In three years as a journalist, Adam Neal has helped cover 100 murders (two dozen of which he was the sole reporter on), the aftermath of one hurricane and been in the midst of two other such storms.
The 1999 Brandon High School graduate who works for the Vero Beach Press Journal in Florida has also done phone-in interviews with CNN, been interviewed by Greta Van Susteren on MSNBC and had stories printed in the New York Times and Washington Post.
It seems Neal has already had a great deal of success for a 26-year-old. But he recently achieved what he calls every journalist’s dream when he was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for community service journalism for an article he did on MySpace.
‘What an honor,? says Neal, who was recommended for the award by the managing editor of the Scripps Howard Treasure Coast Newspapers, which owns the Vero Beach Press Journal and three other dailies.
Neal began his ascent to the pinnacle of journalism as a student at Oakland University. He wrote for the school’s paper, The Oakland Post, had an internship at the Vero Beach Press Journal and graduated from OU with a journalism degree in December 2003. He was set to work at a paper in Wisconsin when he took a vacation to Florida in January 2004 and made a ‘fluke? visit to his former internship in Vero Beach, located two hours north of Miami. The Press Journal’s crime reporter had quit two hours earlier and Neal was hired.
‘In journalism, you have to be willing to move and make sacrifices,? says Neal.
Although his primary role was as a crime reporter, Neal would soon be covering hurricanes. He was sent to the west side of the state to cover the aftermath of Hurricane Charlie in August 2004.
‘It was devastating,? Neal said. ‘It looked like a bomb went off.?
The next month, Neal would be covering Hurricane Frances, a category 2 storm with winds of 110 mph, followed by Hurricane Jeanne a few weeks later, with 125 mph sustained winds, gusting to 150 mph.
‘It’s a surreal experience to cover hurricanes,? says Neal. ‘It wasn’t scary, because I was in the reporter mindset. I was working 24 hours a day.?
He recalls being out in the storms, holding onto his hat and hanging onto stop signs. The reporters drove rented SUVs around in 60 mph winds.
‘Looking back, I think now, ‘that was pretty stupid,?? Neal said. ‘I probably should have gone in a little sooner. All you’re focusing on is the story and finding the best angle… The roofs are off, the trees are down, restaurants are toppled over. It looks like a scene from the war.?
Neal slept in the emergency operation center for the county, where the sheriff and mayor stays and where all decisions are made. Because the power was gone for two weeks with Frances and 10 days with Jeanne, everything had to be done remotely. He used a satellite phone to call reports in to the Press Journal’s sister paper in Naples.
Neal’s stories, overall assessments on the hurricanes, ran on the Associated Press wire, in the New York Times and the Washington Post, as well as his paper, the only source of communication for the community during that time. Reporting on the hurricanes, his first big stories as a cub reporter, made him realize journalism was definitely the field he wanted to be in.
With such a catastrophic event and mandatory evacuations, the newspaper editors told reporters they could leave, but Neal said he wanted to run toward it, not away. His family in Michigan was concerned.
‘I told them the media sensationalizes everything,? laughs Neal.
In covering dozens of rapes and murders as a police beat reporter, Neal says his goal was to approach each story with a non-sensationalized angle.
‘You work to make it a human story, instead of just another kid killed in a drive-by,? he said. ‘Surprisingly, I didn’t become desensitized to it. You gasp a little and still having feelings. These are people, not just stories for me. I’ve covered the worst of the worst.?
Last fall, Neal covered the homicides of the Escobedo family, a mother, father, and their two sons, ages 3 and 4. The family was found murdered on the side of the Florida Turnpike. He became the go-to source for the national media since the police were not releasing information and Neal was getting information from his local sources.
Neal would do several interviews by phone with Greta Van Susteren of MSNBC and would even do a televised interview.
‘I went from being an interviewer to the interviewee,? he recalls.
Neal says his wife of nearly two years, Michelle, a registered nurse, has kept him grounded.
‘Having her be something other than a journalist helps me immensely,? he said. ‘Luckily I have her and it brings me back to reality and tells me that this doesn’t happen to every person every second.?
Getting nominated for a Pulitzer doesn’t happen to every person either. Neal was nominated recently for a story he began working on several months ago after he was tipped off to an inappropriate MySpace page that a local deputy had with derogatory references to the police department and photos of his K-9 partner with a beer can in the dog’s mouth. Neal showed the page, which violated departmental policies, to the sheriff.
Curious about who else might have MySpace pages, Neal began putting in the names of the mayor, sheriff, and county commissioner. None of them had pages, but Florida, like Michigan, has a list of publicly registered sex offenders and when Neal began plugging in those names, pages started appearing. Out of the first four sex offenders he searched MySpace for, he found three.
He eventually put in 550 names of sex offenders in the Treasure Coast area and found what he suspected were more than two dozen sex offenders. It was not illegal for them to have MySpace pages, but it presented a certain moral and ethical dilemma, Neal says, and MySpace officials had no idea they had registered sex offenders online. Law enforcement positively confirmed nine of the sex offenders had MySpace pages and were soliciting ‘friends,? some 14-15 year-old kids. Neal ran the story in December, and sent the story and names to MySpace, which deleted the confirmed sex offenders.
MySpace also partnered with a computer company and cross-referenced sex offender lists as a result of Neal’s story, which made national news.
Neal, who was recently named to assistant news editor, said it was a great way to end his reporting career. At first he didn’t think he would like the editing as much as he does, but says he enjoys working with reporters and being able to have some control over all the stories, working on different angles and making the paper in general better.
‘It’s a way to help the readers have a better paper, instead of honing in on my one story,? Neal said. ‘I might miss writing sometime down the road, but right now I enjoy working with the reporters more.?
He notes he is at a unique stage in newspaper journalism, where the focus has shifted to multi-media, with news stories being told online, as well as through television, radio and through print in newspaper.
‘You can write it four different ways,? he said. ‘My heart is definitely in print. It’s fun to go on national TV and do multi-media but when it comes down to it, you can’t tell the story on TV in 30 seconds. You can’t tell a story (on TV) like you can with words and print.?
Still, he is keeping all his options open and says he is willing to try new things.
He says that now that he has been a guest on Greta Van Susteren’s show, he may even, he laughs, take over her job.