Disclosures

This is where I will post any potential biases or conflicts of interest. I do not feel the below work or relationships cloud my ethics as a journalist, but transparency is of the utmost importance.

If you have any questions or comments, contact me here. To see a more complete list of my work and professional experiences here.

  • I have contributed to uwishunu.com, an arts and entertainment blog for Philadelphia, that is a product of the Greater Philadelphia Tourism and Marketing Corp.
  • I worked with Eugene Martin, a filmmaker and Temple University professor, and he became a mentor of mine from January 2007 onward.
  • I volunteered at the Village of Arts and Humanities in the Fairhill neighborhood of central North Philadelphia from January 2007 to May 2008.
  • I have worked and volunteered in a variety of schools and programs administered by the Philadelphia School District, including, but not limited to, Freire Charter School and the Franklin Learning Center, between January 2005 and My 2008.
  • I reported for the Philadelphia Inquirer from December 2005 to May 2006 and again during summer 2008.
  • I attended Temple University and was involved in a variety of organizations, most notably The Temple News, from August 2004 to May 2008.
  • I have been politically registered as an Independent, affiliated with no political party, since spring 2004, when I first registered to vote.

I have listed the above facts because some may think they could affect my ability to fill my roll as a freelance journalist and blogger here.

On this professional site, I blog about being a young freelance journalist in Philadelphia – with central themes on pitching, writing, researching, networking and happenings in cities everywhere.

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ChristopherWink.com by Christopher Wink is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

Blogging elsewhere in 2008: a highlight reel

I did a lot of blogging here and elsewhere in 2008. Care for a review?

Publications:

  • Super Tuesday Blog — writing about a younger perspective on the 2008 presidential primaries for WHYY, the Philadelphia NPR affiliate
  • Broad & Cecil — a news blog I helped launch for The Temple News, my college newspaper
  • Philadelphia Partisan Politics — a blog I created to chronicle writing my undergraduate honors thesis
  • Capitol Ideas — adding state government reporting to the Harrisburg blog of the Allentown Morning Call
  • WDSTL — a travel blog and video podcast I maintained with a friend while backpacking Europe

Below see some specific posts from those publications.

Continue reading Blogging elsewhere in 2008: a highlight reel

10 books Philadelphians should have to read: The best Philly books

Updated: I have a longer list of books about Philadelphia with a good reputation here.

There is a lot of reading to be done about Philadelphia.

Let me show you the 10 books you have to read if you’re from, living in or going to the Philadelphia region, including a handful of which you should read regardless of geography.

Continue reading 10 books Philadelphians should have to read: The best Philly books

My Pennsylvania State Capital To-do List: what you have to do in Harrisburg

Today is my last day in Harrisburg.

A buddy and I are packing up my life from a summer-long post-graduate internship covering state government in Pennsylvania’s capitol. After visiting the 30th annual Pennsylvania Chili cook off here in Harrisburg who knows when I’ll be back.

So, here’s my Harrisburg to-do list and how I fared this summer.

Continue reading My Pennsylvania State Capital To-do List: what you have to do in Harrisburg

Best sports cities in the country

Looking for the best city to cheer for the blue team over the red team?

Forbes magazine begged for attention as it often does with a new list. This gets personal, ranking 29 sports metro areas in the country by winning percentages and ticket prices compared to cost of living.

What do sports fans spend the most time grousing about? Above all else, it’s lousy teams or high ticket prices.

Woe is the fan forced to put up with both at once. Who wants to pay premium prices to sit in the stands and watch the losses mount? Fans in Miami know about that. Over the past year, the city’s four major sports teams–the Dolphins, Marlins, Heat and Panthers–have combined to win just 40% of their games while fans have forked over money for tickets and accouterments at the seventh-highest rate among 29 major sports metros.

As the Inquirer points out today, Philadelphia was neither among the 10 worst nor the three best – no others were ranked.

Continue reading Best sports cities in the country

10 people on TV I don't hate

Photo from Akira's Flickr: http://flickr.com/photos/akira1985/2105526680/

*Addition amended (9/5/08, 7 P.M.)

PEOPLE ON TV ARE OFTEN VILIFIED, criticized and laughed at by others. I have been known on occasion to do the same, considering most less than those in the print news tradition I so admire. As penance, after the jump, in no particular order, are the 10 people on TV I like most.

Continue reading 10 people on TV I don't hate

The 10 journalists I respect, admire the most

I am working in Harrisburg. State government reporting is, you might say, the junior varsity of Capitol reporting. Pennsylvania does feature the largest full time state legislature in the country, but Harrisburg is not D.C., even I can admit this.

So, there are those who point to Washington D.C. as the home of the world’s greatest reporters – covering the most powerful force in the world certainly requires a deal of talent and influence. Even those in Harrisburg take covering this big State Legislature very seriously, understandably so.

But there are elements to journalism that I can’t help but think matter more to me, interest me more, that serve a great value, particularly as the newspaper industry needs to move towards community stories.

Government oversight is a fundamental, but here, in no particular order, is a list of the journalists I respect and admire most outside of the pressure cooker of U.S. Capitol coverage.

Continue reading The 10 journalists I respect, admire the most

Look, another list that criticizes Philadelphia

philadelphia.jpg

Well, if there’s anything that media has figured out in this age of failure, it is that lists sell. Particularly lists stacking and ordering cities, something everyone takes pride in, even as people continue to leave them. So it is no surprise that Forbes magazine recently came out with a list ordering cities by a ‘misery’ code.To come to their conclusions Forbes made all sorts of quasi-scientific sounding scales and used all sorts of measures. Yeah.Philadelphia is in the top five, top place went to Detroit.To see the list, complete with the numbers Forbes came up with, check after the jump. Continue reading Look, another list that criticizes Philadelphia