MAKING HER MARK AT ESPN - Nebraska Alumni Association

PROFILE WINNER, SECOND PLACE 2015 Writing Contest
Charlyne Berens retired in summer 2014 from the UNL College of Journalism and Mass Communications where she was a professor
and associate dean. The author of several books – including “Chuck Hagel: Moving Forward,” “One House: The Unicameral’s Progressive Vision for Nebraska,” “Power to the People: Social Choice and the Populist/Progressive Ideal” and “Leaving Your Mark: The
Political Career of Nebraska State Senator Jerome Warner” – Berens earned a Ph.D. in political science from UNL.
Paula Lavigne and Bob Ley report from ESPN’s “Outside
the Lines” set in their Bristol, Connecticut, studios in June
2015. ESPN photo
Journalist Paula Lavigne
MAKING HER MARK AT ESPN
By Charlyne Berens, ’95, ’00
28 WINTER 2016
Jeff Zeleny remembers it as a logical decision: Send one of your
best reporters into the Husker football lion’s den because “she was
fearless.”
Paula Lavigne remembers it as terrifying, “but I grabbed my
notebook, and I did it.”
It was fall 1995 when Zeleny, now a reporter at CNN, was
editor of the Daily Nebraskan and Lavigne, a junior journalism
major, was a reporter at the student paper. The DN had run two
editorial cartoons critical of a couple of Husker football players,
and, as a result, was banned from football practices and press
conferences.
Zeleny believed the DN had as much right as any other news
source to cover the Huskers. He looked around the newsroom,
spotted Lavigne and told her to head on over to the stadium.
“And don’t let them kick you out.”
She went, she stayed and she got the story. And she learned
The Dallas Morning News hired her in 2003 specifically to
a lesson about how dogged reporting leads to good journalism.
report investigative and data-driven stories. When she wanted
She’s been applying that lesson ever since, in print, online and
to move back to Nebraska in 2007, she joined The Des Moines
on television. She has been an investigative reporter and data
Register, doing similar work but based in Omaha. Now, with
journalist at four newspapers. Since 2008, she’s done the same
ESPN, she continues to work out of the Omaha home she shares
job at ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
with her husband and children, traveling as necessary to do inIt was at ESPN that she helped report what she called “the
person interviews.
perfect storm of stories,” following a tip about rampant highThe plunge into an all-sports medium hasn’t been as difficult
stakes gambling on little league football in South Florida.
as it may sound, Lavigne said. “I’ve always had a working
No media had covered the story, and what “Outside the
knowledge of sports,” and she’s learned more and learned it fast.
Lines” exposed was outrageous, Lavigne said. The ESPN team
“It’s like covering any business; you just work to become an
went to games to observe the betting, talked to former players,
expert,” she said.
to parents and coaches, and did undercover videos.
Of course, moving from print to television is a big shift, too,
Two stories ran in 2011. When the sheriff’s department busted but Lavigne, editor of the Daily Nebraskan in 1997-98, said she
a fake barbershop that was a front for the big-time gambling
enjoys TV, both behind the scenes and when she’s on camera.
operations, the ESPN team followed up with another story
“There’s value in being able to condense your topic to something
about the scandal.
that’s visual and gets to the point,” she said. “Every journalist
The stories made a difference. “From what we’ve heard, it
should think that way.”
really put the fear of God into people,” Lavigne said.
Dwayne Bray, who was an editor at the Dallas Morning News
Then there was the story about stadium food, which Lavigne
when Lavigne worked there and then hired her for ESPN, said
refers to as “the gift that keeps on giving.” She analyzed data
she is “an outstanding investigative reporter because she holds
from every major sports venue in North America to see which
power brokers accountable for their decisions. … She came to
had the greatest number of food safety violations. The story,
ESPN with print and digital experience but has worked hard to
which aired in 2010, got a lot of attention.
become a very good broadcast reporter as well.”
“Our crowning achievement,” Lavigne said, “was that the
Lavigne said she brings the same skills to every story, no
story about bad food at the stadiums actually made Jay Leno’s
matter the medium: curiosity; questioning the status quo; being
monologue on ‘The Tonight Show’.”
persistent, dogged and aggressive; being willing to challenge her
When a food safety whistleblower got fired, Lavigne covered
own perceptions and assumptions.
that, too. “People just ate that up,” she said, no pun intended.
CNN’s Zeleny may have seen all that when he threw her
She still gets calls from people who look to her and “Outside the into the temporary face-off between the DN and the Huskers
Lines” to dig into a side of sports that includes more than just
in 1995. “Paula is now practicing her craft in a medium that
scores and players and standings.
combines all her skills,” he said. “She’s still pushing for answers,
Zeleny may have inspired Lavigne to become a persistent,
asking the smartest questions and doing original and important
assertive reporter, but her classmate Matt Waite taught her the
reporting.
joys of data-driven journalism. Waite, now on the faculty at
“I’m in awe of the journalist Paula has become, but I’m
UNL’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications, said
certainly not surprised.” v
he was absolutely obsessed by the developing field when he and
Lavigne were reporters at the Daily
Nebraskan.
“So anytime I’d come up with
something, I’d be telling people,
‘You’ve got to see this’,” he said.
“Paula was victimized by that more
than anyone else.”
Watching Waite produce a major
data-driven piece on Lincoln’s Malone
neighborhood sold Lavigne on the
technique. “That was the first time I
really ‘got’ the concept of data-driven
journalism, what you could do with
it,” she said.
She put her new digital skills
to work at her first job at the St.
Lavigne talked with attorney Tim Jansen in February 2015
Joseph (Missouri) News-Press and
in Tallahassee, Florida, for a story on how the criminal
then polished them to a shine at
justice system treats athletes accused of crimes. Photo by
The News-Tribune in Tacoma,
Nicole Noren/ESPN
Washington.
NEBRASKA MAGAZINE 29