“I couldn’t see myself doing journalism anywhere else,” says Marrero (in blue shirt), shown interviewing Trump supporters from Melbourne.
By IVELLIAM CEBALLO
USFSP Student Reporter
TAMPA – Reporter Tony Marrero stood at the entrance of the Tampa Convention Center amid a colorful sea of people.
On one side was a long line as hundreds of supporters waited to get inside to hear Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
On the other side were dozens of protesters holding bold signs like one that read, “Love has no borders.”
Marrero had put his ballpoint pen behind his ear and his old-fashioned reporter’s notebook on a tall flower pot beside him. Now he was shooting video with his Iphone.
As the presidential campaign heated up, the bombastic Trump had attracted crowds and controversy in equal measure, and violence had begun to break out at his rallies. When he visited Tampa on March 14, the day before the state’s important primary, the Tampa Bay Times was ready.
Marrero, another reporter and a photographer were stationed outside the convention center. Two other reporters and a photographer waited inside as people made their way through the doors and security.
“When a story this big – a national story – is in our own backyard, we want to own it,” Marrero said.
Marrero, 40, is the early-morning breaking news reporter in the Times’ Tampa office. He covers crime, fires, weather, and other big events – like a Trump political rally – for the paper and its website, tampabay.com
Marrero was born in Baltimore. He’s lived in Florida since he was 21. He said he always enjoyed writing and knew he wanted to be a journalist so he got a bachelor’s in journalism from the University of South Florida in Tampa.
Marrero was working for Hernando Today, an affiliate of the Tampa Tribune, when the Times hired him in 2009. He covered Hernando courts and Pinellas County government before moving to the paper’s breaking news team.
“The variety really makes it fun,” he said.
He feeds off the energy of his colleagues as they work together, especially on assignments like the Trump rally, he said.
“I couldn’t see myself doing journalism anywhere else.”
Marrero had arrived at the newsroom at 7 a.m.
By then, colleague Marlene Sokol had gotten word of the planned protest and posted it on “Bay Buzz,” the Times’ blog on local politics.
After doing some research on the protest, Marrero looked up from his desk to chat with three colleagues, the only other people in the large newsroom.
On top of everything else going on, his editor needed a weather story. Skip O’Rourke, a photo editor, reminded everyone that he took a photo through their seventh story window to meet a deadline some days ago. They laughed.
“Digital recorder, extra batteries, pens…” Marrero went through what he needed as he packed his laptop bag. He finally decided not to take the laptop because it would be extra weight.
It was 10 a.m. Time to go. The rally was scheduled to begin in four hours.
Marrero left the office with just enough time to pick up a piece of pound cake from Kahwa Coffee, which he ate as he walked to MacDill Park along downtown Tampa’s waterside pathway.
There, Marrero chatted with protesters as they gathered to begin a march to the convention center and back. Many of them shouted, “Build a wall, build it high, let’s put Donald Trump inside.” Reporters followed along, their cameras and microphones in hand.
After the march ended, Marrero conferred with Dirk Shadd, one of the photographers assigned to the story. Scanning the crowd, they agreed to approach someone wearing the most colorful hat.
Shadd and Marrero walked up to a group of young adults and learned that the friends had driven from Melbourne to attend the rally.
By 1:13 p.m., the Times had a story on its website.
One of the best parts of the job, according to Marrero, is the teamwork involved – “especially when you like the people that you work with.”
The Times reporters worked together, using #trumptbt, as they tweeted updates to the story.
When police announced that no one else would be admitted into the rally, the Trump supporters and protesters outside began to argue.
While Shadd worked his way into the middle of the trouble, Marrero watched intently from nearby. He snapped his last photo of the day and struggled to catch what the verbal combatants were saying.
Later, walking back to the newsroom to update the story, Marrero noticed a group of police vehicles that were apparently escorting Trump to the rally.
The convoy passed the site where five developers – using Trump’s name – promised in 2005 to build the tallest, most luxurious condo tower on Florida’s west coast.
The project fizzled. The lot is empty.