“City government is the layer of government that has the most impact on people,” said Andrew Ryan, a member of the Boston Globe’s investigative reporting team, Spotlight. Ryan spoke to a class of Northeastern journalism students on Oct. 26 about his time and experiences as a beat reporter at Boston City Hall.
Ryan started at the Globe in 2006 as a breaking news reporter. Four years later, in 2010, he became City Hall bureau chief and covered the final term of former Mayor Thomas Menino and the first term of Mayor Martin Walsh before moving onto investigative reporting.
While he had the title of bureau chief, Ryan said “there was a bureau of one, which was me. It was good for me, [but] kind of bad for democracy,” especially because the Globe was the only newsroom there. He discussed the importance of people being aware of what was happening in their local government and how it was his job at the time to keep the public well-informed.
City Hall is an “ugly, oppressive-feeling building,” he said. “As a beat, it could be kind of brutal, literally.”
While covering Menino’s last term, Ryan said that there was continuous messaging to make the mayor look good. “Generally in City Hall, there was one person that mattered and that was the mayor,” he said. “Everyone tried to give [him] credit for everything.”
He recounted talking to a young staffer about an app they had developed, but they had given credit to Manino, who didn’t even have a computer on his desk, according to Ryan. He said that everyone working to make Menino look good meant that they weren’t always transparent and it made covering the inner workings of City Hall hard.
Being directed to only write stories about one person could be monotonous and make a beat particularly difficult, but Ryan sought out new sources and stories.
He said that one way to keep a beat interesting is to follow your curiosity and let seemingly unimportant information lead to unique stories. Ryan talked about a story he wrote about the man in charge of operating the bell above Faneuil Hall, which he did so from across the street with a little remote control. He expressed how fun that story was for him and how those pieces can become a favorite of beat reporters.
Ryan kept in touch with the man for the rest of his time as City Hall bureau chief and could often get more context on his more serious or important stories from the people he got to know through these lighthearted pieces. “The more people you meet, the more people you have for context, the better,” said Ryan.
Throughout his time at the Globe, Ryan has centered his work around local government and keeping public officials accountable. His work as an investigative journalist reflects his time and work as a beat reporter for Boston City Hall.
While on the Spotlight team, Ryan has primarily contributed to stories surrounding the accountability of local officials, including politicians, police officers, and other important public figures.
Two notable pieces he’s done while on the Spotlight team include “68 Blocks,” a series about the Bowdoin-Geneva neighborhood in Dorchester that won the Online News Association’s Knight Award for Public Service and an investigative series and podcast on Aaron Hernandez, a former NFL player convicted of first-degree murder.
Recently, Ryan’s stories have focused on police departments and local officials. Ryan started a series entitled “Behind the Shield: Inside the Boston Police Department” talking about racial disparities inside of police stations. In the first installment of the series, Ryan and his cowriter Evan Allen reveal that racial inequities run deep within the Boston Police Department, based off of the Boston Globe’s analysis of police data. Their analysis demonstrates that white officers are less likely to face punishment and more likely to receive awards and promotions than their Black counterparts.
From breaking news, a City Hall beat, and finally investigative reporting, Ryan has always been engaged in covering local politics to help people understand the things impacting their day to day lives.
