Past The 'Keeper

Jon DeNunzio began writing sports at the University of Virginia writing women’s soccer and fell in love with it all.

He covered high school sports, some college games, and began editing sports articles and eventuall got a full-time gig at the Prince William Express.

It’s imporant to pay attention to the “landscape” and must know what’s going on with everything around you. When George Solomon hired him as a full-timer at the Post, Solomon asked DeNunzio what he was reading outside of sports and journalism (hmm. Sounds like something our class heard on Tuesday). You gotta be well-rounded. Plain and simple.

As the User Activity Editor at the Post now, his job is to focus on user interactions on the editorial side of things. These include live chats, polls, crowdsourcing, comments. Basically he finds out what people and followers want to know to get stories on those things instead of only what is on the editor’s agenda.

Real reporters go into the heart of the story. At the 1996 Olympics, there was a bomb and a reporter he knew went straight toward the bomb.

That’s a real reporter.

What has not changed in journalism since he began:

• Ask the hard questions
• Find a job that pays well and secure your spot in the journalism business
• You are competing for jobs
• You must want to be a journalist and love it
• Must work hard and work long hours and must enjoy it — if you are busy, it is because people are interested and want to read your stories
• Must pay attention to details because it can get confusing (McLean School in Potomac, MD and a Potomac School in McLean, VA)

Without credibility as a writer, you have nothing!

• Keep it simple. The reporting and the facts is the most important — not the adjectives.

Twitter can help with keeping your writing simple. You can’t make things “flowery” with just 140 characters.

What has changed in journalism:

• Information is much more at your fingertips now than ever before
• The audience is more empowered now
• Readers don’t trust journalists the way they used to.
• Everything you say is evaluated — embraced or ignored
• The pace of the news
• Conversation is in real time
• Big-time personalities aren’t as influential as they used to be

As a final reminder and thought as DeNunzio leaves, make sure to listen to your audience.

They are who you are writing for.

When writing Media Relations in Sports, Craig Esherick worked with two others who each had different focuses. Esherick looked at sports journalism from a coaches perspective, having coached at Georgetown University for many years before coming to George Mason University.

Worked at what is now called CBS Sports.

Did a lot of research for the book and needed to get his three chapters submitted at a deadline. His chapter on law ethics was cut almost in half. Being a lawyer, he felt people needed to know this part very well (and clearly a little too more than his editor felt they needed to know)!

People who helped Esherick write his part of the book:

Dan Steinberg, Caroline Miller, Steve Goff (traveling for sports)

Looking to write another book that will appeal more to the pulic than just the college students and professors who use Media Relations in Sports is.

“Coaches Corner” was an important part of the book because natural tensions between reporters, coaches, players, etc. and people needed to know what’s going through a coaches mind during certain times. Here are some parts within the “Coaches Corner.”

• Sports Information Director: Very important job for the coach because a coach doesn’t get the reputation he has by not recruiting great players. You must be able to see good players. Should be able to establish a relationship with the players.
• Interviewing Techniques/Questions: Know when to ask questions and how to ask them to a coach.
• How To Write a Media Guide: Coaches job is to sell a program so recruits will see it and be impressed. They must sell their program to the recruits, fans, students, etc.
• Gameday Event Management: Interviews during timeouts gets the producers and fans more involved in the game. Some coaches will allow reporters to interview them beffore/after games, some don’t like it.
• Publicity Campaigns: Important for a team’s star player(s) but you don’t want to single out one player and cause tension within the team so be careful with how it is done.
• Crisis Management: The standard for professionals must be must higher for pros than it is for college players and high school players.
• Coaches use of new media: Making use of new media with people who know what they’re doing. Get somebody on the staff who can use new technology well.

Important info from his three chapters of the book:

1. Language barriers — when in another country, how will you communicate?
2. Travel — hotel proximity to venue, security, working conditions, customs, press in terms of the interview process.
3. New technology — Twitter, social media, satellites being able to show a game all over the world creates employment opportunities for many people. ESPN has created so many jobs because they have so many channels and opportunities. They are even inventing games, such as the X Games, to create ways to expand the market.

A Kent State University graduate, Mandy Jenkins is now the Social Media Editor for TBD.com, She expained that 90% of her work is listening, doing research, and getting information from people for relationship cultivating.

Twitter, networking and knowing the right people helped her and her fellow employees at TBD.com get their jobs within the organization.

It was interesting how she told us that when she first got to TBD.com for a job, they had her and the other hopeful employers sit down and write abouta nything that they wanted to write about for 30 minutes. She wrote about “big media” and how much she disliked it, the same things she blogs about on ZombieJournalism.com.

And they loved it! So from then on, she was an official employee of TBD.com. Very cool.

Crazy fact: She has about 9-10,000 followers on Twitter for TBD.com and barely had half of that when she worked at the Cincinnati Enquirer — the only newspaper in that area!

She introduced to me (and probably nearly all my classmates) to Twitter Search. This search engine seemed really cool in getting info about anything and everything that people tweet regarding whatever you want to find out about. For example, she explained how there was a fire in Dupont Circle. She searched “fire near DC” in the Twitter search and voila! She saw all the people who were tweeting and taking pictures about the fire and was able to interact with them on the spot!

And as far as local news is concerned, Mandy Jenkins and TBD did some amazing thigns for the people stuck in the winter storm during rush hour the other week. She was live tweeting to everyone who wanted to know what was going on in the exact area they were in to help them out and let them know the details.

Another thing she told us about was the Twitter Trends Map. This is a map on your computer screen that shows the world and what Tweet words are being said the most. This is really an amazing tool to be able to find out what’s big and happening in certain parts of the world.

She explained the difference between local, which is the type of news that TBD covers, and hyperlocal, which is the type of news that Patch covers.

Local:

• Coverage of an area with numerous cities in-between

For example, TBD covers all over the DMV, so it’s local (and regional) news.

Hyperlocal:

• Coverage of news specifically for a certain city, town or small area.

For example, Patch is hyperlocal because each city/town has its own Patch site and gives info to people living in that small area.

With the constantly-expanding world of brand-spankin’-new innovations, the internet has created new platforms for journalists all over the world to express their voice and opinion on anything they please. For example, with the explosion of sports networks (“ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, CBS College Sports, the Big Ten Network”), there are specific jobs within each network for sports communication professionals. And as print news is dying out, this is a major boost for all of us journalists out there.

“In 1995, only 15% of adults in the US used the Internet (Mills, 2010). Pew Research has found that in 2009, 74% of this same group used the Internet.”

So many resources contribute to this growing statistic, like our PC’s, laptops and now our smart phones. Of course nothing regarding new technologies could be talked about without mentioning Facebook and Twitter! These two resources have allowed the fans to bypass sports writers for information, as you can see everything that’s on your favorite athlete’s mind straight from his mouth! (or at least straight from his hands that are typing his updated status!)

One thing mentioned in the chapter that caught my attention as being quite interesting was that Kevin Love, the current star forward on the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves,  had tweeted to his followers that his coach, Kevin McHale had been fired. But this news had not been announced by the organization yet. While, there clearly are some things that need to be fixed regarding the way athletes make statements that may not be accurate, their relationships with Twitter still offer so much in the world of online sports news.

“Shaq’s tweets have become popular and as of February 2010 he had more than 2.8 million followers on Twitter.”

NBA player Twitter info is linked to the NBA.com website so fans can see some of the best NBA “Tweeters” and follow them from the league’s website.

With the introduction of cell phones as being an integral part of interactivity within the sports world, readers are able to connect with their favorite sports writers easily and feel — you guess it — interactive! People can call in talk shows to speak with the host and the host can also send e-mails or text messages to people to set up an interview, meeting, etc.

“Camera technology has also enhanced the viewing experience.”

Networks have placed cameras in places all over the arena’s to create a better experience for its viewers. They make you feel as if you are in the action rather just a spectator watching. Also, 3D TV and HD TV are creating a much more expanding technology industry to keep fans feeling like a part of the action. For example, ” the 2010 NCAA men’s basketball Final Four was broadcast not only in high definition (HD) but also in 3D.” The expanding movement has created more room for networks to be offered by satellite, telcos, and cable operators.

“The NCAA men’s basketball championship has been streamed online in a partnership with CBS and the NCAA since 2003.”

Something that I have been into for a while now and that was talked about in this chapter was the new development in “streaming video.” I am an avid user of ESPN360, ESPN’s streaming coverage of live games in all different of sports. This makes it so much easier for the fans, who do not get games in their local area, to watch games from around the world live on their computers. It really is amazing!

Dan Steinberg, a blogger for the Washington Post, uses Twitter to get lots of information across to his followers regarding Washington, D.C. pro sports teams, including an occasional podcast about the Washington Redskins. How important is Twitter even for journalists in today’s society? Check out what Steinberg said in the chapter about one of the Twitter apps he uses:

“I have a Twitter app called “UberTwitter” that refreshes my Twitter feed every 10 minutes. I receive updates of any new Tweets from those fellow Twitterers that I follow.”

There you have it! Even the journalists themselves need to use these new and emerging technologies to stay updated on everything happening in today’s world! Things are changing so quickly that an hourly update isn’t even enough to stay connected with the news. It’s a minute-by-minute thing!

Another thing that was really interesting was his answer to a question about how the use of Twitter led to a story on his blog:

“One great example occurred during a preseason game. Ladell Betts went out on the field with a jersey that spelled his name “Bettis” like the retired running back from the Pittsburgh Steelers. I was at the game in the press box and wanted to have one of the Washington Post photographers take a picture of his jersey for my blog. I could not reach the photographer, so I tweeted all of my followers on Twitter and asked someone to take a picture of the jersey and send the picture to me. I received about 20 tweets and many of the pictures were surprisingly good.”

So, thanks to the continuing new media in today’s world for keeping us up to speed as the print news dies day-by-day. The world is evolving and so are the many ways to receive news. Improving communication skills is the only way to be certain that you can make it as a journalist nowadays. Engage your readers and “retain your audience” to ensure the wellbeing of your journalism self. But one question still remains: Will Twitter, Facebook and blogs be able to produce stories with the same abilities of those in newspapers and magazines? Only time will tell.

Maureen Nasser, the GMU athletic department’s Director of Communication and Public Relations since 2003, visited our Comm371 class Thursday, February 3rd. She really, really interested me with what she said. As a die-hard Washington Wizards fan, it was great to hear first-hand from someone who worked within the organization and played a huge role with the team.

Some things I learned from her:

• When she first began with the then-Bullets, Maureen’s job was way less muti-dimensional than it is today. (Clearly, with the way the internet and the writing has boomed over the recent years!)
• She explained how when she was with the Bullets/Wizards, the press needed to call her for information regarding the visiting team because there was no internet back then in 1988. Nowadays, these same people can just make a few clicks on their computer and bam. Everything (and more) that they need to know is right there for them.

Oh yeah, she also made reference to the fact that the Bullets/Wizards only made the playoffs once in her 13 years with the team. Well, nothing’s changed from back then to now!

Maureen got into how her job has changed with the new up-to-the-second style of news:

• You have to be real quick with getting information out to the press and/or the public. No more relaxation period! In the past you could take your time to get things finished about a game but not anymore.

I was on-hand at the Patriot Center writing about the men’s basketball game vs. the Towson Tigers for Connect2Mason.com. Towson was unable to get to the game on time, thus forcing the game to be postponed until the next day. I certainly was a bit bothered by their inability to show up and wondered how the fans would find out about it. Here’s how:

• Maureen and her staff used Twitter and Facebook to reach out to the Mason basketball fans to inform them that the game would be delayed, canceled, then postponed until the next day. It was a difficult time for her with all the news swirling around and what would happen with the game. Luckily, it got resolved pretty quickly.

Also, when asked about how The Washington Post looks for articles and why there isn’t many stories written about sports teams doing well besides basketball, I was very interested with what she said:

• The main thing is finding a story to write about. While lesser-known sports teams may be playing well and doing good, if there isn’t anything extremely interesting with a member of the team or something that will catch the attention of readers, there most likely won’t be anything written about them.

The example she used was that The Washington Post is coming out with a story on Mason’s forward on the basketball team, Ryan Pearson because he’s been doing well, the team’s been doing well, and this has all happened despite being hit by a car when he was 11 years old. That’s interesting, right? That’s why there will be a story on him.

Thank you to Maureen for stopping by our class! Everything we learned was very valuable information.