It’s almost impossible to pick up the paper, listen to the radio or scroll through your twitter feed without seeing something about an athlete running afoul of the law…Never mind who’s suing who or who’s being suspended…So it’s important for those who work in the sports journalism world to at least have a working knowledge of the laws that help regulate contracts, broadcast rights and the morass that is the NCAA, for example…
Who better to help us wade through all this at the semester’s finale of the Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar Series than Michael McCann, the Associate Dean of the University of New Hampshire Law School and a contributor to Sports Illustrated and SI.Com…McCann was joined by long time media columnist Chad Finn of the Boston Globe, a great pairing….
Athletes acting badly is not anything new…It’s more a case of people finding out about it…The immediacy of uploading a pic or a video is all too commonplace (see Michael Phelps) …Tweeting out news, good or bad, has made us a lot more aware but also a lot of people very wealthy…The appetite for this kind of news seems over the top but as we talked about in a previous seminar this semester, Sports and Society, athletes as a whole aren’t that different from any other segment of the population…”The data doesn’t show that, said MCann, look at the NFL, maybe one percent, if that, make headlines. They’re the same as other groups (in society).”
McCann has written and followed some of the highest profile cases lately…We couldn’t go a day without reading about Deflategate here in New England…He turned that into a semester long course at UNH…McCann has taken on the NCAA a number of times and is now writing about the “pay for play” issue and is about to embark on a case of a family suing for injuries due to CTE …”It’s not enough to write about and fight for an issue from just the legal point of view, the moral point of view, what’s right, is just as important”, stated MCann…
Finn finds himself thrown into this world almost every time he writes…While much of what he does centers around the local sports media scene, he bristles at the term “critic”…”I don’t like that term, said Finn, I’m not just commenting, I’m writing content pieces as well.”… Don’t tell that to the boys at the sports talk radio stations in town….They excoriate Finn for his opinions on a regular basis…As Finn told us, “controversy resonates”, a not so subtle reference to the “fellowship of the miserable” Rick Pitino talked about more than twenty five years ago…The STR guys just don’t like it when Finn points out how low they stoop…He does offer this however, “I try to keep my personal bias out of the pieces (I write). I was taught to sometimes agree with both sides of an issue, I have to be detached”…In a very recent piece about something as innocuous as ratings, Finn made a case for both sides winning yet took heat from virtually every show on the dial for simply stating the facts…
Journalism students are usually required to take a course in Media Law and Ethics…Sports Journalism Students should probably take a Sports Law class as well (or perhaps petition to replace)…Here’s a suggestion, when someone asks what you want for graduation, how about suggesting The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law ?…Not exactly light summer beach reading but you might learn a thing or two along the way (and strengthen those arms as well!)…
12 Comments
Andrew Mason posted on April 30, 2018 at 12:08 am
Are You Above The Law?
Media, law, and sports mix together to make an interesting concoction, filled to the brim with plenty of entertaining moments. While it is important to note that there are many more athletes that don’t find themselves in trouble with the law than those who do, it is still a prevalent part of what comes with covering sports. Many sports journalists think that law will never be something they will need to touch. But in reality, we may find ourselves neck-deep in a legal controversy at one point or another. Just ask an Atlanta Falcons beat writer during the Michael Vick controversy, or a journalist who covered Penn State football in 2011. Think they needed to buckle down and embark in some law research? You bet.
Fortunately for us journalists, “controversy resonates”. The famous O.J. Simpson car chase on the 405 Freeway in Southern California was watched by approximately 95 million viewers in the United States, even interrupting the 1994 NBA Finals. The bottom line is, people love this stuff. However, when covering such controversial topics, it must be difficult to keep personal biases out of the coverage. Each writer has his or her own moral compass. A journalist who was also a dog-lover might have quite easily failed to present fair coverage of Vick’s situation, for instance.
Some sports journalists get into this business because sports is generally a “light” topic. Turn on CNN or Fox News and the lead story is typically something rather dark – murder, nuclear missiles, or police brutality. Sports journalism on the other hand carries less serious expectations with it. As a result, when a sports reporter is met with a dark story it can be tough to dive into the necessary mindset. Michael McCann, the Associate Dean of the University of New Hampshire Law School and a sports writer, noted on Thursday that combining media, law, and sports is often “unsatisfying” at its core. Your moral beliefs are going to be consistently challenged, and many of these scenarios do not present a happy ending. No matter how proud you may be of your coverage on the Jerry Sandusky scandals or on former NFL players blowing their brains out due to CTE, a imprint is ultimately left on you. These stories don’t exactly leave you with the same cherry-on-top feelings that covering a game-winning touchdown may.
One area of conflict in which I would like to cover is athletes’ use of social media. We’ve seen the old (and embarrassing) tweets of Villanova Wildcats’ star Donte DiVincenzo surface after this year’s March Madness. In 2016, Laremy Tunsil saw his NFL draft spot slip from potentially first overall, all the way to thirteenth after a video of him smoking marijuana was released on his Twitter account just minutes before the draft began. And just a few days ago, potential first overall selection Josh Allen, ended up going seventh after old tweets laced with racial expletives surfaced. In my opinion, Allen and DiVincenzo needed to simply own up to their actions and face the consequences. However, I believe that Tunsil had a potential opportunity to make a legal argument with his situation. Tunsil claims that he never posted the video on social media himself. Talented hackers possess the ability to tap into online databases such as iCloud and expose information, videos, and photos that were never intended to reach the public eye. If what Tunsil claims is true, didn’t the hacker cost the lineman millions of dollars because of his draft slippage? While all 12 teams that passed on Tunsil could simply say they did so because of their evaluations of Tunsil’s football talents, I wouldn’t be shocked if somebody who finds themselves in a similar scenario in the near future attempts to fight back.
A case like this would test my moral biases and knowledge on legal matters. Could a great lawyer convince a court that an NFL owner passing on a prospect because of a racist Facebook post is a form of workplace discrimination? It may be a long shot, but I would love to cover it when it happens.
Thanks for a great class, Frank! I will email you my thoughts on the class shortly.
Taylor Ventrice posted on April 30, 2018 at 1:24 pm
Law school…when I hear those two words, I immediately think boring criminal lawyer or divorce lawyer, but sports lawyer never came to my mind until now. For the first time, I was interested in the thought of law school after hearing the stories and responses Michael McCann, and Chad Finn gave during the seminar. Not that I’m going to want to become a lawyer suddenly, but I think it’s imperative to understand and be knowledgeable about sports law if you’re working in this industry. Some reporters may think they don’t need to bother learning the bare minimum of sports law, but what happens when you’re the journalist covering, for example, Penn State football seven years back? Do you think those reporters were able to cover that story without knowing anything about sports law? Definitely not.
I think one of the most challenging aspects of being a lawyer is keeping personal opinions and biased out of the cases being worked out. Especially in sports. Lawyers in this industry are also fans, so I think being able to separate the two is a skill necessary to have.
Thank you, Frank, for an amazing semester! This seminar class is one of the better courses here at BU because it gives you an insight of all the different job options in our industry and what they’re like day-to-day. It also allows us, students, to make connections with talented people in this business that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to meet and speak with. Even after a long Thursday day of classes, I was always excited to learn and meet new people each week in your class. I would recommend this course to anyone who is planning on working in sports!
Ashleigh Shanley posted on April 30, 2018 at 5:03 pm
This past seminar was a great way to end the semester. As one of our guest speakers Chad Finn said, “controversy resonates” so what better way to finish the class than discussing the coverage of various sports controversies. Whether you are a Patriots fanatic, a swimming fan, a college basketball nerd, or a golf groupie – there is always going to be a story about one of your favorite players, coaches, or teams getting into trouble. If it is Deflategate, Ryan Lochte lying about being robbed at gun point, Rick Pitino’s dirty recruiting, or Tiger Woods’ various DUIs – sports constantly intersect with the law. Therefore, as future sports journalists, we need to have a decent understanding about the law so we know what we are reporting on and how to accurately describe the legal issue.
Yet, as we learned in our past seminar, it does not just stop with knowing the laws and reporting what someone did wrong or how they broke one. Instead, we are responsible for presenting all the information, from both sides of the story, and explaining the moral or ethical issues behind the straight facts.
“Answering in a legal way isn’t satisfying,” said Michael McCann. “Invoking issues of morality or ethics explains why and that’s what people want.”
This stuck with me because it is exactly what we discussed in our previous seminar. You cannot just state the facts – people can get that anywhere. To be a great journalist, you have to explain the why not just the what. Whether we are covering a big story with numerous legal issues like Larry Nassar’s scandal or reporting on the DUI charge of a collegiate athlete, it is so critical to report beyond the facts and explain the ethical issues within the story. Even if it is minor – like the moral issues of whether a coach will let a football player compete in a bowl game after a DUI charge – it completes the story and gives people a reason to care about reading it, instead of just checking Twitter to see a tweet about the basic facts.
Overall from this seminar course, and especially from this last class, it is so incredibly clear that sports intersect with many topics in society. Whether it is gender topics, social issues, the law, politics, or even knowing how to break down contracts – being a sports journalist we cannot just talk about sports. We need to have a complete understanding about what is going on around us to be the best reporters we can be, and to give our audiences a complete, accurate story. Players shouldn’t just “shut up and dribble” and sports journalists should not just spew out the game stats. Sports are an incredibly powerful tool to give us insight into society, and we need to continue to use the sports lens as a way to discuss important issues in society. As the next generation of sports journalists, I believe this seminar helped us to see this and understand our role as more than just reporters who talk about who scored the winning touchdown or buzzer beater.
Nicole Ericson posted on April 30, 2018 at 11:34 pm
When I think of law I think of being in court all day sitting at a table in front of a judge. But when Chad Finn and Michael McCann came to our seminar this past week my perspective on sports law changed. I’ve never been one that enjoyed reading the law or studying it for pleasure. However, a requirement for COM is to take a media law and ethics class, and from that class I realized just how important it is as journalists to understand the law.
Writing about the law is a monster in itself. Not only do you have to know the laws, you also have to take it apart piece by piece so your audience knows what you are talking about and what impact it will have. Both Finn and McCann have covered controversial stories ranging from Deflategate to Sandusky. But I think the most interesting point made all night was that the only reason these athletes get put in the spotlight for their controversies are because they are just that: professional athletes.
Athletes are in the spotlight all the time. It is hard for them to even walk out the door in the morning and grab a cup of coffee without being noticed. Especially in a city like Boston where we take our sports very seriously. If they do anything against the law you are sure to find that on the front page of any newspaper or website. It is crazy to think that if a normal person committed these crimes they would be put into a police log and away it went. Controversy sells and there are little controversies everyday in the sports world that get brought to life.
Finn and McCann made a great point that when covering law you have to argue both sides. As a journalist you have to remain unbiased and both guests mentioned that arguing both sides of a story has become a habit. Not a lot of people are programmed to look at both sides of a story, but I hope to be. It is difficult to argue both sides when you know you have critics on both ends. But sometimes you just have to take the criticism and move forward.
Overall, this was a great course. We got to hear from many different people about a wide range of topics. There was something to take away from each seminar that I will bring with me as I begin my journey in the real world. It was great to get a more in depth look into what we as journalists will be experiencing in the coming years. From hearing from an athlete to learning more about the law each week brought a new perspective. I would recommend this course to anyone who is an aspiring journalist or who wants to work in sports.
Alanna McDonough-Rice posted on May 1, 2018 at 6:52 pm
Sometimes it’s harder to argue both sides than to just stick to the side you believe in. People don’t usually appreciate those neutral “well the law says…” answers. They want their opinion validated by someone in power- or they want someone to get in a Twitter war with.
In 2018 we have the ability to snap a picture and show it to millions of people in minutes. From Tristan Thompson’s cheating scandal to Deflategate, everything is fair game and open to the public. The court of public opinion is also incredibly brutal. We are quick to judge what happened and slow to understand why things happen.
It’s not shocking that journalists have to learn quickly what the law says and how to stay neutral so you don’t run your mouth without understanding the consequences of your words. You don’t want to be that journalist that accidentally condemns a sports icon for a crime they didn’t commit, but you also don’t want to be the one who stays silent in truly horrible crimes.
I think journalists have an obligation to stay neutral to argue both sides, but also have the resolve to do their research and uncover the true nature of the incident. Obviously in cases like cheating, Deflategate, or some other incidents that only pertain to the player- the stakes aren’t as high. But in the case of Michael Vick and his dogs, journalists need to dig deep and uncover all of the atrocities.
I think that in the era of “#MeToo” and social justice, situations like Vick’s need to be fully punished by the law and the public should feel outraged that the team they love has a felon on it. It still shocks me that he went back to NFL. It shocks me that Ben Roethlisberger went back to the Steelers. In a world where social justice is so prevalent, I don’t see how certain athletes get to go back to fame and glory after such offenses.
Journalists have an obligation to report on the law, the offenses committed by the athletes, and hopefully one day the law will punish athletes who commit heinous crimes accordingly. Until then, journalists need to dig deeper to get the true facts of the matter and show the public who their team really consists of. It is the minority of players who commit crimes, but why allow them to get away with it since they are role models for so many?
Matthew Doherty posted on May 1, 2018 at 10:06 pm
Thursday’s seminar with Chad Finn and Michael McCann certainly brought a different dynamic than other seminars this semester. Not only were we presented with a distant topic but we were presented with two of them. Both Michael and Chad have unique jobs in sports media and those two sides intersected nicely in the final seminar.
I’ve always enjoyed reading Chad’s media columns in the Boston Globe because it is a topic that fascinates me. Sports media is an insanely popular field here in Boston so I love to read more about it. I always read Chad’s piece when the quarterly radio ratings come out and I also enjoy his feature stories on media personalities like Michael Felger. In the entertainment field, there are writers who critique television and music so to have that in sports is great and I wish there was more of it. Bryan Curtis, who does media stories for the Ringer, has a similar position as Chad and always provides fascinating content.
Pairing Chad with Michael McCann created a nice dynamic in class because I got to learn about two new and unique topics that stray from traditional sports media. I could tell Michael was a very smart guy right from the beginning and he gave a perspective on major legal issues like the NCAA that I thoroughly enjoyed. This topic was also perfect because I am just finishing up my Media Law and Ethics class so it paired together. I learned a lot in that class in terms of what to do and what not to do as a journalist down the road and it was nice to hear all that material tied to sports.
Michael also opened up a new side of sports to me that I never thought about. As a journalist, you need to know more than just what goes on in the game, so having a sports law background can be key. With that said, a sports law class at BU in COM would definitely be helpful.
But more importantly, I think it is on us as journalists to be able to know about the law because chances are something is going to happen during your professional career revolving the law that you are going to have to cover. So it’s important to know about cases, former legal situations, contracts, pay for play and all of that stuff. Michael is certainly a good reference to have and a good person to follow/read so that I am prepared as a journalist when law and sports do cross my path down the road. On top of the law, there are so many areas of conflict that can be connected to athletes, as Andrew mentioned earlier. And I believe these all go hand and hand and are crucial to success as a journalist. You need to be aware of it.
Overall, I am very glad I joined the class. There are many classes in this school where you get to meet and learn from professionals in the field every single week for the entire semester. It’s just an awesome experience and I learned a lot about virtually every aspect of sports media that I could imagine. And I also made connections and got to meet people that I look up to. No complaints at all about the course.
Jane Rose posted on May 2, 2018 at 3:17 pm
I have absolutely no intention of going to law school. No matter how much of the O.J. Simpson series I watch, the path of criminal justice has just never appealed to me. So you can imagine my surprise when I found myself enthralled with the idea of combining sports and law.
Personally, I don’t want to do play-by-play or sideline reporting. Bringing sports and news together is my ideal end-game, because of my love for both. Yes, I could tell you about statistics and highlights of Patrick Kane, but I’d much rather focus on the plethora of off-ice issues he’s had. Long-form sports stories with social impacts, such as those of HBO’s Real Sports, are what peak my interest.
Deflategate was a major story combining the two, so hearing Michael McCann discuss the coverage of it was something that made my ears point up. It definitely made me wish I could take his class at UNH.
When I think journalism and law, my mind goes to topics like libel and slander, and while those are obviously important, I can’t say they make me excited. I met a court reporter over winter break and his job genuinely put me to sleep (not kidding I had to be woken up in the courtroom). So I expected this week’s seminar to elicit the same feelings that my Media Law and Ethics class did two years ago. But to my surprise, I left class thinking ‘wow I would love to do that… If I didn’t have to go to law school.’
This was yet another week where I left flabbergasted. My know-it-all self has been pleasantly, and rightfully, surprised by so many of the speakers during this semester’s seminar. Thinking back, Jeanna Trotman stands out in my mind, mainly because she does what I want to do and we communicate on Twitter now, there really were so many speakers I was impressed with. I am leaving with a lot of lessons, from not talking politics and losing half of my audience to caring about my first small market to honestly admitting I’m not an “expert.” Thank you Frank for yet another incredible semester. Whenever I’m writing a piece now, I genuinely ask how I can advance it in my head because of you. Now you can get rid of Jess, Jacqui and me!
Matt Dresens posted on May 2, 2018 at 4:12 pm
Last Fall when I was still at Suffolk University before transferring to BU for the spring semester in 2017, I took a media law class. I knew next to nothing about law, but I had followed the deflate-gate case pretty closely. Throughout that summer, leading into my sophomore year I worked on a golf course as a green’s keeper. Aside from free golf in the afternoons, the job offered me the opportunity to listen to sports radio pretty much every day on my phone.
Over the course of that summer, I learned more about legal proceedings that I had ever known before. It also sparked my interest to take the media law class at Suffolk. Normally, the class was taken by juniors and seniors, but I wanted to take the required class that Fall because I had just been exposed to deflate game My idea paid off. From what I picked up on over the summer, I took the class as my foundation and in the end, I finished with an A in the class.
I think the idea that McCann had to teach the deflate-gate class was pure brilliance. I know I have always struggled in classes that I don’t really have an interest in That class, even though it is a law class, I would be interested. It’s a fascinating way to learn the ins and outs of the law. I would never be interested in taking a law class at all. Through a subject that is deflate-gate, I would be interested.
So why does it matter? Well, as a sports reporter you will inevitably have to cover something regarding the law. I forget exactly who said it, but one of the prior guests pointed out that being a sports reporter means that you are also a business reporter, law reporter, news reporter contract reporter. All of those fields tie into sport in one way or another.
Having a background in the law can never, ever hurt. You never know when you will need it. Personally, It’s not the type of reporting I really want to get into, but having that base knowledge about court proceedings and general law terms I think will be very helpful.
On that note, some of the stories that McCann said he was following will be fascinating to see unfold. I remember seeing the Ed O’Bannon case on John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight” when I was still in prep school. It as a really fascinating story then, but to hear it from McCann was really cool.
Again, why does it matter? After these cases finally resolve themselves, be it the concussion case, the NCAA scandal case, stories will come out of that. Someone is going to break that. Someone is going to land a “big story” (last week’s topic) out of it. That intern will produce clicks and create revenue for the publication and the whole cycle starts again.
The Class
After switching to this class one seminar late, I have looked forward to Thursday nights ever since. It was a fascinating class and the concept of the course was brilliant. Have the exposure to people I read and listen all the time was very cool. Tom E. Curren was probably my favorite guest. I have always seen him as a very reputable person on TV and love the content he produces.
Having a guy like Sean Grandy tell his story of how he was originally a hockey guy was also very interesting. If I was in his place, I would have hopped all over the expansion Predators job, but something tells me the Celtics paid a little more? That may be beyond the point though.
Anyway, it was a fantastic class, one that I honestly which I could take again next year. I’m genuinely going to miss it. Thank you, Frank.
Andrew Mason posted on May 2, 2018 at 6:25 pm
Part 2: Overall Thoughts on The Class
This class was very unique, and having an interesting lineup of guests really made it. It was cool to hear the perspective of people who are right in the thick of sports journalism. I also really enjoyed how every week had a specific focus (radio, the first job, etc.). If every guest came to talk about sports journalism as a whole, I would have gotten bored quickly. I also think the length of each class was appropriate for what we wanted to accomplish – not too long or too short.
The week in which I learned the most was actually the first lecture, with Rob Bradford and Emerson Lotzia. As much as our professors tell us about the importance of social media, hearing it from these two actually left an impact on me. I have found myself much more aware of how I use my social media accounts after conversing with them. I also really enjoyed Nora Princiotti. Just by listening to her, I was able to grasp the type of work ethic you have to have to survive in this environment. Surprisingly, Jayson Tatum is near the bottom of my list in terms of favorite guests. It was a pleasure meeting him, but the actual journalists themselves were far more intriguing than I had thought they would be.
At the end of the day, I can see how you knew this class would help us. Just getting together to listen to how professionals established themselves and how many different career paths there are out there was worth it. Thank you Frank!
Jessica Citronberg posted on May 2, 2018 at 8:49 pm
This week was definitely one that I was excited for. Media Law and Ethics was one of my favorite classes I’ve taken at BU. It was so cool to learn about the history of the media, laws surrounding it, and cases that have affected the media in various ways.
Hearing from Michael McCann and Chad Finn was very entertaining, especially McCann’s background. When you teach a Deflategate class, you’re probably going to get some backlash of the relevance. But what I loved about his story, was that no matter who you route for, you can agree that the Patriots did not get a fair deal with the whole thing.
I would’ve loved to take the class and dissect everything that happened and discuss the law impact.
I was also very interested about the CTE discussion and this case that is now going on with a former college football player. This is a topic that is routinely brought up in print and in broadcast and beyond the sports world.
Hearing the law side of it is very interesting, and is a place that is good to think from. The logistics, the court proceedings, the inner workings behind it all is very interesting.
Speaking of classes I’ve loved at BU, this one is definitely at the top. Hearing from people in every facet of the sports world has been a highlight of my senior year. My favorite was probably the media relations week with Matt Johnson and Stacey James. It was that week that I really thought to myself, maybe this is a career I want to pursue.
It was also really cool to meet Jayson Tatum.
Overall, thanks for a great semester!
Shane Rhodes posted on May 2, 2018 at 10:56 pm
I’m not going to say I was looking forward to this week, because I wasn’t. I hated the “media law” classes we’ve had to take as journalism students and I just didn’t think a discussion on media law as it relates to sports was going to be interesting.
But, as people often are, I was wrong.
For myself, this was one of the most interesting seminars of the semester. Chad Finn was just as witty and sarcastic as I thought he’d be and Michael McCann was very informative on the subject of law. Both were well spoken and made this subject much more interesting than it might be otherwise.
McCann, especially, left an impression on me and I think I may, in the future, looking more into Sports Law than I ever imagined I would. As sports journalists, the information is certainly pertinent — even if we may not be writing about law, specifically, like McCann does at SI — and a huge aid if, for whatever reason, we needed to write something on or relating to the topic.
As for the class, I can honestly say this is one of the best I’ve taken at BU. No other course, that I know of, provides the same combination of informative discussion with the guest speakers provided for us. No other class is going to provide me a chance to meet and form connections with the likes of Rob Bradford, Tom E. Curran, Kirk Minihane, Jayson Tatum and the litany of others that we met over the course of the semester.
The class was unique, to say the least, and I’m glad I had the opportunity to take. That being said, I wanted to thank everyone — Frank, the guests and the other students — for making the class enjoyable. Some of the things I’ve learned through this course I will carry with me for a long time.
Laura Guerriero posted on May 3, 2018 at 3:30 am
When I took Media Law and Ethics last semester, I was surprised to see that so many of my peers were thinking about going to law school. The thought had honestly never crossed my mind, and when so many students expressed their interest I wondered why that was the case. Did they all just want to become lawyers, or did they want to use a law degree to help their career as a journalist?
I never really got the answer to these questions. Some students asked our professor if he thought having a law degree would help us become better journalists (potentially indicating that they would use a degree strictly to aid their career in journalism). For a while, I had thought the world of journalism and the world of law were two completely different spheres, intersecting only when you would have to make sure you weren’t breaking the law. As I’ve learned throughout my time here at BU, I was clearly wrong.
When I first saw that our guests for this seminar were Michael McCann and Chad Finn, I was confused as to why these two guests were paired together. Why would there be a sports media columnist talking about the law? I quickly received my answer when Finn mentioned something that should have been obvious from the start: columnists write about the hot topics people want to read about.
Ahh, yes. People love drama, and nothing screams sports drama like a scandal. Of course, when there’s an arrest made, people are going to want to hear about it. To tie this back to what we discussed in our first seminar of the semester, writing about the topics people want information on will surely earn your article more clicks. Give the people what they want, and it will yield positive results for both you and the organization you’re working for.
Writing about the law is more than just the nuts-and-bolts piece discussing the penalties that could result from the latest arrest or court case. It’s more than just the technical (and honestly, often boring) jargon I used to imagine when someone would mention journalism and the law. It’s also about the social context, how it will affect the team, etc.
My favorite piece of advice from this seminar? If you’re about to become famous, have someone comb through your social media and filter it for you because you never know who will be watching and waiting to dig up something from your past.
As for this semester as a whole, if I had to choose one word to describe how it made me feel, it’s hopeful. The pieces of advice our wonderful guests had to offer, such as building a brand to help you separate yourself from the pack, are invaluable. It’s not every day you get to sit down and speak directly with people that have been in your shoes and are currently working in the field you’re itching to be a part of. Sure, our professors have years of experience under their belts, but it’s definitely different from speaking with someone who is currently working in the ever-changing world of sports journalism.
Sure, sports journalism is changing, but that’s why it’s even more important to learn about how to navigate the field. A friend of mine read me a quote earlier today that said something along the lines of “Choose a field you want to work in that will make you happy every day, and there probably won’t be any jobs in it.”
I started laughing, because as we’ve discussed countless times, that’s definitely not the case, as long as you’re willing to work for it.