Becoming a sports journalist usually comes in stages…Step one is when you figure out you can no longer hit the jumper, make contact with the curve ball or find the net…So you turn to something next best, covering the game…And with that you find some inherent problems…How am I going to do this job? , for starters…
It was with that in mind that we asked Jessica Camerato of BasketballInsiders.com, Marcus Smart of the Boston Celtics and Bruins defenseman Zach Trotman to join us at the Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar Series… Exploring the question from both sides can sound easier than it is…You’re certainly going to be nervous the first time you walk into any locker room but with the advice of these pros, you’ll come away with a job well done…
Be confident (or at least, look that way) when you make eye contact….You’d be surprised that the players you are nervous about talking to might also have questions….Think of it this way, “you’re the new kid on the block”…”I cover the Celtics but I also cover the visiting team, said Camerato, so when a new player comes in I make sure I just introduce myself and have a conversation and find a commonality…It’s just establishing, I know you’re here, you know I’m here, maybe down the road we’ll have to work together”…Doesn’t sound that different than meeting a new friend does it?
That all assumes you’re not star struck and can formulate a well thought out question…essential in the business you want to be a part of…Camerato went on to warn “There are so many ways to ask a question, if you put the player on the defensive, that interview will be terrible.”…Trotman agrees, “Try not to put it (the question) in a negative way. Obviously the player had good intentions but they went wrong. Try to not phrase it so aggressively.”
Locker rooms are places of business, sometimes with many people milling around, sometime just a few…Don’t think for a minute the players don’t notice who is there and even more importantly, who wrote(said) what…They may not have heard it directly but that doesn’t mean it won’t get back to them…”It’s hard not to see, added Smart, you might not have seen it but somebody close to you did and they tell you…it’s addicting (social media), you can’t stop watching and sometimes as a player, it can affect you.”…
Each stop along the way brings with it a separate set of circumstances…High schoolers can have that deer in the headlights look….college players perhaps, can’t explain how they did something that comes so natural to them and then there’s the professionals who do this for a living and the “sparkle” just doesn’t shine as brightly for them as it might for you (at the beginning)…We’ll deal with the media relations part of the equation later in the semester!
Don’t ask for autographs, no “selfies” or photo bombs and keep in mind, they are people too…Get in, get out and always remember if you’re in the Bruins dressing room, warns Trotman, “Don’t step on the logo!”
17 Comments
Alex Hirsch posted on February 8, 2015 at 1:02 pm
It was actually perfectly timed that we had this seminar session two days before some of many of our classmates first Andrea Kremer Art of the Interview class. The introduction class went hand-in-hand with this seminar. The biggest thing I picked up from the combination of these classes was how to talk to an athlete.
These athletes are people, and if we let their stardom get to our heads and show on our faces, they will not want to speak with us. They will not look at us as journalists, but instead as fans. Athletes understand that we have a job to do and a deadline to meet and if we approach them as fans, we are never going to be able to do our jobs and make that deadline.
So it is important to approach these athletes with professionalism. Introduce yourself and get to know them. One of the things I learned in Kremer’s class that applied to this seminar is that almost all interactions with any person in the world are interviews. When you meet someone at the bar, or at a party, or at school and you are getting to know him or her, what are you doing? You are interviewing them. There is a goal in mind, whatever that goal may be, and in order to accomplish that goal you interview them. But, when you do this at a bar, we are not star struck and we act normal. If we can bring this with a touch of professionalism then we should be fine.
Professionalism will also help us ask tough questions. Marcus Smart said he understands that journalists are going to have to ask about his Oklahoma State incident, but there are ways to ask the questions. Do not lead the player on, trying to get him or her to say a controversial statement. Questions like that are not about the player. Those questions are about the journalists and are not professional. But, if you ask a tough question in a very professional way, “Marcus, what were the emotions that you were experiencing during the incident?” Rather than asking, “Marcus, why did you shove that fan?” There is a tactful way of asking questions and the former will get a well thought out response. Tough questions are part of our job and they need to be asked. Just do it respectfully. Do it the way you would ask a tough question to someone you were meeting at a bar.
Another point I found interesting was when Professor Shorr asked Smart and Zac Trotman about “Talk About”. As journalists, we know not to say those two words, as they are not really questions. We have read about Vancouver Canucks coach John Tortorella telling a reporter that he will not answer someone that says “Talk about”. Jessica Camerato said she hates the phrase as well. But when Professor Shorr asked Trotman and Smart what they thought of it, Smart said he actually preferred it. He said it gives him more freedom to answer the question. This clearly was not the answer Professor Shorr was hoping to get, but it was interesting to hear an opposing view. This does not change how I will go about asking questions, but it does well to learn about who you are interviewing, which brings us full circle. Certain athletes or people may prefer certain ways of wording questions.
It all comes back to getting to know the person. We must have the courage to get to know these athletes and the easiest way to do that is through professionalism and respect.
Nicholas Picht posted on February 8, 2015 at 6:05 pm
I touched on this last week in my blog post, but it probably applies way more for this week. At the end of the day athletes are people just like us with emotions and problems very similar to our own. Even down to the fact that, just like us, they have a job to do every single day. They have good days and bad days. So, I think it’s just about making a conscious effort to understand what they’re going through on a day-to-day basis and respect them as people. Sometimes, we have to strip away the fact that they are athletes and we are journalists. Similar to Alex’s comment, we should just approach them as people we’re looking to meet and have a professional conversation with.
That being said, I don’t think every moment has to be entirely serious. Why can’t we have a personality and joke around with some of these athletes? Yes, I understand we aren’t friends, and that in order to be successful you have to be serious when the time calls. But I can’t be serious 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It’s just flat out impossible. Plus, I like to have fun. So, at least for me, when the time calls for it, I don’t really see a problem with lightening the mood from time to time. But like I said, I do understand that business is business.
I do want to get back to something Jessica said though. Going and introducing yourself is such a little gesture that probably goes a long way in establishing a relationship and a mutual respect. And even Frank made a great point (I think it was Frank) about not sounding like a human microphone stand. To walk by them and simply ask, “Hey, how are you?” I’m sure a couple “hey, how are you’s” will eventually turn into a 5-10 minute conversation and BOOM there’s a relationship created right there. These little gestures, combined with my point above, make us seem ever more relatable and not like strangers whose sole purpose is to jam microphones in their face.
The final point I want to make pertains to the main question I had for both Marcus and Zach. I have always wondered what athletes thought about tough questions. And obviously, with Marcus’s incident at Oklahoma State and Zach being in the Bruins’ locker room, they’ve heard and dealt with their fair share of tough questions. And when we had our opportunity to approach the athletes I asked them both, “As long as it’s done in a respectful way, do you have respect for reporters who aren’t scared to ask you the tough question when necessary?”
And surprisingly enough, they both said yes. But Zach’s answer was particularly eye-opening. He said that as a hockey player he’s always taught to take accountability for his play. And if his play is bad, then talking about it and taking responsibility for it is part of being a hockey player and a professional athlete. He even said that he might lose respect for me if I backed away and didn’t ask the question, especially if he knows it’s coming.
So I guess, to sum up, that’s what I took out of this week’s discussion – be relatable, take accountability for our writing and actions, and most of all as Zach said…have fun.
Katie Peverada posted on February 9, 2015 at 10:42 am
After class I was thinking about the basic takeaways from the class. At one point, Smart had said that there is a respect factor from both groups, athletes and reporters. Yes, there are overly aggressive reporters, but for the most part the players know you have a deadline, so just show respect and you’ll be fine and get what you need. I translated that to “just treat us like normal people.”
It also made me think of something Smart did right when he walked into the room. Smart first walked into the classroom alone, a result of the other guests greeting Professor Shorr out in the hallway. He could have been awkward or reticent (as I would’ve been if faced with a classroom full of people studying how to write about me). However, when he greeted us with a big smile and “Hi everybody!” it went a long way in practicing what he preached. He could have been nervous, entering a new place of business, but by appearing confident and making eye contact with us all (“or at least, looking that way”) it established a new “friendship.” To Smart, this was fun. Athletes – not just reporters – are interested in meeting new people and establishing commonalities.
I think it’s important to get to know the athletes for a couple reasons. First of all, you should always know whom you’re talking to. Sports are a business, and a businessman (or woman) needs to know their client, so to say. Furthermore, just look two paragraphs above. Why wouldn’t you want to get to know someone? Part of the reason we’re studying journalism – specifically sports journalism – is because I love the human element of sports. It wasn’t the amazing games that made me play sports through college, it was the people I met and fellow athletes I got to know. That has carried me into pursuing sports for a career. Finally, knowing the athletes is critical to knowing what you can and cannot pursue. In another class recently, we were talking about all the different ways there are to ask a question. A lot of the time, the best way to get an answer is to ask your question with respect, not with antagonism. Tortman, as Professor Shorr pointed out in his blog, put it simply by saying don’t put the question in a negative way. If you know your athlete – and not just their stat line – you know when you can ask what (and as Jeff Twiss pointed out, how long you have to wait to ask about a bad play or a bad loss).
For the second week in a row, the idea of the superstar athlete being just a regular person resonated throughout the discussion. This week, though, it came straight from the athletes themselves, as both Zach Trotman and Marcus Smart said something to the effect of “We’re all normal guys.” And having Jess Camerato as a third speaker was a great touch, because having her reiterate and agree with what the athletes had to say (and vice-versa) once again showed that it’s about establishing a relationship and creating a respect factor. As Camerato said, “You can’t let yourself get caught up or feel uncomfortable.” She rhetorically asked us why not get to know them (the athletes)? It’ll be fun, and sports come down to having fun. Of course, doing research let’s you get to know the person, but remember there is a human element. And as Smart said, “You gotta know how we fell about things. Get to know us!”
Sara Varela posted on February 9, 2015 at 1:27 pm
A popular talking point during last week’s seminar was respecting the athlete and making sure, as a journalist, we try to make the athlete feel comfortable. It was understood that everyone who enters the locker room has a job to do, but journalists just happen to be in there less often than the athletes. With this in mind, it is important that sports journalists treat the locker room as the workplace and personal space of the athlete.
For me, the moment that really cemented the reoccurring concept of treating athletes as regular people was when Jeff Twiss, the media relations representative who accompanied Marcus, had us raise our hand if we were or still are athletes. He didn’t bring us up to Zach and Marcus’ level, but he brought Marcus and Zach down to a level we could understand and appreciate. With that type of insight, it will be easier to ask tough questions because we know how we wouldn’t want the question to be asked. Creating a good relationship with an athlete might not be as simple as relating to them as a fellow athlete, but it’s definitely a place to start.
Another way to create a comfort zone for athletes is being able to speak to them in their native language. This may seem like a silly thing to bring up considering a good portion of professional athletes in America speak English, but many of them are from other countries. Learning a few phrases in a different language could be the detail that makes you stand out to the international athlete trying to make his way through the group of reporters.
As noted in Jessica’s bio, she is bilingual and speaks fluent Spanish. I asked her how being bilingual has helped her establish relationships with international athletes, and she told me it makes getting to know them easier because they instantly feel they can speak to you. She also mentioned that most of them will give you a great interview in English once a level of comfort is established.
Thinking back to the Matsuzaka and Funayama article on Blackboard, I asked her if she has ever had an awkward run in with a translator. She said there hasn’t been an odd moment yet because translators will notice she has it handled and leave her alone. This connects to Jeff’s comment about getting to know the people who surround the athlete. Media relations, translators, and trainers are all people who schedule their time around the athlete and know the athlete’s schedule the best. If you make yourself known to them and ask for help, then hopefully they will be willing to help you out, especially as a young journalist just trying to make connections.
I think it’s important to maintain a professional relationship and connection with more than just the athlete because who knows who might actually be the story of the day.
Kelly Landrigan posted on February 10, 2015 at 3:03 pm
I think a lot of us are taking away the same lessons from these seminars, which I see as a good thing. We’re thinking, or at least trying to think, in the proper minute of a journalist. That being said, this past seminar offered a lot of great insight into how athletes and journalists perceive their relationships with each other and what roles they are meant to play.
Establishing a good working relationship with an athlete is probably one of the most important lessons I’ve learned in my own experience. It was great hearing that I’ve been trying to do the right thing from the professionals who do it on a daily basis. Marcus Smart pointed out that by knowing the athletes you’re interviewing outside of their stat lines, you can better adjust and direct the questions you want to ask them. Jessica Camerato suggested doing this by trying to find a commonality between you and the athlete, because after all, they are just people like us (who happen to be extremely talented in athletic ability). Finally, Zach Trotman reminded us to have fun. I think achieving the combination of these is the best way to obtain great interviews with athletes. Working as a rinkside reporter for BU hockey, it was intimidating at first to try and work with these guys. Many of them have preconceived ideas that reporters are looking to be “best friends,” or unfortunately for female reporters, looking to be involved on a personal level. However, doing simple things like introducing yourself to someone new that you’re interviewing, or for collegiate athletes, saying a quick hello if you see them walking to class, makes them feel less like a superstar and more like a colleague.
Another important point they brought up was not putting players on the defensive. However, I think that cannot scare reporters from asking tough questions. Ask Nick pointed out in his comment, Trotman, like many other athletes, holds himself accountability for his actions while playing. If a player does something wrong, figure out a way to talk about it without making them feel worse than they already do. Alex mentioned how fitting this seminar was prior to our first class with Professor Kremer. She told us that there’s no such thing as a tough question, as long as questions are asked respectfully, and I firmly believe that. Again, in my experience with BU hockey, sometimes we are “encouraged” to ask other questions, since the reporters technically work for the team. I’m willing to do what I’m told to an extent, but I’ve been able to work around these sometimes frustrating conditions to ask questions worthy of an interview. Frankly, if you as the reporter are going to ignore what happened in the game so you don’t offend someone, you’re not working in the right field.
This brings me to my final point: working with the PR people. I think it’s difficult on the collegiate level, or at least at BU, to work well with the SIDs for teams. In my opinion, it seems like they are trying to shield the student athletes from the “big, scary media,” which gets extremely frustrating. It was refreshing to see the other night that Camerato has had good experiences working with team PR representatives. Just as important as it is to establish a relationship with the athletes, it’s equally as important to establish a relationship with the PR team. They can help you make your deadlines, just as the athletes are willing to help you make your deadlines as well. At the end of the day, all aspects of the sports world understand what everyone’s individual roles and jobs are. It’s just a matter of establishing that level of respect, which will go a long way when it comes to getting the job done.
Keiko Talley posted on February 10, 2015 at 8:52 pm
I’m in the class that Alex is referring to in his post (Art of the Interview). During the class Professor Kremer touched upon similar topics that we discussed in seminar thus far, one being the formation of our questions. During her class she showed us this clip ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb3S-u33aqY ) which I think expresses the topic flawlessly. The reporter in this clip was trying to provoke Sherman to trash talk Revis and put a negative connotation on his question, which clearly didn’t sit well with Sherman. This is just an example of what we as future sports journalists could experience should we not watch what it is that we are saying to athletes.
Josh Schrock posted on February 10, 2015 at 9:40 pm
As some of my classmates have mentioned, one of the messages that I took away from the seminar had to do with the mutual respect and understanding that athletes and journalists need to have for one another. Marcus Smart mentioned that the athletes understand that reporters have a deadline to meet and as long as we respect them, they will answer our questions as best they can. Smart and Zach Trotman both talked about the importance of phrasing the questions that we ask in a positive way and not trying to direct the athlete to say what you want them to say. Trotman and Smart’s comments go hand in hand with the article, Death of the Interview from ESPN. In the article, Matt Hasselbeck, then quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, says that he has resorted to giving reporters boring answers to combat the questions that come with a negative vibe. As we’ve seen lately with the Deflategate press conferences, many reporters make the questions about themselves by trying to direct the athlete to say something negative that will create a headline. Smart mentioned that he went through this with reporters a fair amount following the altercation he had with a fan during his last season in college and it caused him to lose some respect for the reporters who were asking those questions. “Don’t try and steer us to say what you want, just let us talk,” Smart said, “you will get more respect that way.”
Jessica Camerato said a few things that really stuck with me as I left the seminar. First of f was the importance of just introducing yourself to the players on the team and having a simple conversation. Like Marcus and Zach both said when we were coming up to introduce ourselves, “please don’t be timid, we are just like you.” I think it’s important to remember to not get caught up in the hype when you step into the locker-room and to get to know the players as people so you are able to better understand some of the answers they give you during the course of your career. Jessica also mentioned the importance of finding commonalities with the players in order to cultivate a relationship that will be helpful when you need to talk to them down the road, the best part about journalism is the unique stories we get to tell about players both on and off the field. By finding commonalities and being curious about who they are as people and not just as athletes you can gain a better understanding of the people you are covering, which can lead to better stories.
To me the message to take away from the seminar boiled down to having respect for the players that you are covering, for your peers and for your work. Marcus Smart said one of his biggest pet peeves with the media is when they crowd him while he is changing. Most of us are former athletes and it’s important to remember how we felt after games, especially losses. Just give the athletes time to decompress and let them come to you. Also, if you write something negative about the team or a certain player it’s important that you show your face afterward and back up what you wrote. As long as what you wrote was fair, you can always bounce back if you keep the lines of communication with the players open. Finally, don’t forget the importance of getting to know your fellow journalists on your beat and on the opposing teams beat because you never know where you can find a good story.
Nick Garrido posted on February 10, 2015 at 11:10 pm
In my opinion, the biggest takeaway from this past seminar is that respecting the players and the environment you are in as a reporter will go a long way. Jeff Twiss brought up a question that really made me think about in the days after the seminar. He asked the class “How many of you guys were pissed after you lost a game at any level”. He hit it spot on. As a reporter, you cannot go into the locker room after a tough loss and expect the players to be able to satisfy your every single request. It’s never easy after a loss and quite honestly, most players do a very good job at answering questions after losses. Treating them with respect will go a long way in their eyes.
I absolutely hated answering questions after long hours on the tennis court when I was a kid. I didn’t have a whole lot of media to deal with but just answering question after question from my tennis coaches and my parents made me upset. So when Jeff acknowledged the class about his perspective from a public relations angle, it really gave me some new found respect for the players.
One of the lessons I learned from my parents at an early age was to always shake everyone’s hand that I meet and always introduce myself to anybody new You never know if that person you just randomly meet will be a future employer of yours. Jessica Camerato hit that same point when she said that you should always introduce yourself in professional locker room even if you don’t want to necessarily ask them a question about the game. There is always the possibility that you may need to talk to that player at a future time. Establishing early communication as a reporter is crucial.
I really enjoyed reading the ESPN article on blackboard about what to ask in an interview and what not to ask. I absolutely cannot stand when someone asks a player to take them through a particular play in the game. Everyone saw that play, its a waste of a question to ask. It was encouraging to read that I am not the only one that feels that way. Its also amazing how so many people ask the question “how important “is” or “was” that game for your team. Every game is important. The answers are almost always going to be the same.
Why was this seminar important? As a future sports journalist, I will go no where unless I treat the players with respect and develop a good reputation from both the players and the public relations staff from the teams. As a journalist, you need to be able to gather information and if you handle yourself appropriately, you are more likely to be able to gather the information you need to be successful.
Pat O'Rourke posted on February 10, 2015 at 11:12 pm
Fairness and respect are the key to a successful reporter-athlete relationship. When the journalist is fair in their reporting, and the two parties respect each other’s personal property and jobs, the more both sides get out of the relationship.
At the bare bones of it, talking to the athletes is simple human communication. There’s no reason to be timid, no reason to be scared. What’s there to hide? The worst that happens is the athlete gives a poor answer, or handles himself in a surly mood.
As Alex and Keiko pointed out, Andrea Kremer’s lecture in Saturday’s Art of the Interview course covered the points discussed in Thursday’s class. One point that resonated with me from the class discussion was that body language can make or break the interview. The first thing Kremer does before an interview is shake the hand of the interviewee. If she notices sweaty palms or shaking, it indicates the person is uncomfortable. As Zach Trotman said on Thursday, the more comfortable the two sides are, the better the interview will be. Again, it’s just two people having a conversation.
The comfort between the two sides leads to fairness. With fairness comes trust, and the more trust an athlete has with a reporter, the better information the reporter gets. Reporters shouldn’t go as far as trying to be the athlete’s drinking buddy, but there needs to be a mutual respect. The reporter giving the athlete his space and respecting the locker room as a whole. The athlete understanding the reporter is there to do his job, not be a nuisance.
When criticism is warranted, there’s chance to gain even more respect. You can take a shot at player, just be willing to answer the bell. When a reporter writes a negative piece about a player, the player will generally respect you more if you show up after the fact. Say what you want about Dan Shaughnessy, but when he writes a negative column about a Red Sox player, he’s in the clubhouse the day after. You have to be ready and willing to take your shots.
Professional athletes appear to be something bigger than life — partly because we paint them that way as journalists. At the end of the day, they’re just normal human beings who happen to have an innate ability to shoot a hockey puck or shoot a basketball. That’s how we need to approach them.
Karly Finison posted on February 11, 2015 at 8:43 am
Though I very much enjoyed hearing Scott Lauber and Marc Normandin’s perspectives on how to build relationships with players in the locker room, it became much more clear after having Marcus Smart, Zach Trotman and Jessica Camerato talk to our class last week.
In light of the Marshawn Lynch “I’m just here so I won’t get fined” fiasco, going into the seminar, I didn’t know what to expect. Would Smart and Trotman’s relationship with the media be positive enough to talk about in front of a group of students hoping to eventually be in the locker room? More than anything this seminar helped “humanize” Smart and Trotman.
Both Smart and Trotman were extremely charismatic and relaxed. I realized that in terms of interviewing players there are two ways to do the job. Prior to joining the Bruins roster, Trotman had been used to a quick and easy, in and out relationship between the players and reporters whereas Smart has been able build respectful relationships with journalists in the lock room.
I think it is easy to go into the locker room just to get quotes. With that said, according to Camerato building relationships with players is more beneficial to us in the long run. It gives us an even greater opportunity of getting time with players for feature articles. Interacting with players in a positive manner cements a foundation to do our job better– write stronger and perhaps more unique stories that other news outlets have not published yet.
Smart touched on finding commonalities with the media personnel. When I talked to him after class in greater depth about building relationships with athletes he said, “just find one thing you have in common and it goes from there.” We realized we were both 20 and both had family and friends in Oklahoma. I think that small interaction was a microcosm for perhaps what’s to come, or what I’ll experience in the future as a sports journalist.
This seminar certainly built on what we learned in the first one, and further stressed how important it is for journalists to have professional relationships with players and solidify a mutual respect between both groups.
Joe Weil posted on February 11, 2015 at 12:45 pm
An important message I took away from last Thursday’s lecture is the importance of phrasing. Jessica Camerato, Marcus Smart, and Zach Trotman all stressed the significance of asking a question the right way. If you ask a smart question, you’ll get the answer they deserve. If you don’t ask your question the right way, you won’t get the quotes you need.
Marcus Smart was living proof of that after he pushed a fan during a college game at Texas Tech. One of the more fascinating moments of the seminar was when Marcus said he steered away from answering questions regarding the incident if a reporter was pushing the wrong agenda.
The Texas Tech occurrence was an isolated event for Marcus, but it won’t be the only time reporters will ask him tough questions. Zach will receive more tough questions as he gets more playing time with the Bruins. Talking/Interviewing can be difficult when things aren’t going well and like many of you guys, I wondered how athletes felt when reporters asked tough questions.
So it was nice to hear Zach and Marcus say they understand that tough questions are a part of the job. Zach actually said a reporter could lose respect from certain players if they shy away from asking hard questions. Jessica assured us that as long you stay professional and phrase your questions correctly you’ll be fine.
She also made sure to say that if write or say something that’s maybe a little negative, take accountability…because the players will see it. I thought it was interesting when Marcus said about criticism, “It’s hard not to see. You might not have seen it but somebody close to you did and they tell you.”
That quote made me think about what it’s like to be a professional athlete in 2015. How amazing is it that some (with some being the key word) professional athletes remain levelheaded during this current era of sports journalism. We expect criticism to bounce off these guys because they seem superhuman, but imagine for a second that things were being written and said about you on a daily basis. It’d be hard not to hear the noise every once in a while right?
I think this ties into a point everyone has made so far. These guys are human and feel the same emotions we do. Zach and Marcus are professional athletes in a sports crazed city, but they’re also in their twenties like the rest of us. Maybe I was a little naïve, but I was shocked how normal they were talking to us.
And because they’re people like you and me, treat them as such. Jessica stressed how crucial it is establish familiarity with the players you’re covering. Introduce yourself. Get to know them. Try to find a commonality with every player so they feel more comfortable talking to you
As Frank notes in his blog post “Don’t think for a minute players don’t notice who is there.” Don’t be the human microphone and don’t invade their personal space. Having fun with the job is important too and as Nick mentioned in his post, every moment doesn’t have to be serious. Having a laugh every once in a while with a player probably humanizes you.
So ask smart questions, be accountable, and do everything you can to gain the respect and trust from the team you’re covering.
Christina Patracuolla posted on February 11, 2015 at 4:15 pm
Prior to the interview session with two athletes and a sideline report, I was skeptical about how honest each side would be about how they handle situations with each other because of certain not so nice relationships that have been noticeable between some athletes and the press. I thought it might be hard to get a lot out of them if each side has a secret to probing (on the side of the reporter) or shying away (on the side of the athlete) from the camera or microphone.
However, Jessica Camerato was a perfect example of a reporter who broke down the walls between reporter and athlete. Camerato made it extremely clear how easy, yet difficult it is to get on someone’s good side. The reassurance I took from Camerato, Marcus Smart and Zach Trotman were that athletes are people just like us. In order to thrive as a reporter it is important to stay calm and collected in order to make the athlete feel more comfortable. Like a conversation with any person you are trying to get information out of, if you give them space and respect, which was reiterated by Smart, they will respond much better than if they are pressured and pushed.
This was a vital lesson for me in that there must be a balance between being to afraid to go up to them in the fear of aggravating them and creating a badly relationship and actually getting after the athlete with no boundaries in mind. All three speakers accentuated how aware you must be in locker room situation. Timing, reading the mood and emotions of the players and phrase the questions as carefully as possible to produce the best feedback possible during an interview. Not only will you get a good interview, but it connected the idea in the previous seminar about creating relationships with more detail as how to ways to build them.
Advice that didn’t occur to me as much was from Vice President of Media Relations for the Celtics Jeffrey Twiss. The relationships Twiss has with the players and with the reporters were also central to reporting the best story possible. Camerato said, “Lean on media relations and make them aware, become friends with them and they will help you so much. If you let them know you need someone they’ll help you.” This opens up the much more possibilities for a reporter and is a different and safe route a reporter can take in getting in touch with or information from a player, depending on who is behind media relations. Before the seminar, I had considered the media relations people more of a road block for reporters than as a vehicle to get them the information and time they need.
The toughest lesson to accept is that no matter what, the tough questions must be asked and the full truth about every player no matter how much you life or dislike them must be told. In doing so, it is hard to be wrong and leaves room for forgiveness. You must be able to not just build up relationships with players, but to repair them.
Katharine Huntley-Bachers posted on February 11, 2015 at 7:32 pm
Having Marcus Smart, Zach Trotman, and Jessica Camerato come to class on the same night gave great insight into how athletes and journalists interact. I have always wondered how it would be to have to go into a locker room after a game and have to ask an athlete who didn’t play their best about their game. The three guests all agreed that you should never say right out what their troubles were for the night. Instead of asking about a specific player’s foul troubles, the journalist should as the player himself how he felt their foul game was. This way there’s less of a chance that the reporter will come off in an accusatory tone. This allows the player to answer honestly, rather than defending their game.
I also asked Smart after the seminar about if reporters questions ever get into the players heads. I have always wondered this since basketball is a sport where you have to be mentally strong. I wondered if reporters ever bring up things that shake up players. Smart said that he might think for a little about something the reporters say, but that it usually doesn’t follow him into the game. He did reply, however, that other NBA players that he knows are extremely susceptible to questions and comments brought up by the media and can be completely affected by them.
Camerato gave lots of insight into the idea that it doesn’t matter if you’re a man or a woman in the sports journalism world. This was a breath of fresh air to me because many adults I know have asked if I would feel comfortable being a girl in a sports business that was dominated by men. Frankly I have always said that an journalist’s work speaks for itself. Camerato who is so successful in a locker room that’s mostly men, showed that the only thing that matters is your work.
The guests also talked at length about how to get to know athletes when you’re new to a locker room. I gathered that it’s most important to just treat the athletes how you would treat any other person, famous or not. Approaching athletes and introducing yourself is a good way to start a relationship. If a player sees you and knows you he or she would be much more likely to give you more intimate details of the game, or the issue you’re asking about if he is familiar with your presence in the locker room.
I think that the best way to succeed in a locker room would be to carry yourself with confidence. Camerato was tough, yet seemingly knew how to ask the tough questions without offending any players. If a reporter walks into a locker room looking scared and not assertive, it’s unlikely that any players would feel comfortable talking candidly. For its during the most candid conversations that the story breaking facts come from.
Overall, I learned that to be successful in the sports journalism business, a confidence in yourself and an aptitude for genuine conversations are some of the most valuable qualities to possess. A journalist needs to be shrewd with their questions, yet open and welcoming in their demeanor. If this balance is achieved, the most valuable information can be collected.
Katie Peverada posted on February 11, 2015 at 9:22 pm
Even though there is a dedicated week on this later on in the semester, reading all these comments made me rethink my first one. I had a sidebar with Kelly about the difficulties of PR staff, so I’m glad Kelly brought up the PR side of things in her comment.
Yes, I still firmly believe that the onus is on the reporter to form some sort of bond with the player(s). However, As Kelly said in her comment about forming relationships with the PR people and fighting through their “shield” on athletes, I realized that maybe building those relationships isn’t enough.
Yes, both Smart and Trotman, as I said in my first comment, made it easy to actualize building bonds with athletes and creating a symbiotic relationship. It seems players are relatively open to reporters approaching them, in a right and respectful way, of course. And as I have seen first hand, and as Kelly pointed out in her comment, the difficulties of getting an honest story begin with the middleman.
But maybe the PR person is trying to prevent, as Trotman and Smart alluded to, a question in a negative light that could set off the athlete BUT at the same time they’re limiting the reporter and therefore limiting the working relationship that is necessary in this business. For example, in the ESPN article that follows Hasselback and the talk about, it’s pretty clear that it’s “killing” the interview. What’s strange, though, is at all the different schools and press conferences I’ve seen, that’s often the opening question, and most of the time from the SID. So much for facilitating information exchange.
As someone who wants to be in sports information, it was definitely a good example to see 1) Marcus and Jeff interact right there 2) Camerato give honest input and insight into what a relationship between the reporters and the PR/SID/Media Relations staff should or could be. Needless to say, I’m excited for the media portion of this seminar later in the semester, and it will be interesting to see where they put the onus on forming the working reporter/player relationship – and how my opinion continues to evolve as we hear more opinions from across sports.
Conor Ryan posted on February 11, 2015 at 9:48 pm
Walking into a professional locker room for the first time can be a daunting task for any young sports journalist, whether it is simply maneuvering around a room filled with professional athletes or asking a question in a media scrum.
This trepidation hit me last summer, when I covered the Red Sox for WEEI.com. During my second game, Alex Speier told me to talk to Mookie Betts for a sidebar story. It wasn’t good time to talk with Betts, as he committed an error out in center field and later failed to close in on an otherwise easy putout, but Speier wanted me to talk with him about his struggles at his new position.
Despite the initial jitters of approaching Betts for a one-on-one exchange, I tried to stay cool and focus my questions more on his “adjustments” rather than phrasing it as “struggles.” In the end, it all worked out, and I was able to get a pretty good sider out of it.
That experience in the Red Sox clubhouse really rang true when taking about our last seminar, featuring BasketballInsiders.com’s Jessica Camerato, Celtics guard Marcus Smart and Providence Bruins defenseman Zach Trotman.
With the amount of media coverage placed on professional athletes, it can be very scary for young journalists when it comes to speaking with said players in the locker room. Yes, it can be easy to get caught up in the “celebrity” aspect of these players, but as Trotman acknowledged — be loose, have fun and you might get a better interview out of it.
That’s where the value lies in this seminar — both Smart and Trotman acknowledged a sense of self-awareness in that yes, they are athletes and yes, dealing with the media can be a chore, but they are made of the same flesh and bone as the reporters covering them.
For both Smart and Trotman, the name of the game is respect. That should come as common sense for most reporters, but as Smart and Camerato noted, the tendency to either steer interviews in a certain direction or violate an athlete’s personal space has served as a sticking point for many professional athletes.
Perhaps the most important takeaway came from Jeff Twiss — the Celtics’ VP of Media Services — who once again hit home the fact that these athletes are just like us and that we should put ourselves in their shoes when we approach them in the locker room.
Approaching athletes can be a challenging thing for young journalists to handle, but if you’re loose and treat them with respect, it will make the job that much easier going forward.
Lee Altman posted on February 11, 2015 at 11:59 pm
It is clear that the majority of the class had a similar takeaway from the most recent seminar, “Athletes and the Media.” While I do agree with most of the points (i.e. athletes are human beings, etc.) I think it is constructive to play the devil’s advocate and view the other side of the athlete and media relationship. For one, they don’t feel like they really need us anymore. And two, many of them don’t really want us either. For an aspiring sports journalist, this is a hard pill to swallow.
The athlete-journalist relationship is viewed from this vantage point in the blackboard articles: “Bill Belichick and The Obsolescence of Sports-Media Access,” and “Death of the interview.” Taking into account these articles, our guest speakers, and my limited personal experience, I believe the question we as aspiring sports journalists need to ask is: how did the divide between athletes and journalists grow so wide, and what can we do about it?
It is not really possible for me to answer the two previous questions thoroughly in one short blog post. The current relationship between reporters and athletes is a culmination of a century’s worth of events. I can, however, try to extrapolate a few points from the seminar and from the readings and this is exactly what I have attempted to do.
I believe that one cause of the wavering relationship between reporters and athletes is the physical aspect of reporting. Marcus and Zach discussed their preferences for performing interviews. Marcus said that athletes do not like it when reporters crowd around their lockers and shove microphones in their face. He said athletes want journalists to respect their space. Marcus’s statements made me recall a similar notion I had one time at Patriots’ media day this season. I noticed the following situation: One player began talking to a few reporters. Other journalists saw this happening and rushed to the player. Soon the player was engulfed in a mass of reporters, cameras and microphones. It almost felt like watching sharks, waiting to smell blood in the water, and swarming the instant they did. I understand that due to the current nature of sports reporting, this may be an easy, quick and efficient way to interview sources as a group. Nonetheless, I still wondered if there truly wasn’t a better way to go about this business.
In actuality, there is another way for an athlete to disseminate information to a large group of reporters, quickly and concisely. It’s called a press conference. I asked both athletes whether they preferred press conferences or one-on-one interviews and both said they prefer press conferences. This is understandable as PC’s solve the physical problem in that they give players space from the reporters. Reporters can still ask the questions they want and get quotes to use for their content. The negative byproduct of this situation is that it creates a mental and emotional barrier between the players and journalists. Tim Keown echoes this idea in his ESPN articles, “Death of the interview.” Keown writes, “The repeated kabuki of the group press conference is institutional dehumanization… It’s easy and efficient but the result is detachment.” Matt Hasselbeck, the former Titan’s Quarterback and subject of the article, agrees with Keown, saying, “I’m not going to give the same answer in a group setting as I would in a one-on-one interview. I agree there’s definitely something lost there.” It seems, however, that in general, players would prefer not to give one-on-one interviews because as Zach put it, he just wants the interview process to be “quick and easy.” The problem is that press conferences essentially remove one of the most important aspects of journalism- the human element.
Growing up, I had a romanticized image in mind regarding the relationship between athletes and journalists. I thought of it as a symbiotic relationship where both members sought each other out to mutually benefit their own cause. I assumed players loved seeing themselves on television and in the paper and hearing themselves on the radio. This was the influence behind my asking the athletes if they ever specifically sought out the media to disseminate a message.
In what came as a surprise to me, they both said that they didn’t. Zach said that if he wanted fans to know something, he could tweet about it. It seems that in the digital age, as Gleason puts it in his “Obsolence of sports-media access” article, “the power of these writers and even television personalities is at its nadir.” Gleason elaborates by saying that, “Indeed, coaches and athletes from all sports are becoming much savvier in the way they deal, or don’t deal, with the media.”
Keown provides a great example of this point when he talks about former Marlins outfielder Logan Morrison. After a reporter misconstrued Morrison’s comments about teammate Hanley Ramirez, Morrison decided to stop giving thoughtful responses and instead give “Kobe” responses. Keown writes that “Morrison, like many athletes, controls his message. The media-savvy athlete can have his own Twitter account, his own radio show, his own website. Each guy can be his own miniconglomerate.” Clearly from many players view, the media does more harm than good (i.e. Marshawn Lynch). The fact that “Morrison even agreed to a pact with Marlins beat writers when he got hurt last year, telling them he would hold off on tweeting the extent of an injury until they had a chance to report it,” represents a hard but honest reflection on the current state of sports journalism (and this Keown article was written in 2011). Many players not only see sports journalists as unhelpful but also some athletes view journalists as deterrents.
I believe Keown sums up the where the relationship has taken journalists when he says, “the post-interview age has created a generation of athletes who are overcovered but underreported.” As a concluding thought, I recall Marshawn Lynch’s final press conference before the Super Bowl. Lynch glares at the media through his sunglasses and says that he will sit in silence for the next three minutes until his scheduled time is finished. Reporters keep peppering him with questions for the next two minutes. He does not respond. For the final minute, a silence sets in and it seems that the journalists in attendance finally understand that Lynch will not offer them anything more. Suddenly a reporter’s voice can be heard asking Lynch, “how’s your mom doing?” He does not respond.
Keiko Talley posted on February 12, 2015 at 12:11 pm
This week’s seminar was my first encounter with a professional athlete. Sure, I’ve gone to Mets games and stood with my nephew as he begged every player to sign his baseball at his first game. But things are a lot different when you are making a living out of walking up to a professional athlete and asking them questions. We can’t just approach these professionals like fans, we have to be confident and know what it is that we want out of the encounter.
During the seminar I focused a lot on what Jessica Camerato had to say. How could I not? She’s a female covering NBA and sitting in front of me telling me all about her experiences and how she tackles certain tasks that I am sure I could face somewhere down the road. Although it was a great insight to listen to an athlete’s perspective as to which questions need better wording and which questions are not allowed at all, I was focused more on what I could learn from Camerato, as she is where I would like myself to be in the future.
When it came time to introduce myself to the speakers I couldn’t think of anything I wanted to talk to Smart and Trotman about, so I quickly introduced myself and moved down the line to speak with Camerato. For a girl like myself who is outgoing and not afraid to strike a conversation with a stranger or make a new friend, standing in front of Marcus Smart and Zach Trotman, I found myself getting nervous and suddenly being quiet (very much not like me). I sat there waiting for the rest of class to be finished speaking with the guests and saw how Smart sat so laidback in his chair checking his phone, maybe a text or a tweet that he had gotten while he was speaking. I than noticed than there was a student checking their phone and I was quickly reminded that Smart is only 20. Yeah, he plays in the NBA and I am sure his life is a lot more glamorous than mine on a good night, but at the end of the day he’s no different than a lot of us students in the room (a commonality). It helped me become more myself in conversation and realize that Smart and I have tattoos (another commonality) and I decided to start a conversation about tattoos with Smart, which continued on for a while and got me to feel more comfortable talking to a professional athlete. During the conversation Smart reminded us that if he went to BU he would be 20, four years younger than myself, and that there would be no reason for me to feel the need to call him “Mr. Smart”.
Camerato’s words quickly took on meaning for me as I started to feel more comfortable and joke with Smart, becoming more of myself in the conversation which is so much more important than trying to act proper and be something that I’m not. I wasn’t looking for a story, but quickly found a unique story about Smart’s tattoos that, if needed, I could easily write a story on.
It’s easy to get caught up in the stardom and become nervous around these people who many people idolize, but as sports journalists we have to keep a certain composure and make sure that we remind ourselves that at the end of the day these athletes wake up and go to their job and come home to have dinner and go to sleep just the same as we do, the only difference being what they do for a living.
The first step, and most important in my opinion, of becoming a sports journalist is getting comfortable with the athletes, which I can confidentially say I have tackled. As we have been reminded in both seminars it is important to remember that these athletes are people just like the rest of us, and although some will be easier to talk to than others, its important to find a common ground with them to build a relationship. Building a relationship with an athlete is the cement base to the building blocks of being a sports journalist.