Jumping to news

ha, after making that statement, i know you have, indeed, been to aberdeen.

but, if you can get past the 'deen and sister city hoquiam, anybody'd love the location right next to the pacific, though.

 

Sirs, Madames,

It is what you make of it or what it makes of you. "The jump" brings to mind Carl Jung. James Joyce asked Jung to explain the difference between Joyce's mind versus that of his schizophrenic daughter:

Quoth Jung: "She falls. You jump."

YHS, etc

 

or even a better question: what did freud make of it when his mother jumped without wearing a bra?

 

For too long it has been an us against them mentality between news and sports. While there may be some who can't write sports and vice versa, I'm from the belief that if you are a professional writer and have the ability to do both, you should be allowed to do what you feel. I wish others in hiring positions would see it it that way but such as life.

 

There's no doubt that the basic tools used in sportswriting are transferable to the news desk. I'd even bet that sportswriters would be more cautious than most news folks.

Having said that, there truly are some differences to covering the news that make that realm potentially more difficult. I hope everyone would agree to sweating bullets in Iraq is a whole lot more difficult than covering the Broncos game. Of course, most news people aren't in Iraq and sit on their fat asses just like the sports guys. But it's worth noting that there's the potential for some pretty hairy situations on the news side that would be infrequent at best on the sports side.

 

Look, every story has to have a who, what, when, where and why. furthermore, I've been at too many sports events that have become news ecents, for exambple, two gang fights, a stabbing, a woman giving birth at center court, etc.

 

I started my career in sports but have spent most of it in news or business. And I'm glad, mostly for the hours.
I will say, though, that my sports experience made me a much better, livelier, writer, and that some of the best news side writer/reporters at places I've worked have been former sports guys. I think sports teaches you how to find the "story" and tell it, and that's a skill many metro sections, still mired in the 5 w's and the inverted pyramid, could use more of.

 

amen irish. the longest decade i ever spent was the year and a half i was a city editor.

i think there's also something to be said about a work eithic in sports that you'll never find in news. news people act as though journalism is manual labor.

 

Tom Petty is usually a fucking idiot but I halfheartedly agree with him here. Fuckin' idiot, Tom Petty.

 

wow, you're hired. feel better?

 

Tom makes a great point about work ethic in sports, which sets me up perfectly for a slight rant/threadjack based on my experience working both sides.

It never ceases to amaze me when an election rolls around and newsies are on ultra-super high alert. The desk drones on and on about how their one night of not having every story in by 7 p.m. is going to end civilization as we know it. All the writers are crapping themselves because they are going to have to write 10 inches - 10 INCHES [gasp] - recalling an election. They'll likely get deadline pushed back an hour in order to accomodate this incredible feat. All the while they munch on free pizza and drone on and on about how tough they've got it.
Following these one or two nights of "hard work" [the ones that come every couple of years], a company-wide e-mail will be sent out praising news for accomplishing the impossible.  : Managing Editor praises his workers like a mom praises a baby for its first unassisted trip to the bathroom.
It's a bit silly.

[end rant]


Point being, you've worked in sports, you can certainly handle the "pressure" of being on newsside.

 

OK, now the bullshit is starting to pile up. Back on Page 1, I knew a post like Terd's was destined to come floating down the creek like a dead wino.

The posts before that were somewhat true. News stories could use some life.

But it's simply ignorant to say election night is the only night newsies have to stay past 7. Ever been there when the police scanner is popping on a summer night, and some poor slob has to churn out three stories? Sometimes one of them is a four-vehicle accident with fatalities.

Fortunately, that doesn't happen often. But it does happen.

There are many other examples.