Jumping to news

Dye, what many new siders go through on one election night, most sports guys go through on a constant basis.

 

Where do you want to be in 5 years?

If it's in sports, don't do it. You may not get back. News editors dont like losing reporters ... to Sports of all places.

Yes, working in news may help your reporting skills, but you can improve your skills while working in any section, as long as you stay dedicated.

 

Dye,

I'm speaking from experience here. I'm not saying newsies don't work or don't feel pressure, but it's just a little much to see the post-electino night celebrations and pats on the back. It's your freaking job.

This is the newsroom equivilant of basketball players chest-bumping for the first bucket of the game or a defensive back making a tackle 30 yards down field, then talking smack. It's your job. Nobody should be impressed when you do your job, particularly when other departments are working "election night" every single night.

Maybe I overstated it, but I'm speaking from experience. It's just silly to see all the back patting and hand slapping over a couple of nights a year every couple years. Sitting at your desk waiting for the county clerk to call with results for a 10-inch "election gamer" and having quotes from both sides so you can plug them in to fit your story is hardly worth all the celebration.

Want to celebrate and dole out pizzas for covering fatalities, school shootings, police standoffs, murder investigations, hell, even city council meetings? Go ahead. Election night? Not so much.

Sorry, but that's how I see it.

 

I have no doubt there are stories as you describe: a call from the clerk with the tallies, etc.

But there are also bigger elections where the reporter had damn well better be versed in the issues in play and get an analysis of how that affected the results.

 

damn dye, why did you have to leave that apple hanging like that?

i'll bet you hit "post" and then wished you had it back.

 

I lived on both sides -- I've done the Friday nights in sports, and I've done the election nights in news.

For that matter, I've also done the four-stories-on-deadline work on the cop beat.

They're all different animals with different challenges, different factors, etc.

The lest difficult of the three (though still challenging) is the sports deadline -- with good relationships in place, you get ADs and coaches to call in all the boxes themselves. You chase a few, sure, but you know most are getting called in.

The middle of the road is the election night coverage. In our area, it's 29 counties with a full ballot, and stories (plural) for almost every news reporter on staff. And that's if -- IF -- the voting machines work right. You've got 2-3 people trying to compile full results for multiple races in 29 counties, posting to the Web site live, and dealing with county clerks who'd rather you quit fucking calling them every so often for updates. Then, when they're done, they're out the fucking door to party headquarters to drink beer with their buddies, not answering their cellphone, leaving you to scramble for the results through a second or third option.

Hardest? Four cops stories on deadline. In one three-week period, this happened to me four times. One night there was a murder and a murder-suicide the same night.

At least with elections and sporting events, you know when shit's scheduled to happen.

 

But that's the fun part, not knowing what the funk is happening and reacting.

 

Don't give in to the Dark Side of the Force, Luke.

 

Well, let me end the trend.

Been on the news design/editing desk for 9 months now, and I will NEVER go back to sports. I absolutely love it.

Of course, being in South Florida, local news here is exceptional and far from boring. But I digress.

I had 17 years in sports, working in one place and reading about all my favorite pro and college teams. That was a dream job. Now I'm more than a thousand miles from home at at a big newspaper, sports just wasn't the same.

Top Five reasons to leave sports for news:

5) No prep drivel. Ever.
4) No prep drivel. Ever. Or the little snots' parents (Sorry, this one was worth repeating). OK, a real No. 4 reason ... Friday and Saturday shifts are actually slow and pleasureable.
3) Actually have a dinner hour, where I can leave the building if I wish. No more eating at my desk.
2) More than half of the veteran newsstaff at my SoFla paper, including my boss and the managing editor, came up through the minors in sports. There's probably a reason they aren't in sports anymore and elect to be in news, eh?
1) I leave between 11:30-midnight every day (while starting at the same time as sports ... 4:30). I'm at the bar (if I want) by midnight-12:30, or home chilling with a cocktail and the TV. The sports dudes are hanging around for West Coast scores and updating the later editions and don't get out until 1:30ish.
'Nuff said.