So You Wanna Be a Sports Reporter??

This summer I'll be teaching a Sports Reporting course.  It used to be called Sports Writing, but as with everything else in the media, convergence is king.  We're going to take some tours of sports talk radio stations, sports production houses, and (hopefully) some PR operations for a couple of Kansas City's professional sports teams.

As I am preparing for the class and revamping my syllabus and lessons, I want to make sure I'm teaching relevant content.  After all, the field is extremely competitive.  According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, jobs for announcers are expected to decline 11% from 2014-2024, while jobs for reporters are looking at a 9% decrease.  Not that these positions won't be necessary; there is just such STIFF competition for the jobs available.  And those students with formal training AND EXPERIENCE will have the best opportunities.

So that begged my questions: Do I focus on writing game stories and features, or do I teach them about creating news packages?  Do we discuss cutting highlights to read on the desk or spend more time talking about social media? And where does photography fit in?

I decided the best way to attack setting up the class was to reach out to two of my former students.  One, Jason Strickland, is now a sports writer for the Jefferson City News Tribune.  The other, Alex Agueros, is sports editor of the Sedalia Democrat.  Here is some of what they said:

• Stress writing in active voice (which seems to make perfect sense; it's sports.  Who did what?)

• Photography. LOTS of small town newspapers and even radio stations are doing more and more photography, and often the sports reporter is expected to do his or her own.

• Information management is crucial.  Learn how to use programs like Excel and Access to archive information for future use.

• Interviewing. DUH!!! Good interviewing technique has always been essential.

• Speed; This is a deadline-driven industry.  And not just getting the story out fast, but getting it out fast and WELL DONE.  

So, those were the tips I got.   Here I thought I'd get a lot about "social media is king" and "teach them to debate sports, not just write recaps", but instead they focused on some of the intangibles and some of the more common sense tips.  Good stuff from a couple of our grads.

But I wanted more, so I found this bit by Douglas Miller for the American Journalism Review.  In this piece from May 2015, he interviewed ESPN analyst and visiting professor Kevin Blackistone to find out how to get ahead of the competition.  After all, I don't just want to TEACH my students; I want to help them accomplish their goals and find their dream jobs!

Enjoy!

How to Get a Leg Up in a Sports Media Job