fshorr's blog

For those stumbling on this blog they may miss the sarcasm. To a fan the question “What could be bad?” rings true, but not to a reporter. To start, the path to beat reporting is covered with bull riding, midget wrestling and high school field hockey. This is the bottom rung of the ladder from which all must climb in order to attain even a chance at a beat.
Once given that chance some fancy writing and a couple questions just is not going to cut it in the cut throat, yet familial, world of beat reporting. Getting a quote for the sake of getting a quote is only going to get you scorned out of the locker room. Beat reporting is as much about relationships as it is about writing and reporting. And, those relationships may come at the cost of your personal relationships in that beat reporting is a non-stop job. You have to be willing to talk to an athlete for an hour about his pet cat if you hope to ever get a good quote or some inside info out of him. Whether it be for 162 games or 16 games, and don’t forget about the offseason, a beat reporter is constantly in the know.
A recent article by Bruce Allen discusses this very topic. Allen comments on how Bill Belichick is portrayed as cold and distant by the media but in fact he is quite personable. However, the caveat is that he has to be asked a well thought, intelligent question. Allen says he gets the impression that the beat guys are respected by Belichick, but the guys who stop by for a quote or only know the team by what they see on game day are the ones who do not understand him.

A psychcentral.com report detailing a European study on Burnout Syndrome created three profiles to categorize the 409 employee sample. The three categories were “frenetic”, “under-challenged” and “worn out”. From what I heard from the seminar last Thursday, beat reporters are certainly not under-challenged, but there is no doubt that they have to be frenetic and could possibly become worn out.

One variable that isn’t taken into account in this study is passion. Chris Price emphasized his passion for sports and for writing at an early age, which is why after over 12 years of sports reporting, he still exudes the same enthusiasm when speaking about his profession.

As far as the future of beat reporting and what this means to us:

Journalist Diane Sawyer said: “Follow what you are genuinely passionate about and let that guide you to your destination.” Peter Abraham explained that he didn’t necessarily want to be a beat writer for the Red Sox, he just kind of fell into it.

There will always be people who have a specific interest, especially in sports and a passion for writing. These people will continue to follow their passions and it is these people who will become beat reporters. It is the element of passion which leads to quality information, which bodes well for all of us.

I know that these comments are supposed to discuss the importance of a given topic, and in the case of beat writing, that’s something that’s very hard to do. Beat writing is effectively the life blood that fuels sports journalism. Without reporters working hard on beats and covering teams from every angle, our modern sports landscape would not be the same. There would be no “Pardon the Interruption’s” or sports talk radio without having diligent reporters digging up and publishing stories on a given team or sport. The arm-chair commentator has limited topics without the efforts of people who undergo a daily grind to cover these sports.

Beat writing holds a special significance for us all because at some point in our respective careers (for both print and broadcast both), we’re going to have to cover a team or sport, be it the Boston Red Sox or high school bowling. Knowing we’re all likely going to hold down one of these jobs at some point, it’s important that we understand how it works because beat writing is not some sort of vocation where you can learn the job simply by memorizing some facts and particular practices. As Josh mentioned in his comment, beat writing is all about relationships and that makes the job extremely tricky. There’s a lot of gray area when dealing with players and coaches, and that’s something that forces a reporter to read people and get a handle on abstract, indefinite things like body language. It’s something that’s a very delicate balance. If a reporter pushes too hard, he/she can anger a player and lose a possible source for good. But if a reporter doesn’t stay persistent, he/she will have a hard time getting information and breaking stories. And sometimes with building these relationships, it makes a reporter turn off the recorder and simply converse with someone because after all, a relationship can never be established if a reporter is simply looking for quotes to throw in a story. Again, by its very nature, beat writing is an inexact science and while Abraham and Price provided some tips, there are many different ways to go about the job.

It is also important for us to know more about beat writing in an age when it is changing rapidly. Building relationships with players is something that is made more difficult today with the immense public relations departments that teams have, even here at BU. I had remembered Caroline saying that her team was given a seminar in which they were told every person covering the team “has an agenda,” something which I found (no offense to the fine PR folks here) to be completely laughable based on my time at the Daily Free Press (as well as having gotten to know some of the guys who do great work over at WTBU). Some reporters on higher levels undoubtedly may have personal agendas, but it doesn’t negate the fact that many athletes today are told to restrict and limit information they provide to reporters, something that’s produced many familiar press conference cliches that we know today (“It is what it is,” etc.). It takes a skilled reporter to be able to maneuver through all this noise and without a firm knowledge of how beat writing works, an aspiring reporter would never be able to do adequate work.

Finally, a discussion about beat writing is also critical because it educates us on how the craft has changed and what challenges have come with this change. As many of my classmates have mentioned, it takes a lot of work to run a successful beat and there is truly no offseason, particularly with having to maintain a blog and a Twitter account. Enjoyable as the job may seem, it takes a special kind of person to do it. Additionally, a reporter has to not only obtain information, but also find the significance of the information and make that into a story, hopefully one that looks at a topic from a fresh, new angle. It is a job that takes a mental and even physical toll, and that’s something that any aspiring sports journalist should know.

Beat writing is an all-encompassing craft that involves an acute understanding of human behavior, as well as a certain drive and tenacity. Getting free tickets and traveling around the country may seem trivial and glamorous to some, but beat writing can often be the opposite. But aside from all the work that comes with it, beat writing continues to remain at the heart of sports journalism today through those who cover teams and sports on a daily basis.

Being a sport beat reporter allows a writer to meet so many people and offers many great opportunities. You get to watch the games and be in the sports world atmosphere as an insider. But what I learned from Chris Price ad Peter Abraham is that, you really have to enjoy being a beat writer to live its lifestyle, there is no time off, there is no off season and people in your life have to know and understand your commitment to the job. I think it is a lot easier said than done. Beat reporting is not just your job; it is your life. I agree with Catie when she says “Beat reporting is one of those occupations that isn’t for everyone. It’s like being a college or professional athlete; you’re either in, or your out, there’s no in between. With the long seasons, every day practices, and travel, free time becomes a luxury, leaving your relationships with family and friends in danger. While beat reporting is time consuming, like any athlete, if you love it, you’re willing to sacrifice the other areas in your life to do it.”
Also another aspect of beat writing if you are covering the same team day in and day out, is that you have to be creative, you have to make people want to read your “stuff.” Sometimes there will be lulls in the season and nothing spectacular will happen for instance Peter Abrahams who covers the Sox every single day, some games and stories become repetitive, so he has to be creative enough to find different angles.
Another thing I learned about beat reporting is that if you do want to do it, you have to gain the trust of the players you are interviewing day in and day out. You have to get to know them on a personal level without the tape recorder on. Athletes appreciate that and might feel more apt to fill you in on personal situations before they tell others. It is a double-edged sword though because you are friendly with them and you know so much information on and off the record yet you also have to work and do your job.

in my comment i mention the greg bedard article and it was supposed to be a hyperlink. So here is the article.
http://boston.sbnation.com/new-england-patriots/2011/9/16/2427275/bill-belichick-a-football-life-nfl-network-documentary-media-roundup
The stuff i refer to is more towards the end of the article.

Also on a side note I would like to add that Catie’s analogy to beat reporting being similar to the life of a college athlete seems spot on. I’ve only been a college athlete and not a beat reporter, but I do know that it consumed the majority of my time day in and day out (and that was only a division III sport). I also think she made one of the most important points when she pointed out that you may not get to cover a/the sport you love. I love football, played it for 16 years, but I may have to cover basketball. I better start getting myself used to that now before it’s to late.

I thought that these two guest speakers had a particularly relevant message to a group of graduate students and seniors who will have to be making career choices sooner rather than later. Beat reporting is not for everyone, clearly. It is a demanding, exhausting, constant and sometimes thankless job. The pressure to not only cover a team well but to extract little nuggets of information from players who are also exhausted and often sick of you is tremendous. Trying to get information that no one else has is difficult and requires on your ability to form relationships with these players rather than treating them as quote machines. To that end, you have to be a people person to some extent to enjoy any success as a beat writer.

Last year, I interviewed Shalise Manza Young, the Globe’s beat reporter for the Patriots, for a story I was writing about women in the locker room. The story had nothing to do with beat writing per se, but over the course of our 2 hour conversation I became just how aware of how taxing her job was. As a woman talking to another woman in the field I want to be in, I found our conversation to be very illuminating. In addition to her job at the Globe, she is a wife and a mother. I think for women, juggling all of those things is a challenge, particularly when you are on the road half of the season. Every family is different, but I think as a woman it’s a lot harder to be a beat writer and have a family because traditionally, it’s the women who do the majority of the child raising and care taking.

The conversation I had with her paired with the Peter Abraham and Chris Price seminar has made me revisit my thoughts on beat reporting. There is a tremendous amount of sacrifice involved, that much is clear. If you really love it, then the reward is there too, but it seems is a constant balancing act. It seems like if the passion isn’t truly there, then you won’t last long, and perhaps the only way to find out if that exists within you is to do it.

I think the obvious central reason for this seminar was to give us some insight into the not always glamorous world of beat reporting. Like pretty much everyone above said, yes, you get to attend high profile events. But, along with that comes a price. The job requires being able to manage the egos of professional athletes and coaches(a huge task in itself), while also maintaining journalistic integrity and providing insightful information to your readers.
I would say that this was a great second seminar because it followed our discussion about twitter so closely. Due to twitter and the blog-o-sphere, beat reporting is no longer just writing game stories, features, side bars and the occasional column for the paper. Now, beat reporters are expected to be constantly tweeting and blogging information as they learn it, making for an incredibly hectic lifestyle.
To be honest, before these two seminars, being a beat reporter sounded like a pretty cushy job to me. You show up at practice and on game days and write a story a day about only one team that you know very well. Needless to say, after hearing our esteemed guests speak, I will have a newfound appreciation for beat reporters.

To any outsider of the profession, beat writing could be seen as the easiest of the sports journalism professions. You don’t have to have a certain opinion, you write about facts, and you have to follow only one team.

That’s what makes it interesting to see all the comments here say that beat reporting is a very strenuous job – and I wholeheartedly agree. The job is filled with hidden traps that make the day-to-day life of a beat writer difficult.

One thought that sticks in my mind is what Caroline and Rick mentioned: it’s hard to stay fresh when you talk about a team for 365 days a year. For example, everyone and their mothers know that the Red Sox season is sinking down the homestretch, but how can you report it without blending into the background noise? Even more importantly, how do you get meaningful information and sound bites from players and coaches who are brainwashed into giving the milquetoast response?

Something that hasn’t been brought up in the comments is the effect of bias, which I think is also a legitimate concern. In order to get into the field of sports journalism, a person has to be a fan of sports… and nobody who is a fan is a saint. If you like a sport, then you like a team or a player (that also leads to a hatred of an enemy). I think it’s a tossup if a journalist works for a team he/she grew up liking; it makes it easy to write about, but it’s damn hard to keep your favoritism out of the picture. Same thing with an enemy team/player; last year for a sports journalism class we had to beat report for the Patriots – who are my least favorite team (tied with the Yankees). That first month of class was brutal, but once we stopped talking Brady, Belichick, and Kraft, everything was sunshine and roses with me.

In my mind, there are two factors that separate the beat writers who are worth their weight from those who aren’t: the abilities to stay fresh and unbiased. I can tell Peter Abraham and Chris Price know their stuff well, and I know plenty of folks at WEEI and at BU who are the best beat writers I’ve seen. Beat reporting is something that really isn’t in my plans for the future, but I’ll always defend their jobs to anyone who doubts them because I know their importance and how hard their job really is.

Beat reporting definitely seems like a great gig, especially after my first press box experience last Sunday with seminar speaker Chris Price. I mean, great food, great view, and great access to athletes – but after hearing what Price and Abraham had to say, I had to keep reminding myself that not everything is what it’s made out to be. Rapoport, Gasper, Price, and Abraham have all reiterated how demanding this line of work is. It’s really sunk in the level of dedication and passion these professionals exhibit and it’s made me realize while enticing, this isn’t for me. This seminar was definitely a ‘look behind the curtains’ and enlightening. Although beat reporting is something I’m no longer interested in, Price and Abraham mentioned some takeaway points that are useful to any journalist, for example, know something about your subject! Don’t waste their time, come prepared, and do your research. Price also stressed that doing things you don’t want to do, will help you get to the place you want to be. I believe the purpose of this seminar was to get a feel for the life of a beat reporter and to break down the ‘glamorous facade.’