Best journalism advice/tips you ever received

On a slight threadjack, one of the cooler things that I took away from reading a biography on WWII legendary reporter Ernie Pyle 20 years or so ago was that Pyle never took notes when he was out interviewing anyone. He just listened to what they said, and only took out his pad and pencil to write down the soldier's name and hometown.

Of course, that wouldn't happen today, but it was still an important thing to take away. Pyle just would listen to his subjects.

 

You are a woman. If you find that insulting, that's your own problem.

 

No doubt. You can get all wrapped up in scribbling notes or making sure your recorder is functioning properly or looking at your notepad as you ponder your next question that it's easy to stop really listening.

Of course, nobody can memorize quotes, so making sure you don't misquote someone is obviously imperative, too.

 

1) If you're struggling with your baseball gamer, go with the pitcher.

2) It's not the game, it's the people who play it

3) Doesn't hurt to ask "what do you want us to write" sometimes if your game was forgettable. I had a 44-32 girls basketball snotknocker thAt turned out to be a good write when I asked the winning coach and pointed out the details of her defensive accomplishments...

 

Whenever I have to cover soccer, which is rare, I kind of go with No. 3 here.

Nothing against the sport, but I just personally don't care for it, and my knowledge of the strategy of the game is decent but not great. I learn a lot by just asking players and coaches to describe plays or tell me what they thought the important moments/strategies of the game were.

 

I agree.

But I also encounter young writers who like, say, Bill Barnwell. Here's a guy who's not a reporter, and never has been, and kind of makes an active living explaining how bad coaches are at their jobs and how little they understand how to do their jobs.

Or they sabermaticians who think, for example, Dusty Baker, is an idiot.

They not only pretend they know. They pretend they know better.

 

Yeah, but that's the new frontier, particularly digitally. I don't see this sometimes as all that different from the old newspaper columnists who would write scathing opinion pieces 2-3 times per week.

Guys like Barnwell don't claim to be reporters, he just analyzes stats and trends and writes (very long). Much of the time I think he's dead-on when he rips coaches for clock mismanagement. I'm convinced NFL coaches are so busy with so many things they don't bother to do basic math.

However, I would caution young reporters from thinking this is journalism. It's something ENTIRELY different. If you want to do that, find your niche. But don't walk around talking about being a journalist.

 

Youngins want to make money. They want to be on ESPN ripping coaches for clock management or giving praise hands to NBA stars.

I suspect most people perceive Barnwell a kind of journalist.

 

This, a thousand times.

Can't echo the listening point enough, especially in feature writing. Sure, you want to have some ideas in mind on what you want to ask that person. But don't be afraid to scrap that line of thinking if the interview goes in a different direction. Follow up on what is said. Turn the interview into a conversation. You'll make the subject more comfortable and get some nuggets/stories you otherwise wouldn't. You'll also find other sources to talk to about said person just from listening closely to what is said.

 

A lot of them aren't pretending.

I don't understand your point, Alma.

Is there not room for smart analysis in sports coverage? I'm as interested in a cogent analysis of the Bears' wide receiver play as I am a deep dive into John Fox's psyche.

I don't think you are giving a lot of writers enough credit here.

 

This can be true at times and it was what I was taught, as well.

But I think that it became such a mantra that it left an opening for people who understand sports to swoop in and steal a lot of the audience away with smart analysis that smart fans want to read.

It has to be about the games, too. Otherwise, sports are just one big MacGuffin, and I don't think a majority of fans see it that way. The games stand on their own.

 

My one obsession is the Capitals, and I read everything about the previous night's game the next morning, from Japers Rink, RMNB and the Washington Post. You're right. The games matter. Sometimes we lose sight of that. The people matter too. But dangit, sometimes I want to understand exactly WHY the offense was so bad, or why a certain third-pair defenseman is playing above his skill level and should be moved up in the lineup. It all matters.