Havelock Scoop

If newspapers are the first draft of history, reporters’ blogs are something akin to the adhesive notes and fast food receipts a historian accumulates while producing that primitive manuscript.

If you’ve ever wanted to know the story behind a story — like what Woodward and Bernstein ate while they wrote the dispatches that would ultimately end a presidency — you might enjoy reading the Havelock Scoop, a blog where I’ll provide context, commentary and insight on the process of recording Havelock history as it happens in words and images. 

Not that I’d dream of comparing myself to the famed Washington Post scribes, or that I’d entertain the notion of boring you with my lunch menu. It’s just a quirky analogy to explain this foray into the blogosphere, as the vast network of online journals is sometimes called. 

Now, for the briefest of introductions: I’m Corey Friedman, the Havelock News’ reporter and photographer. I moved to New Bern in 2002 with much of my extended family, a close-knit East Coast clan with Irish roots. Prior to landing in eastern North Carolina, I made my home in the suburban sprawl of central Florida, about 20 miles north of Tampa. 

I interned and later became a part-time reporter at the Sun Journal before starting an alternative newspaper with two live-in business partners in August 2005. We suspended publication early the next year, and I joined the Havelock News staff on Feb. 8, 2006. 

I’m a student of comedy who often sporadically quotes George Carlin and Denis Leary, much to the chagrin of some members of my small social circle. My favorite living writer is humorist Dave Barry, the only newspaper humor columnist to win a Pulitzer Prize for distinguished social commentary. 

My political views are moderate. I do, however, advocate the death penalty for whoever invented mayonnaise. 

It’s my hope that this blog will stimulate conversations about what’s making news in Havelock and give readers an opportunity to provide me and my editors with feedback, criticism, news tips and story ideas.

Welcome, and thanks for reading.