Video: An Evening with Pulitzer Prize Winner Jimmy Breslin

By Daniel Bachhuber | Last updated on Wednesday, April 13th, 2011 at 6:27 pm

In a special appearance at the CUNY J-School on Apr. 12, legendary New York City reporter Jimmy Breslin reminisced about his long career. Investigative journalist in residence Tom Robbins moderated. One of Jimmy Breslin’s rules for finding a good story is “go to the loser ahead of the winner.” Here’s the rest of the evening in tweets:


Two legends of new york city reporting: robbins and breslin http://twitgoo.com/239zxf #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:08 pm via HTC PeepReplyRetweetFavorite
@GDeckernews
Geoff Decker


#cunybres jimmy b latest book about dodgers great owner branch rickey and his acquisition of jackie robinson
April 12, 2011 6:23 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite
@GDeckernews
Geoff Decker


Rickey spent four hours abusing robinson, calling him n word before he signed, to prep him for major league racism #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:26 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite
@GDeckernews
Geoff Decker


Without robinson, no obama; without rickey, no baseball integration – breslin … Disagree … Civil rights era was a decade away #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:30 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite
@GDeckernews
Geoff Decker


“Brooklyn is gonna show the world how to live.”– Breslin quoting a dodger higher up #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:30 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@katie_honan
katie honan


Breslin: For any story, go to the loser before the winner. “The gravedigger theory.” #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:34 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@cunyjschool
CUNY J-School


Breslin: I still prefer the typewriter. Computers are “bundles of errors.” #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:16 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@cunyjschool
CUNY J-School


According to Breslin, in 1989, Donald Trump took full page ads in all major NYC papers pushing for the death penalty. #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:43 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@cunyjschool
CUNY J-School


Also according to Breslin, “media” is the plural of “mediocrity” [laughter in the room] #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:45 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@cunyjschool
CUNY J-School


Breslin: “Go out and report. That’s what two feet are for.” #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:55 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@cunyjschool
CUNY J-School


Q: Any special tips for finding the story? Breslin: “Shut up and listen.” #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:57 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@cunyjschool
CUNY J-School


Breslin’s writing technique: “You sit down with cigarettes and coffee and write…for hours and hours.” #cunybres
April 12, 2011 6:56 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite
@mstachyra
Mary Stachyra


Q: What was writing in 3rd person all about? Breslin: “Me.” I wanted to entertain myself first. #cunybres
April 12, 2011 7:05 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@cunyjschool
CUNY J-School


Q: How do you get good copy past a bad editor? Breslin: Be offensive, repeatedly ask “What doing spending all this time reading?!” #cunybres
April 12, 2011 7:08 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite
@cunyjschool
CUNY J-School

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