Where Are They Now?

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Scott Goldstein

Written by Carly Schleider
Photography by Justin Tsucalas

Scott Goldstein, Franklin High School class of 2001, is a real-life Clark Kent. As a full-time crime reporter for The Dallas Morning News, he’s the man everyone goes to when they want the late-breaking dirt. However, this behind-the-scenes man lives a more traditional life outside of work.

When he’s not rushing to cover stories or plunking away at his computer, Goldstein finds himself enjoying the company of his two pug roommates, Ray-Ray and Callie, in their uptown Dallas abode. Ever the sports enthusiast, Goldstein named the two snub-nosed creatures after his two favorite hometown athletes — Ray Lewis and Cal Ripken, respectively.

iNSIDER:  Did you write for your high school newspaper?
Scott:  Yes, I wrote for the Franklin Gazette. I didn’t have a beat there, I just covered the general news. My senior year I was the editor-in-chief.

Did you always know you wanted to go into journalism?
Well, I read the Baltimore Sun sports page from a very young age because I was always a big Orioles fan. But from high school on I was pretty sure that’s what I wanted to do — print journalism. I majored in journalism at University of Maryland, College Park.

How did you break into crime reporting?
I had an internship at the Boston Globe while I was still in school, so I left Maryland to cover crime for six months in Boston. Shortly after graduating in ‘05, I started writing for the paper in Dallas.That also began as a one-year internship program that essentially ended up in a job with the paper, but I was doing general news assignments for them for a year-and-a-half. When the opening for a crime reporter came up, it was just a good fit.

Do you do any investigative crime reporting?
Nothing undercover, but there is some investigative stuff. A lot of it is daily grind — what happened last night or what happened over the weekend, longer-term stuff, drug-related stuff. I keep regular hours, so sometimes I’ll run out to a scene if it’s unfolding right then. But I’m not called in themiddle of the night or anything.

What was the most memorable crime you ever covered?
The one that comes to mind is last year the Dallas police chief’s son got into a shooting where he killed a police officer and another man before the police killed him. It was a pretty breaking story with a lot of negative effects on a lot of people.

How about the craziest or funniest crime?
It’s hard to make jokes about crime, but I think there’s also a way to have a human tone without making light of victims and victimization. We have a crime blog, and we can take a little bit of a lighter tone on there ... but never joke. Unless it’s about me, because I was burglarized two months ago [and blogged about it]. The guy stole my University of Maryland T-shirt and he was wearing it when he got caught.

What do you miss the most about Baltimore?
My family, my mother’s cooking and having four true seasons.