If you're a preps writer, how not to move up

[Ace]

When in doubt, do a notes column.

 

[shotglass]

Many prep writers, and I have friends who are this, are the toasts of the community. A good prep writer turns into a mini celebrity. Peole always say thank you when they come to games, and how much they liked the stories etc.... This guy would down play every negative story, unless that story affected the team. He feeling is "They are kids, they make mistakes." He doesn't bury negastive news, but he takes the edge of when he writes it. Makes it a soft landing.

Whatever we think of this, there is a role for this type of ambassador at a paper. He is the guy who gets invited to speak at dinners and talk to students. Just make sure you only have 1, and don't give him the juicy stories.

That's really well stated. And I didn't realize I thought that way until I read it. There IS a place for somebody like that ... just not a staff full of them.

 

[Ace]

Many prep writers, and I have friends who are this, are the toasts of the community. A good prep writer turns into a mini celebrity. Peole always say thank you when they come to games, and how much they liked the stories etc.... This guy would down play every negative story, unless that story affected the team. He feeling is "They are kids, they make mistakes." He doesn't bury negastive news, but he takes the edge of when he writes it. Makes it a soft landing.

Whatever we think of this, there is a role for this type of ambassador at a paper. He is the guy who gets invited to speak at dinners and talk to students. Just make sure you only have 1, and don't give him the juicy stories.

That's really well stated. And I didn't realize I thought that way until I read it. There IS a place for somebody like that ... just not a staff full of them.

Yes, and I can accept them not doing the negative stories, as long as they are bringing them to editors and not squashing them.

 

[shotglass]

Yeah. Major caveat there.

 

[Breakyoself]

I think you can do both negative stories and be a positive ambassador at the same time. You just have to be out there a lot and have people know where you are coming from.

 

[Ace]

I think you can do both negative stories and be a positive ambassador at the same time. You just have to be out there a lot and have people know where you are coming from.

That's the ideal. I just know that when you try to get this type of guy to do those stories, they just seem to fall into a black hole.

 

[TyWebb]

The thing that helped me most when breaking prep stories was knowing and regularly talking to the minor characters - the trainers, the announcer, the team mom, etc. The football announcer at a team I once covered told me that a starting linebacker had been kicked off the team because he flipped off the coach at practice. I was working at a weekly, but my story ran before our rival weekly AND the major daily that covered the team.

Obviously, the kid's parents were upset, but the rest of the team's parents liked it because he had acted like that all season. You can't please all the people all the time.

 

[Ace]

The thing that helped me most when breaking prep stories was knowing and regularly talking to the minor characters - the trainers, the announcer, the team mom, etc. The football announcer at a team I once covered told me that a starting linebacker had been kicked off the team because he flipped off the coach at practice. I was working at a weekly, but my story ran before our rival weekly AND the major daily that covered the team.

Obviously, the kid's parents were upset, but the rest of the team's parents liked it because he had acted like that all season. You can't please all the people all the time.

Curious, Ty. How did you confirm that the kid flipped off the coach and was suspended for that reason?

 

[novelist_wannabe]

There are lots of places for writers who don't break news. The two or three best writers I know personally seem as if they could care less about breaking news. Not everyone has the stomach for it. And I'll add this: The timbre of this thread seems to be that if you're not breaking news, you're not working hard, or working hard enough. There are plenty of people in the industry who break that stereotype.

 

[Ace]

There are lots of places for writers who don't break news. The two or three best writers I know personally seem as if they could care less about breaking news. Not everyone has the stomach for it. And I'll add this: The timbre of this thread seems to be that if you're not breaking news, you're not working hard, or working hard enough. There are plenty of people in the industry who break that stereotype.

Well, even a glad-handing prep writer would break news. Probably lots of news -- of a certain kind anyway.

 

[MilanWall]

There are lots of places for writers who don't break news. The two or three best writers I know personally seem as if they could care less about breaking news. Not everyone has the stomach for it. And I'll add this: The timbre of this thread seems to be that if you're not breaking news, you're not working hard, or working hard enough. There are plenty of people in the industry who break that stereotype.

Well, even a glad-handing prep writer would break news. Probably lots of news -- of a certain kind anyway.

What constitutes breaking news, anyway? If I'm at a weekly and we run a photo of a guy who caught a 30-pound fish, that's breaking news, isn't it? Because there's no way the daily newspaper/TV station would run something like that.

 

[Bucknutty]

Want to scoop a ton of Internet writers? Break the news that some kid is committing somewhere. You'll be cited all across the country.