Professional background

2009-08-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

Four months into my new communications job with theWashington State Department of Labor & Industries our state suffered the worst industrial disaster in at least 40 years whenseven men and women were killed in an explosion at the Tesoro refinery inAnacortes, Wash.

I learned critical lessons about communications and public affairs that day –

· Be responsive – Ireturned every call and every email I received that day.

· Know your subject –Despite the onslaught of phone calls, I made sure to attend important briefings.

· Offer your bestadvice – I pushed for an agency press release, against the inclinations of some,even though news of the disaster had been widely reported.

Though my career began in journalism, I now work in publicaffairs. There are lessons from journalismthat still serve me in my new career. I work well under pressure, write well andfast, and have years of training that helps me absorb information quickly and disseminateit clearly.

My reporting began in community news. I wrote for a small weeklypaper before moving on to the Orange County Register in Santa Ana, Calif. In1994, I moved to Tacoma and covered general news, crime, and courts for The(Tacoma) News Tribune. Later, I became a crime reporter for the SeattlePost-Intelligencer, a job I held until the paper shut down its print publicationand became an online-only news site.

As a reporter, I covered the Makah Indian whale hunt; spent timewith a meth cook to cover the meth epidemic in Pierce County; visited with a UWastronomer to learn about the passing of the comet Hyakutake in 1996; and wroteabout a personal trip to Texas and Mexico with my father as he hunted for thelost mining town where he was raised.

During my time with the P-I, I reported extensively on issues of police accountability, the growth of gangs inthe Seattle region, domestic violence and conditions in the local jails.

Early on, I began tracking the growing use of Tasers by local lawenforcement. The devices deliver a 50,000-volt charge to people shot with them.Though Tasers have been around for years (who doesn't recall their use as partof the infamous1991 Rodney King arrest), it wasn't until Tasers became smallerand more reliable that police departments began adopting their use for regularpatrol officers. Here are just a few of the stories I wrote over the years onthe subject:

* The growth of Taser use, Feb. 2004

* I take one for the team and itreally hurts, Feb. 2004*

* Pregnant woman shot with Taser for failing to signtraffic ticket, May 2005

* An interview with the president of Taser International,Aug. 2005

* The Taser Series, Nov. 2004

Other features were driven by my own interests. Because I ride a motorcycle, aspike in rider fatalities spurred me to write about motorcycle safety courses. I used to loveSeattle's little amusement center, the Fun Forest, so I interviewed its long-timemanagers, who met at the park as teenagers. Over the years, when interviewingrelatives of murder victims, I often asked how they learned of the death. Theirstories compelled me to want to write a piece on the process of notifying next of kin when a violent death takes place. And,as a fan of a 1980s TV show, I wrote about it when it wasreleased on DVD, even tracking one of its former actresses now living in Francefor a telephone interview. Sadly, the paper would not fly me out to France forthe interview.

Reporting helped me become an excellent interviewer and researcherwell-versed in background investigations and familiar with municipal, state andfederal courtroom proceedings. I edited the P-I's Saturday web-onlypublication, editing both story copy and entries for the staff-written blogs.

These days, my focus is communications andpublic affairs. Draftingcommunication plans, media management, press releases – this makes up the bulk of my days. The work requires I stay abreast of popularsocial media platforms. You’ll find me on Linkedin, Facebook, and Twitter.

Hector Castro

Professional background