Millerton News reporter Kaitlin Lyle prepares for next phase

MILLERTON — It is with heavy hearts filled with the very best of wishes that those at The Millerton News and the entire Lakeville Journal Co. say adieu to full-time reporter Kaitlin Lyle, whose last day with this newspaper will be Friday, July 8.

Lyle, a Sharon, Conn., native and resident, is about to take the take the next step in her life’s journey, as she begins as a weekly reporter for The News-Times in Danbury, Conn., a daily newspaper that serves the Greater Danbury, area.

“I am going to be taking on a lot more responsibilities at The News-Times, because it operates as a daily,” said Lyle, who has been with The Millerton News for the past five years, since Jan. 13, 2017. “I will be working to get stories together as quickly as possible and to get them published online; some will appear in the company’s weekly publications.”

Those publications include the Ridgefield Spectrum, a weekly newspaper, and the New Milford Times, a daily newspaper.

According to Hearst Connecticut Managing Editor Dan Brechlin, the company has eight daily newspapers and 14 weeklies in the state with a team that writes for all of its publications. Lyle will be a part of that team, with her articles also going online.

The company’s website is www.hearst.com, with The News-Times specific address being www.hearst.com/newspapers/the-news-times.

“I guess I’m looking forward to using my skills in a broader coverage area and seeing what I can do there,” said Lyle. “I think I’m going to have fun in the general sense and see what the needs are in the community, and then maybe develop my own beat. I love doing business profiles and community profiles, as well as updates on how schools are doing, but that didn’t happen overnight.”

In fact, Lyle’s journey to becoming the very recognizable roving reporter for The Millerton News took time — and grit and determination. She took her first steps back when still a student at Central Connecticut State University.

While studying a full course load with a focus on creative writing, Lyle joined the school newspaper, The Recorder. She gravitated toward writing for the arts and entertainment section, noting it was “not really, nearly like The Millerton News,” which she described as “the whole ride.”

That early training though, whet her appetite for what a life as a journalist could be like. After her junior year of college she decided to sign up for an internship at The Lakeville Journal.

“I didn’t know I wanted to be a journalist until I was 20, and just as I realized that I reached out to The Lakeville Journal to see if they had any openings for their internship program,” she said, adding she was eating dinner with her boyfriend, Tom, at the time when she told him that she wanted explore journalism as a possible career choice.

The Lakeville Journal has a reputation for intensive, three-week internships that are very hands on. Often times, interns will continue their sessions for the entire summer or winter, depending on when they are doing their training. The interns do not get paid, but what they learn at The Journal is priceless.

Interns are taught by newspaper professionals in the field and are swiftly handed pens and pads to start interviewing subjects and writing articles themselves, along with cameras to start taking their own photographs.

It’s trial by fire, and in less than a month’s time they quickly discover whether they love the life of a newsman (or woman) or if they loathe it.

Lyle loved it.

“I liked the idea of telling stories; I liked the idea of being there when things are happening,” she said.

Once her three-week internship ended, she knew after school, she wanted to be a reporter. After graduation, a position opened up at The Millerton News.

Knowing how professionally she had handled herself during her internship, her strong work ethic and her cooperative nature all bode well for Lyle’s likelihood of getting the job, in addition to her other qualifications. She was hired, and has been a valuable addition to The Millerton News team ever since.

Lyle said she’s gained from the experience as well.

“I think I got a deeper dive into prioritizing and learning how to assert myself, to dig deeper if a story was not complete, to keep digging into other angles,” she said. “I went for four weeks interviewing the family, the fire chief and the community when I had to cover the Yang house fire last November.”

While Lyle said such assignments were certainly difficult, there have been many parts of the job she wouldn’t trade for the world.

“I love that I’ve been so close to these communities I’ve covered the last five years,” said Lyle. “I didn’t know much about them, which businesses are time-honored, how government worked, the school communities, what sets people apart from everyone else. I like doing a deeper dive into the communities I thought I knew to learn there was so much more to uncover.”

Now it’s time for Lyle to move on to the next leg of her journey, to uncover new details about other parts of the world.

While we will miss her greatly — her sunny smile, guileless charm, old-fashioned courtesy and endless optimism — we wish her the very best of luck and a future as bright as her disposition.