the tools that student-athletes can get from sports to better prepare them for trials later in life.
A Day in the Life
Here’s a look at my day as a reporter for LNP | LancasterOnline, on Sept. 6, Week Three of the high school football season:
7:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.: With my wife working a part-time shift on weekdays, I’m on daddy daycare during this time with our 4-year-old daughter, 3-year-old son, and 8-month-old son. The morning consists of breakfast, reading books and a trip to Daniel’s Den Playground in Manor Township.
1:30 p.m.: After a nap, I begin my workday, which soon consists of phone calls, emails, watching highlights of the Kansas City Chiefs’ season-opener from the night before (to keep up to speed on Chiefs offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, a Manheim Central High School alum) and preparing for that night’s high school football game I’ll be covering—ELCO at Lancaster Catholic.
5 p.m.: Dinner with family, soon followed by a drive to Lancaster Catholic’s Crusader Stadium.
6 p.m.: Plug in and set up my laptop in the press box of the stadium, hit the field to shake the hands of coaches, referees and other familiar faces, capture pre-game football and marching band video for social media.
7 p.m.: Kickoff, return to press box to keep track of live stats during the game (pass plays, run plays, first downs, penalties, punts, turnovers, touchdowns, etc.) and live-post scoring updates to social media.
9:30 p.m.: Game is final, hit the field for post-game interviews with players and coaches.
Photos by: Andy Blackburn, LNP | LancasterOnline photographer
9:43 p.m.: Tally final stats from the game from inside my parked car.
10 p.m.: File box score via email, with laptop and Internet service from my mobile hotspot provided by my smartphone.
10:35 p.m.: File game story via email.
10:41 p.m.: Post story on LancasterOnline, post link to story on social media.
10:50 p.m.: Finish updating individual player stats from the game online, shut down laptop, head home.
11:10 p.m.: Arrive home.
Support Local News
When communities lose their local news media, they lose the work of reporters like John Walk. Communities without local news media are negatively impacted in quantifiable ways: municipal borrowing costs increase, civic engagement diminishes, fewer people run for public office, and polarization increases.
Local news media maintains core community connections, it informs and educates, it gives voice to all, it promotes the local economy, and it keeps government and elected officials accountable at every level. Effective local media has the power to connect and unify rather than divide and polarize. It is a critical ingredient in creating and sustaining democracy itself.
For this reason, please support LNP | LancasterOnline by subscribing or donating at supportlocal.news. We’re counting on you, because you count on us.
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