Fancy hotels, daily access to the locker room, a press pass to all the games…What could be bad?….
Beat reporting is sometimes all of those but more often than not it’s a twenty four a day job and can be daunting at times…Depending on the beat you are lucky enough to secure and in what city, you might struggle for access or you might get lucky and cover hockey!……Such is the case with the latest guests to the Boston University Sports Journalism Seminar Series….Greg Bedard of the Boston Globe previously worked in Milwaukee and Miami covering the NFL before coming to Boston two years ago….Like any new reporter in town, he had to tread lightly and prove himself to the athletes and people he was covering…To his credit , Bedard faced the challenge head on…”I told Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, I’m not here to make my name off of you. I’m here to be fair and accurate about what goes on with this team and anything you can do to help me do that, I would be appreciative of that”…Bedard now enjoys a healthy respect among his peers and the team…For students wondering how they are going to handle being immersed into a new situation(read, first job), Bedard’s advice is key…
But beat reporters can’t expect to just travel in their own little circle…Being able to translate your skills across the board will undoubtedly help you down the line…Fluto Shinzawa joined Bedard in the discussion and a look at his his resume is eye opening…Starting at the Boston University Daily Free Press , Shinzawa covered the men’s hockey team, perennial powers in college play…And although it was his first love, Shinzawa knew he’d have to expand his horizons…Upon taking a job at the Concord (NH) Monitor, he discovered the world of NASCAR, as far removed from hockey as you can get…”It was a great opportunity for me to work on something on a grander scale than Friday night football and high school sports. And it gave me an advantage when i went to look for a job at the Boston Globe. There’s not that many people with knowledge of motor sports. He (the Globe sports Editor) needed someone to help out and it was one of the best career decisions I ever made.”
Having inside information, knowing when to use it and the glamour of travelling with a team are all perks of job but it only comes after laying the foundation…New t owns, new jobs can throw you a curve but if you’re prepared, you’ll figure it out…Next Week: Women in Sports….
25 Comments
Nick Hansen posted on September 23, 2012 at 5:34 pm
Is this the best job in the world? No, I don’t think so.
You have to be on the clock nearly 24/7, try to get a story out of people who don’t want to talk (like Bill Belichick), and have to spend long hours away from the family. You’re not a fan, you’re an un-biased reporter. Your job is to get information on a team to the readers.
In the article “Bill Belichick and the Obsolescence of Sports-Media Access,” Mike Gleason says that due to the removal of barriers in disseminating information (basically, the rise of internet journalism) most sports information outlets will be analysis driven, instead of reporting driven.
While that may be true to a point, there still needs to be accurate reporting, gathering of information, and quality writing. There is a “boots on the ground” aspect that separates blogs from the Boston Globe. Greg and Fluto have put in many hours perfecting their craft.
I think that work has paid off for Fluto and Greg. To their credit, they have adapted their craft to keep pace with the internet age. Greg’s weekly break down of Patriots film is very helpful to understanding the game. I think he is very good at balancing information with analysis.
Is beat reporting it the perfect job? No.
Is it a good job for someone who is curious and who will relentlessly pursue the truth? Oh yeah.
Mary Gagliardi posted on September 23, 2012 at 9:01 pm
First of all, I thought Fluto and Greg were AMAZING seminar guests. They really seemed knowledgeable and professional. It was amazing to just hear their stories and opinions.
What I took away from this weeks seminar is the fact that this job is not for the meek and timid. Being a reporter, especially a beat reporter takes confidence and total knowledge on your team/the sport. BECAUSE, a wrong fact or a bad quote and you have to deal with an angry athlete in the locker room the next day.
I enjoyed the story Greg told where he wrote an honest but critical article about a player he had grown friendly with and how, ultimately, the player took offense to the article. He fired back at Greg via twitter. Ultimately Greg was able to defend himself and proved to the player that his article was correct and reminded him that ultimately his job.was to be a reporter, not his pal.
I learned from this seminar that beat reporting is NOT what I want to do. While their are obvious perks as mentioned in the blog, the stress and competition of the job seems overwhelming. Plus, I need to work on separating myself from my cell phone versus being glued to it 24/7 🙂
Kendall Salter posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:31 am
This was a great seminar. Beat reporting is obviously no simple task. The amount of time and effort that these two writers — and others across the country — put into their work is incredible. What the seminar illustrated was that beat reporting is no longer as regimented a routine as it used to be. Both Mr. Bedard and Mr. Shinzawa are constantly at the behest of a ferocious news cycle. Even with the NHL lockout, Mr. Shinzawa is tethered to his phone, just in case an update comes in. I thought that an especially illuminating example was when he said that he would often be called away from dinner to cover a story. Beat reporting is a sacrifice.
Mr. Bedard had his own experiences with this demanding role. His concerns about providing for his family while still finding time to spend with them is a good reminder of what many of us will have to balance over the course of our careers. I am glad that both reporters were so frank about the demands of newspaper and online reporting.
But what I’ve written makes it sound like beat reporting isn’t fun at all. That’s misleading. One question I didn’t get the opportunity to ask was if both reporters – Mr. Bedard and Mr. Shinzawa — were still able to appreciate the fact that they get to watch sports played at the highest level every week. For me, the many drawbacks of beat reporting wouldn’t supersede the privilege of seeing outstanding athletes daily.
Granted, dealing with professional athletes presents a series of challenges, from dealing with big egos and outlandish personalities, but that is what intrigues me about being a reporter. You have the chance to find interesting stories where you least expect it, and big personalities help. It is rewarding to build a rapport with an athlete while covering a team, especially when you get to cash in on that relationship with a great story or feature down the road.
Rather than scare me away from daily sports reporting, I think that this seminar emphasized the importance of cutting my teeth on a beat. Most good national reporters and analysts — from Jayson Stark to Peter King — started the same way we all do: covering a team every day, win or lose. There is a lot of value in that.
Nate Weitzer posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:10 am
Both Fluto and Greg touched upon how the task of beat reporting is rapidly changing in today’s technology-driven world. Blogging and tweeting are great ways to maintain a relationship with the fan bases that drive their profession and enable beat writers to ‘get it first.’
However like Greg stated, it’s still important to get it right.
Twitter can be a double-edged sword for reporters who have insider access to professional teams. Fluto alluded to how that access separates his opinions from the rest of the blog-o-sphere, and also talked about how gaining familiarity with the athletes/coaches he deals with is the most important and challenging aspect of his job.
These guys are on an island in their daily reporting. They post information instantly via social media and can’t rely on an editor for a second opinion. Self-censorship is inherently part of the job on today’s beat- unless you want to alienate yourself in the locker room you have to define boundaries.
Malcolm Moran wrote a great article about how beat reporting in today’s digital age is similar to walking on a tightrope with essentially no safety net: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reports/article/102527/Its-a-Brand-New-BallgameFor-Sports-Reporters.aspx
These dedicated reporters have to be actively aware and involved with sports news 24/7, but if they cross the line and betray the trust of the organizations that they depend on it can be detrimental to the future of their careers.
Paul Ryan posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:11 am
Beat reporting seems like the greatest job in the world to any 12-year-old sports fan. You get to “hang out” with the athletes, talk to them every day, travel all over the place with them, etc. But in reality as Greg and Fluto pointed out, beat reporting is not nearly as glamorous as our younger selves would like to imagine. Beat reporting is a grind, not to the extent of being an athlete, but you do have to show up every day. You can’t take a day off in this business, both Greg and Fluto made that very clear.
One point I found very interesting from Fluto was how he stopped covering the Bruins pretty much immediately after they won the Stanley Cup in June of 2011. Sure the players, coaches and fans get to enjoy it because they won it, their team won it: but for the beat reporter, they had to go through the grind of the NHL playoffs without any real rewards. They came to the rink for two straight months, basically every other day, with more and more media coverage piling in with each series victory. It becomes extremely tiring, more so than any of us that have not experienced it could ever imagine.
Beat reporting is becoming increasingly more difficult with each passing year. When both Greg and Fluto started at their first jobs, they were still cutting articles manually instead of loading them electronically. They had not yet heard of twitter, bloggers, or even the internet, really. Journalism in places like Boston came from either the Globe or the Herald. Now, people get their news from an unimaginable amount of sources. Writers like Greg and Fluto can no longer just post a game story where they recap the games event. People have NFL Network or espn.com for that. Now, the writer is forced to become even more creative, to use resources like twitter to their advantage.
Greg and Fluto did not mince words when talking about the difficulty of a beat. It’s not going to be easy, it’s going to be a lot of long nights and often times the coaches or players won’t say much to give you a story. That’s exactly what I wanted from this class: to take out what truly happens in the world of sports journalism. Both writers did a fantastic job of portraying what really happens in the locker room and in the sports world.
Taylor Williams posted on September 24, 2012 at 10:59 am
Despite all the job’s downsides – the crazy hours, the relentless grind of extracting information, the unavoidable accountability – beat reporting perhaps represents sports journalism at its finest, if not its most old-school form. Beat reporters are the true liaisons between teams and fans, the ones with the information that shapes everything from public opinion to odds in Vegas.
Fluto Shinzawa and Greg Bedard were outstanding guests who brought a wealth of realistic perspective to the table. I thought it fitting that we followed last week’s seminar on the growth of the online medium with discussion of the realities of on-the-ground reporting. Fluto and Greg embody the notion that sports journalism, at least for now, still has room enough for both. Though they use social media to their advantage in disseminating news, they haven’t allowed it and other tools of the Internet to compromise real journalistic endeavors.
Sports journalists become sports journalists, at least in part, because they love sports. Beat reporting allows the thirst for sports to be indulged like none other, Greg being a case in point. He spends hours dissecting film and gathering player insights that qualify him as an expert on the team and the game. As such, he has license to write opinionated pieces as well as hard news stories. Regularly hearing the thoughts of coaches and players who represent the game at its best – this is the facet of the profession that makes it seem glamorous, at least to those who don’t know its realities. Thanks to Fluto and Greg, no one in this class has any sugar-coated perceptions of what the realities of beat reporting entail.
It can be incredibly demanding, but as Fluto noted, the pace of the job constantly pushes the journalist to improve his writing and reporting skills. This is an intangible benefit that almost automatically accompanies the job, yet is often shadowed by the stresses of the daily grind. Is being woken up by breaking news at 4 a.m. worth it if you’re the only one with the knowledge and contacts to present the information in its proper and most effective context? To me, it is.
Beat reporting encompasses fundamental elements of journalism – the cultivating of sources, the fairness of reporting, the unbelievable premiums on accuracy and timeliness. Do bloggers on their basement couches really have to fulfill those tenets? Not in the slightest.
I agree with Paul that traditional beat reporting is slowly tending toward obsolescence, and that writers must work harder and dig deeper for good angles on stories. But the principles of beat reporting are the foundations of good sports journalism. And for now, sports journalism, not sports blogging, is the business.
Patrick Thomas posted on September 24, 2012 at 11:46 am
Wow, what a seminar. Beat reporting is a ton of work. It is an intense 24/7 job with low frills and not enough sleep. It is not ideal for me in the slightest. I do like that Greg and Fluto shot us straight. No gimmicks about what they do. The insight they gain comes at a cost.
How does Greg know how to phrase the question that addresses a play where Tom Brady threw an interception? Where do you build a comfort level in a clubhouse?
Earning those skills has become an unappreciated art. Michael Gee’s column “Armchair Sports Commentary” addresses how beat reporters are “underpaid and over privileged”. Fewer people recognize good beat reporting because they follow TV personalities.
http://www.bostonsportsmedia.com/2011/07/guest-column-the-rise-of-armchair-sports-commentary
The message was about maintaining credibility by applying those same dogged journalistic principles in a changing dynamic. Not that beat reporting is for everyone.
Sports journalism needs these guys. Their work is credible because they give the most accurate facts after doing the dirty work.
My biggest takeaway from the night actually dealt more with Fluto and Greg being willing to start from anywhere. I found it encouraging that the both of them started out small before making it to this stage in life. Their journeys in life are relatable to us. Greg’s story about his openness to move to Milwaukee to provide more for his wife and kids is applicable to us as journalists. Relocation is a recurring theme in sports journalism.
Hours of toiling at various jobs brought them the best networking and most dependable contacts. Fluto’s opportunity to cover NASCAR came unexpectedly but now he is an expert. The groundwork to build success pays off. That builds credibility.
Nobody ONLY reads the newspaper. Fluto and Greg exemplify what a modern journalist is: someone who can write, shoot video, tweet excessively and understand how to use technology to reach an audience. If your Greg, that even means give a breakdown of the latest Pats game.
The difficulty of the job was clear in Fluto’s point about the demands of the job: “I used to be asked to do one thing well. Now I have to do ten things”.
I admire the candor of Greg and Fluto about what they do. They are legit. Unfortunately, I can’t be jealous of their schedules.
Amy Barry posted on September 24, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Beat reporting is not all about the perks.
Beat reporting is one of the most competitive assignments in the industry. Due to the fact that breaking news gets the most clicks, reporters have the urgency to get each story first. However, both Greg Bedard and Fluto Shinzawa said they would rather be second on a story and check something rather than be first and wrong. Bedard said, “People remember when you’re wrong, not if you’re first.”
Bedard’s point shows the journalistic value of accuracy trumps leaking the story first. Plus, with the lack of editors online, checking your own work is crucial.
Shinzawa began his beat on the Bruins seven seasons ago. Over time a relationship between reporter and player, as well as reporter and coach develops. Shinzawa mentions that this takes time – half a season, a full season. These relationships are also a two way street and can make and break you in the locker room. If a relationships went in the wrong direction with a player than a reporter’s job in the locker room could be made difficult.
Professor Shorr mentioned this in his blog; Bedard came to New England two seasons ago. Upon his arrival he made the moves in the right direction in forming relationships. Bedard said, “I told Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, I’m not here to make my name off of you. I’m here to be fair and accurate about what goes on with this team and anything you can do to help me do that, I would be appreciative of that.”
The relationships between the franchise and report is important, but there is also another relationship worth acknowledging, the other beat reporters. Once on a beat you are at the stadium every day working around the same people. Shinzawa put it best when he said, “You have to have a relationship with fellow beat writers. You see them every day. You need to be professional.”
With a lockout on the NHL horizon, what will Shinzawa’s job entail? He will be willing to help anywhere he is needed – NASCAC, Revolution. This is where being well rounded helps a beat writer. During his time in New Hampshire he did not stick to what he knew, hockey. He took the time and drive to Loudon, to report on NASCAC, a sport that is not in high demand by many sports journalist. Being well-rounded helped with his job at the Globe and it’s playing another part with a potential lockout. Bedard is also reporting in an area he likes, but isn’t his favorite. Bedard was a baseball player at Rutgers University. Baseball would be his sport of choice.
After the workshop, Shinzawa handed me advice. If you are not familiar with a certain sport, like he was with NASCAC, watch and read about it as much as possible and don’t be afraid once there to ask a question with someone who does it all the time. This is the only way to develop knowledge in a subject and make you better-rounded.
With all the perks of being a beat writer, there are some down falls. The job never sleeps; it’s a 24 hour gig. This could take a toll on a family life. Both Bedard and Shinzawa have families. They each cherish their days off and never take them for granted.
The best advice given during the seminar was by Shinzawa, “Writing is about getting your reps.” Like a basketball player practicing free throws, a writer improves the more he or she writes.
Ashley Driscoll posted on September 24, 2012 at 2:52 pm
One of the themes I came away with from this week’s seminar is to be versatile. A beat reporter is, by definition, a specialist in a certain area. This does not mean, however, that they cannot branch out and cover a sport that is outside their comfort zone. For example, Fluto Shinzawa’s coverage of NASCAR was something he could put in his portfolio which set him apart from other candidates when job searching. This is something we can all learn from: be open to covering anything and everything, and it will benefit you in the long run. If you pigeon hole yourself into a specific sport or interest area, it will be harder to market yourself and therefore harder to find a job in the sports journalism market.
I did not get the impression that either of our guests this week enjoy fancy hotels, and having daily access to the locker room may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. If you’re covering the Patriots like Greg Bedard, it’s unlikely you’ll get much out of the guys in the locker room anyway. You might as well talk to outside sources in order to get a good story. In addition, due to Twitter and other advances in technology, the 24/7 nature of the job makes it stressful and never-ending. That being said, it’s still a great job. Ultimately those who cover sports are doing what they love and that should translate into great reporting!
Both Shinzawa and Bedard emphasized the importance of getting the story right. Shinzawa said, “I’d rather be the person who takes time to check something and get it right than be first and wrong.” Bedard followed up with, “Even if you have something first it can be quickly forgotten; but if you get it wrong, everyone will remember. I would rather be last than be wrong on anything.” This was the most memorable part of the interview for me. While the best case scenario would be for you to be both first to break a story AND right on all the details, you can’t always have both. If you have to choose, err on the side of caution and wait to verify your information. This is sound advice for any journalist to take into consideration.
Phillip Kisubika posted on September 24, 2012 at 2:59 pm
It seems like last week’s seminar either made people shy away from wanting to be a beat reporter or reinforced their desire to take on that lifestyle. Being a beat reporter is a monumental task no matter what kind of team you’re covering, and I’ve always admired it. Every sport and organization offers different kinds of challenges, and a beat reporter has to be able to meet those challenges head-on, get the job done and do it the right way.
If you think of sports journalism as a football team, the beat reporters are like the lineman, guys who have to go in the trenches, do the dirty work and get the information that all the columnists and radio hosts (skill players) use. You don’t always know their names, but you know who they are when they’re great or when they’re on the wrong side of the penalty flag.
The job of a beat reporter has gotten even more difficult over the years. It’s not enough to be there every day reporting and writing stories. Reporters will always have the extra access that fans don’t have, but they also have to bring something more to the table. Fluto brings versatility to his reporting, I enjoyed hearing Greg talk about his weekly film study. Everybody watches the game, but Greg (and a lot of writers nowadays) analyze the game so he can have a better handle on who is or isn’t performing. That also helps him interview players and coaches better, which, in turn, helps him write stronger pieces.
The most important thing I took away from the seminar was what Greg said about breaking stories: “I want to be first on the web and best in the paper.” To me, that’s the biggest challenge in beat reporting today. You can’t get beat on stories, and you have to be able to tell the story the best. That’s what editors want, and that’s what we should shoot for.
Greg Picker posted on September 24, 2012 at 4:49 pm
Becoming a beat reporter seems to require the most dedication of anyone in sports media. You’re often traveling just as much as the team, yet you don’t get pampered the same way they do. When they’re playing, you’re working. When they’re off from practice or just hanging around the hotel and/or going around the city while waiting for a game, you’re still working. When they’re on the plane or bus going from city to city, you’re doing the same yet you’re still working. This may have been different years ago before the internet when your stories would only be published in the next day’s newspaper. However, now breaking news is spread around minutes after it happens. In sports, when there are so many reporters looking for information on the same team, if you’re just a few minutes behind releasing news on Twitter, you’ve essentially been beaten at your job.
The difficulty of a beat reporter’s job seems to depend on both the sport and the team being covered. As we learned from Fluto, working for a hockey team tends to be quite less stressful than if he was working for a baseball team, or a team like the Patriots that is very close-lipped.
Hearing from both Greg and Fluto helped me further understand that should I become a beat reporter, it is all about the relationships with the team. The better the relationship with the players and staff, the more you are able to learn and thus the more you are about to write about and divulge to your readers. Whenever you have more information than your counterparts, the readers are more likely to come to you as a source.
It’s unfortunate that not enough people appreciate the job of a beat reporter. To be traveling so much while being behind the scenes, there is so much that goes into the job that people do not realize. At least with Twitter in today’s world, these beat reporters have a chance to become a personality and more than just a name in the byline of a newspaper. In addition, the best beat reporters tend to gain a face on television.
Jashvina Shah posted on September 24, 2012 at 5:30 pm
This seminar was definitely enlightening, and it was nice being able to hear what Fluto Shinzawa and Greg Bedard have encountered as beat reporters and how they have dealt with various incidents.
The one thing this seminar really emphasized was how beat reporting is not a glamorous job. And it isn’t — beat reporting is extremely difficult, taxing and requires a lot of work.
Something Bedard and Shinzawa talked about that I think is really important in understanding how beat reporting is not a fun job is that it is a 24-hour job. That is one of the more difficult aspects of beat reporting, as you always have to be prepared to report or follow up on a story at any time of the day because of the internet and social media.
There is also the issue of having limited access, or knowing which stories to publish because some may alienate sources. And if you upset one of those players, you still have to see them on a daily basis. Dealing with those relationships takes a lot of work. You also have to learn how to work well with other beat reporters from competing outlets, and that competition can also take the fun out of beat reporting.
I’ve gone from covering teams where I have a lot of access to covering teams where I have limited access, similar (on a downscaled college level) to what Bedard had to deal with. When you get to travel with the team and are able to talk to any player and watch practice, beat reporting is much easier to handle. But when the access is cut off — when you can’t travel with teams or watch practice — it becomes very, very hard because you’re out of the loop. The travel schedule can be horrendous, too.
Becoming a successful beat reporter means more than just learning how to cover different sports and helping out however you’re needed — it means you have to be able to maneuver the difficulties presented to you and still be able to present fair, unbiased and truthful information.
This seminar didn’t change my opinion of beat reporting, mostly because my experience has taught me how awful the job can get sometimes. But there are little things, as I mentioned in class, such as being an expert on a team, that makes beat reporting enjoyable for myself. There’s also a great feeling that comes with beating the constant grind and coming out with great stories when you’re a beat reporter. And it is enjoyable for some people who truly like being immersed in that atmosphere and multitasking.
Nate Boroyan posted on September 24, 2012 at 9:24 pm
When listening to both Mr. Bedard and Mr. Shinzawa, I reflected back on my time at a local paper in southern Maine that I worked at throughout the past year. Personally, I found my path more similar to Mr. Shinzawa’s.
I marketed myself as a former athlete, having the most knowledge in baseball. Being at a small paper, covering high school sports, I knew that my knowledge and passion for other sports was key since baseball was only an April through June sport. As the only sports writer for the paper, versatility was my biggest asset.
During the fall I would cover predominantly football and soccer. In the winter, basketball and hockey. In the spring, baseball and lacrosse. Competition being what it is in the industry, I knew I had to leap at every opportunity possible. Bottom line, I was expendable. I knew if I didn’t want to cover a sport I was less familiar with, they could easily bring in a freelancer who could cover the sport. Honestly, I did not want to allow someone else to impress in my absence.
I certainly would not call myself a beat reporter but I developed a familiarity with coaches and players. Like Mr. Shinzawa, my biggest break came when I least expected it.
I covered a game between two of the worst high school hockey teams in Maine and broke my biggest story. One of the teams had a girl as their starting goalie. I pitched the idea of a feature to my editor and began a month long process of meeting with her and her family to get her story.
The point is, I agree with the notion of jumping at every opportunity because you never know where its going to take you.
Prior to Mr. Bedard and Mr. Shinzawa speaking with our class, I thought of myself as the exception rather than the norm. I never realized how versatile one needs to be to cover sports.
While my general passion for sports was a plus, it could only take me so far. I needed to do my own research and make my own calls in order to understand sports I covered that I wasn’t well versed in.
Also, Mr. Bedard’s point about going out of his way to establish trust with the Patriots organization was well put. While dealing with professionals is different than high school players and coaches, developing relationships is still important. In some ways, I believe it can be more challenging in the sense that high schoolers aren’t often familiar with interviews. Needless to say, it was necessary to be able to communicate well with both players and, on occasion, parents.
Jonathan Lemons posted on September 25, 2012 at 4:46 pm
A few things stood out to me in our discussion with Fluto and Greg.
Get in your reps.
Both Greg and Fluto emphasized the best way to getting better is to write more. While the notion of improving at a particular skill through practicing it is not particularly revolutionary, it’s a terrific reminder from two writers whose talent and accomplishments give their advice significant weight.
Take the opportunity.
Interest in NASCAR had always, shall we say, ‘eluded’ Fluto, but during his time at the Concord Monitor, when the rest of the paper’s staff made themselves scarce prior to the big race at Loudonville, Fluto took the opportunity to become the paper’s motor sports writer. His decision to do so, he told us, played no small part in helping him land a job at the Boston Globe.
It’s unrealistic for any of us to expect to get our dream job straight out of journalism school. More likely, we’ll be asked to do many stories on things we have no real affinity for. In that context, Fluto’s anecdote is a helpful illustration of why we ought to embrace such assignments as opportunities – either to pad our resume, or open new doors, or simply to learn about something we may otherwise have never encountered.
Balancing quality and timeliness.
With the advent of online journalism and the 24-hour news cycle, we spent plenty of time wringing our hands over beat writers’ seemingly never-ending work cycle. It was in that context that I so appreciated both Greg and Fluto’s comments about the importance of balancing quality with timeliness.
As Greg said, “I’d rather be correct than first.” In the mad rush to break news, there is inherent danger of making a mistake. Greg’s concern with providing accurate information and quality writing is refreshing in an industry/culture that seems to grow increasingly more obsessed with instant coverage.
Like Greg’s, I appreciated Fluto’s thoughtful take on breaking news. Of course he’d like to break all of the stories and of course he doesn’t like to get beat on a story, but I admired his attitude toward handling the inevitable situations when he does get beat. Fluto acknowledged that you just can’t get every story first and seemed reassured by the fact that he works hard and he knows he does a good job, which struck me as a very healthy and productive mindset to have.
Bobby LeBlanc posted on September 25, 2012 at 5:01 pm
Greg Bedard is a beat reporter I have really come to respect. He is proof enough to me that you can be a hardworking journalist and maintain a strong family life at the same time. It seems as if he has truly found something he loves to do and does a great job of it. I have only been following him on Twitter for about a month, and now I always turn to Bedard for any information regarding the Patriots. He is fair, honest and is interested in the truth. I say all of this about Bedard because I feel like he is a great example of what a beat reporter should strive to be like.
His latest article on the offense shows how dedicated he is to analyzing and understanding the Patriots and the game of football. The analysis of the offense in this article is a great example of a beat writer that knows what he’s talking about.
http://bostonglobe.com/sports/2012/09/24/mcdaniels-better-but-still-getting-way/5WZLyUt2ahTSS8y2iC6DFO/story.html
I assume that after that seminar everyone has an understanding that being a beat reporter is a lot of hard work. There is so much that goes into the job that has become natural for guys like Greg Bedard and Fluto Shinzawa. They do what they are assigned to do, and they do a great job of it. They tweet, take their own statistics, get to know the players, ask the difficult questions in interviews, understand the game, write stories, and follow the team on a daily basis. All these things go into being a good beat reporter. I have come to the conclusion that anyone pursuing sports journalism should at the very least consider starting off as a beat reporter. Many of the people you see on ESPN have. The experience you can gain and the skills you can develop will no doubt benefit you down the road.
Two things that were said during the seminar stuck out to me. Shinzawa mentioned twice to know who you are writing for. I think it is clear that Bedard is writing for the truth and fairness. He even told Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick that is why he is there. Personally, I think all beat reporters should write for that reason. They shouldn’t write for the teams, the fans, or the players. They should write to tell the truth while being fair and accurate at the same time.
Secondly, I found it very interesting that Bedard gets most of his tips and information from outside of the Patriots organization. Although I’m not surprised at all, I think it is important to note that an organization like the Patriots will not always provide all of the information necessary. A good beat reporter needs to develop other outside sources in order to gain knowledge about the team he or she is covering.
Overall, I really enjoyed this week’s seminar and am really going to consider doing work as a beat reporter. Even though it is a time consuming job, I would love to have the knowledge of one single team like Bedard has for the Patriots. Though I may not want to do it my whole life, I see beat reporting as a great starting point for any sports journalist.
Jason Lind posted on September 25, 2012 at 7:02 pm
Neither Fluto nor Greg began their beat reporting careers with the team or sport most familiar to them. After covering the BU men’s hockey team for the Daily Free Press, Fluto found his first job covering NASCAR in New Hampshire. Greg, a baseball player at Rutgers who also covered the softball team, started his first beat covering the Packers for the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.
That may be the most frightening and unique aspect of beat reporting: covering a team (or even a sport) you are wholly unfamiliar with. Audiences can be cruel to an outsider. The ability to adapt to a new environment is important everywhere, but on a sports beat it is a prerequisite. Fluto and Greg threw themselves into foreign territory and worked until it was familiar.
Even when Greg came to a familiar city, his new beat brought a different challenge. Bill Belichick keeps as many mouths shut as he can reach. Working with the Patriots requires a different approach to reporting. Greg talked about reaching to sources further outside the organization (and sometimes from other organizations) to keep himself informed.
Every sports beat is unique. There are infinite variables that dictate how to cover a team or sport. Fluto gave a piece of advice consistent to all beats: “Know who you’re writing for.” A reporter who immerses himself or herself in the culture of a team will eventually become familiar with it. But knowing the audience is more important. After all, a reporter’s foremost obligation is to the public.
Kaleigh Fratkin posted on September 25, 2012 at 8:12 pm
Before this seminar if someone asked me if I would want to be a beat reporter, I would have said yes, only if I could beat report for my favorite hockey team. So, nonetheless, I got a good laugh from Greg’s comment of how you do not want to be a beat reporter for your favorite team. Prior to his comment, the first thing I thought of was how cool it would be to beat report for the Detroit Red Wings. But then, when he explained how as a beat reporter you learn things about an organization, players and coaches that change your perspective on a franchise. I thought about the truth to that comment, and needless to say I take back wanting to beat report for my favorite hockey team.
For other sports fanatics, beat reporting sounds like the ideal job: following a professional sports team, watching games and practices, interviewing and interacting with players and coaches as well as developing relationships with them. But, after listening to Fluto and Greg, I learned a lot about beat reporting that isn’t displayed to the public.
What I took away from this week’s seminar is that the beat reporting life style isn’t lackadaisical: traveling, constant connection to media and endless interactions with players and coaches. Fluto is a good example of this especially right now during the lock out; he is still attached to his phone and up to speed on the latest NHL news. The seminar also taught me that the good beat reporters gain experience in different fields. It was reassuring to see that experienced individuals like Fluto and Greg all started somewhere. I really took away the fact that any experience counts because you never know where your first job will be.
I was very impressed by how knowledgeable Fluto and Greg were in their field. Although their experiences involve jobs in other fields, they seem to know a lot about the game they cover. Listening to Greg talk about how he watches and studies game tapes, analyses plays both live and on film, and records team and individual statistics, I was very pleasantly surprised that beat reporters did those types of things other than interviews and watch games. I think this shows that good beat reporters are expertise in their sport, and like Greg has done before, tell a player he had a poor performance in a game with the ability to back it up.
Matt DeFonzo posted on September 25, 2012 at 11:49 pm
As pretty much everyone in class mentioned, beat reporting is a difficult task with a literally endless news cycle and constant hopping on a plane to get from one location to another. But despite its difficulties, beat reporting might be one of the most important jobs in the sports reporting universe.
I’m interested in being a sports talk radio host, and that’s a job where I’d likely depend on beat reporters for information on the inner workings of a team that I would never be able to learn by just watching games on TV, or even in person. That alone makes me appreciate beat reporters immensely. Go back to Phil’s analogy of the world of sports reporting as a football team. If I’m one of the offensive skill players (e.g. a radio personality), I definitely appreciate any and all of the blocks the offensive lineman (beat reporters) can throw for me. Any information a beat reporter can give me would be extremely helpful, and something I would absolutely be thankful for.
Think about it like this: beat reporters are really experts on the team they cover. The beat reporters very job is to get deep into their team, to really dig and understand why the team won or lost, to understand better than anyone else the social dynamics of the locker room. Take Greg Bedard. He’s a beat reporter that covers mainly the New England Patriots. He said that he watches film and keeps track of their statistics himself, and it seems like he can really tell what’s going on because of his studying. That to me is really getting deep into a team. When you can play game film back three, four, or five times to see what’s going on, that really lets you know and understand a sport. And when one beat reporter has the dedication and commitment to do that for the exact same team every week and really becomes an expert, then you know he or she is someone you can rely on to have and express a credible opinion. That’s invaluable if, like me, you want to be an on-air personality who knows what you’re talking about. Of course, I would watch games and game film myself too, but when you’re covering a little bit of everything, there’s not enough time to become an absolute expert on any one team, which is why the depth of coverage a beat reporter provides is vital.
What else is important about beat reporters? Just like lots of other journalists, they’re watchdogs for the people who have power. During last Thursday’s seminar, Bedard seemed to allude to this role when he said he’s suspicious when people go through the effort to give him information. Good beat reporters dig and investigate rather than simply regurgitating what a team wants people to hear. At one point, Bedard mentioned that he’ll call scouts and assistants for teams besides the Patriots since the New England franchise is so close-mouthed. That’s the type of reporting I think everyone can appreciate. He’s not just after a story, he’s after, as many of our classmates mentioned, fairness and, especially in this case, accuracy. Without beat reporters, one of the few firsthand news sources about a team would be the team itself, a type of source I’m sure everyone can agree wouldn’t be unbiased. So beat reporters serve a vital role by checking the very teams they cover.
So if you’re going into the world of sports journalism, be sure to thank a beat reporter. It might be a difficult job, but there’s no doubt it’s also a very important one.
Andrew posted on September 26, 2012 at 8:25 am
Beat reporting is not the glamour job it once was, that I think is safe to say. Is it a coincidence we are coming off a week in which we bickered back and forth about bloggers and the fine line between sports reporting and entertainment…I think Professor knows exactly what he’s doing.
Beat reporting has become more and more difficult with the invention of the 24 hour news cycle and twitter. Both Mr. Bedard and Mr. Shinzawa mentioned the idea of “never leaving the office” and I think for me that wouldn’t be so bad…what would be tough to for me is the “twitter effect”. The ability for players to tweet out updates about injuries and/or fines kind of eliminates the need for a middleman…right? WRONG.
These guys are pretty damn good, even with athletes tweeting pictures of successful knee surgeries they still keep the stories fresh for an entire season! It’s not just writing one story for tomorrow’s paper anymore, reporters have to update their online stories and twitter accounts non-stop to stay ahead of the curve. That is a lot of reporting!
What stayed with me most were their responses to my question “how do you measure your success?” It’s not talk radio, where you can find out the number of listeners you have and its not blogging where the amount of page hits equates to success. Neither Greg or Fluto had a straight answer, but Mr. Bedard did say at the end “you’ll write enough bad ones to know when you got a good one”…and that is an attitude I can actually respect.
You listen to Greg and Fluto for just a few minutes and realize the passion these guys have for real reporting. They both took the traditional route to The Boston Globe worked their way to the Globe from small local papers and covering sports out of their comfort zone. Even in an entertainment-driven world these guys are finding a way to do what they love and be successful at it. The most comforting thing that I have heard to confirm that traditional reporting is not yet extinct, is when Mr. Bedard said “I’d rather be last to break a story then first and wrong about a story”, Fluto nodded his head in agreement and so did I.
Greg Huntoon posted on September 26, 2012 at 1:01 pm
I like Phil’s point that last week’s seminar either reinforced or killed a lot of the class’s desire to become a beat reporter. And even though not all of us want to be beat reporters, there are a lot of things that Fluto and Greg said that are applicable to any job in which we work.
As Kaleigh mentioned, Fluto talked about how you cannot be a huge fan of the team you cover. Fluto won’t even watch the Bruins games he is not assigned to. But what I really like is that Fluto has such a passion for hockey as a whole that he can continue doing it. He recalled talking to Tim Thomas about a specific play and being amazed at how Thomas remembered each detail as if it had happened in slow motion. He clearly has an enormous amount of respect for the athletes he covers, and his passion for the sport as a whole keeps him going. Finding that balance between passion and fandom is sometimes hard to determine, and I liked seeing where Fluto’s was.
Being open for new things is another theme that has been brought up. This not only goes with what you’re covering, but how you are covering it. Both Fluto and Greg are what Prof. Shorr referred to as the “in-betweeners” of beat reporters, and that they have had the difficult job of combining the new forms of reporting with the ways they grew up with. Just like Fluto covering NASCAR, being on twitter has allowed him to connect with people he wasn’t able to before, and get his name to those people. They showed that you never know what will happen, so you might as well try it out.
Fluto and Greg also showed that they are professionals, in many different ways. They do the research, put in the hours and aren’t afraid to back up what they are saying. The athletes they cover are professionals, so they report the same way. Both of them showed that being professional will ultimately gain others’ respect. They showed that if you do your job in a professional manner, the players coaches, etc. may not like it at the time, but they will often respect you for it later on.
While I probably won’t go on to become a beat reporter, I will take a lot of what Fluto and Greg said and use it where ever I work.
Davis VanOpdorp posted on September 26, 2012 at 4:51 pm
Beat reporting has always been an interesting profession to me, one that I have kind of been hot and cold on.
On the one hand, like Mr. Fluto Shinzawa said, beat reporters have a greater advantage on anyone else writing about a team; they have access to the locker room. You get breaking news before anyone else does, and people refer to your work on many media, like radio talk shows and TV news shows.
On the other hand, like Mr. Nick Hansen eluded to above, it’s a 24/7 job. Professor Shorr brought up something very interesting in class as well; even if their team stinks, even if the team is an abomination and are the last team in the league every year, beat reporters have to write as if everyone is reading.
One thing that resonated with me from Mr. Greg Bedard’s words is about how you view the team you’re covering. He said that you eventually get to the point where you know the team so well inside and out, you won’t want to be a fan of them. I thought it was funny that Mr. Bedard’s wife wanted him to stop talking about the Patriots players because it ruins her view of them. That really struck me, especially since I am like a lot of people, and having locker room access of a professional sports team would be a dream job.
The last point I’ll bring up is this: one thing I learned from taking Professor Paul Flannery’s class is that the hours sometimes really suck. Mr. Flannery says he talks to the Celtics players three times a day: shoot-around at 10:00 am, before the game, and after the game. If a game is a Friday night showcase that starts at 8:30, that means that is working probably 14 hours that day, not to mention how much travel time there is.
In all, I think being a beat reporter is a great way to propel your career in print journalism. Look at Peter Gammons. He started as the beat reporter for the Boston Red Sox. He then became one of the information guru’s around Major League Baseball, which prompted ESPN to hire him. Now he’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame, enjoying his retirement as one of the greatest baseball writers of all time.
Sandeep Chandrasekhar posted on September 26, 2012 at 4:56 pm
I sincerely enjoyed listening to both reporters speak about their profession. I never realized just how much daily stress and scrutiny comes with beat reporting, and how Bedard has been able to gain the respect of the New England Patriots organization, which is traditionally one of the hardest teams in sports to contact or create newsworthy topics.
People who are around the team on a regular basis cannot simply criticize any individuals without evidence, like people on sports talk shows often do. Compared to beat reporters, fans and media not associated with the team do not know how the athletes and coaches act when the cameras are turned off. They base their opinions solely on what is reported in the media and how the teams actually fare in the game.
Beat reporters like Bedard (when he was covering GB and MIA) and Shinzawa are constantly around the team, so they get a completely different perspective from everyone else on why a certain team is struggling or succeeding. These guys know the relationships between players and coaches and can uniquely tell how well a team connects with each other on the inside.
While reporters may be able to report on a particular team, I believe that maintaining a neutral perspective is the hardest thing to do in this profession. It’s the main reason why I realized following the discussion that I do not want to become a beat reporter. It takes a lot of time to build trust and relationships, and the reporter needs to maintain a strong rapport in order to get inside access to the team. Otherwise, athletes and coaches would not open up to the reporters. Maintaining professionalism through the best and worst of times is extremely difficult to do when a reporter is around the same group of people for long periods of time. Reporters need to be fair and honest, even if it upsets the team, so they need to establish respect to gain credibility.
Prior to the seminar, I did have some interests in beat reporting. However, once I heard their feedback, I realized that I would have a difficult time being around a group of guys without openly rooting for them. Reporters have the challenge of consistently updating news yet voicing their opinions and maintaining credibility. I would probably fear losing the respect of the locker room as a reporter so ultimately while I enjoyed this seminar, I concluded that beat reporting is completely different from other aspects of sports journalism. My skill sets do not go along with beat reporting.
Caitlin Donohue posted on September 26, 2012 at 6:18 pm
Last week’s guests both had a wide range of experience in sports journalism and lots of useful information to share; however, I was surprised by the amount of challenges they face every day while doing their job. Bedard’s interactions with the Patriots were shocking to an unassuming fan like me. He said that the majority of players do not even return to the locker room after a game, which presents a distinct challenge for him as a reporter: how and where does he get his information? While Shinzawa does not have this much difficulty speaking with the Bruins, he now has a frustrating problem as well: the NHL lock-out. He can only cover a team so much when they aren’t even playing the game.
Luckily, Bedard finds a way around his hindrance by interviewing important people from the Patriots’ organization over the phone, and Shinzawa is a versatile writer who can cover other teams or events as he awaits the end of the lock-out. These solutions may seem simple for such capable reporters, but their job is also mentally and emotionally demanding. As many other students observed, beat reporters must be committed to their work 24/7, which means that they have to know what questions to ask and how to ask them.
I found it especially interesting when Professor Shorr asked whether each guest would ask a question like Ordway’s “have you checked out?” in person. While Shinzawa said he would absolutely not ask such a rudely worded question, Bedard said that he would consider if the circumstances called for the inquiry. At first, I was appalled that Bedard could ever imagine himself probing someone so bluntly, but then I realized: he has a well-established connection with the New England Patriots’ organization. If Bill Belichick were to be having a rough season in which he seemed disinterested in the Patriots’ well-being, who better to call him out on it than the Boston Globe’s NFL writer? Although I still don’t agree with the manner in which Ordway interviewed Valentine, I do feel that Bedard would have more justification to ask Belichick such a question, as he would be looking to receive honest information instead of a wild audience response. Bedard’s consideration also demonstrated that a beat reporter cannot be hesitant in any way. With only a few moments in the locker room to talk to players and coaches, he does not have the time to beat around the bush with “subtle” questions. He will get to the point and ask what needs to be asked, whether it elicits a flattered response or not.
Like Mary, this seminar confirmed that beat reporting is not at the top of my list of career aspirations. While both Shinzawa and Bedard have interesting, well-established connections with the athletes and managers that they cover, reporting for one organization seems very intimidating. The pressure is constantly on these reporters to deliver accurate stories, but as Nate said, they cannot cross the line or else it will endanger their careers.
Stephanie Jarvis posted on September 26, 2012 at 8:56 pm
Let me start off by first reiterating my classmates’ feelings- this seminar was fantastic. Greg Bedard and Fluto Shinzawa gave us an inside look into the daily grind of a sports beat writer, and it was simply fascinating to be a part of. I’ve followed Mr. Bedard on twitter for quite some time now, and I’ve always been interested to find out more about the guy behind the computer. I think one of the highlights I took away from this seminar was his take on breaking news. While he wants to be one of the first to report the news on the web, he really strives to be the best when he breaks down the story in the paper. This is one of the topics that hit home for me, because it’s such a major part of the journalism field. Our job is about finding a way to give the audience new information that is accurate and concise.
When comparing the two speakers, the most striking similarity is their dedication to their beat. Mr. Shinzawa talked about being tied to his phone, knowing that at any second he might need to jump into work mode. Bedard referred to film study, which is a major component of his writing. I have so much respect for this profession, especially since many reporters are learning how to use a combination of the web, tv and print to get their story to the public.
Although I’m personally more interested in broadcast journalism, I found both of these gentleman to be extremely informative and helpful. My focus may not be on the print side of things, but I know great writing is a foundation that I want to have when I enter the job market. In today’s world, it’s important to be versatile, and both of the guests proved that to be true.
Tim Larew posted on September 26, 2012 at 10:38 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed the guest speakers last week. Greg Bedard and Fluto Shinzawa gave great insight into the world of beat reporting, and though I have experience as a beat reporter, I learned a great deal about what it takes to actually make a living doing it and transition a part-time job into a career.
My first two years at BU, I was a beat reporter for the men’s basketball team. You could’ve asked me any question about any player on the roster, an America East opponent, etc., and I would’ve been able to provide you with an answer. I truly knew the team inside out. It wasn’t a 24 hours, 7 days a week job by any means, but I definitely kept up with the team outside of just the games I covered.
One of the biggest challenges for me personally was criticizing the players. I would cover a game, then have to write an article in the form of either a game recap or a sidebar, which typically focused on one player or aspect of the game. I always enjoyed writing sidebars because I was able to get a little more creative, but I always hesitated when I felt I was getting too critical of a player’s performance, even if they truly deserved the criticism.
I think one of the main factors that played into that was the fact that I never took criticism well as an athlete growing up. I never really learned how to turn being yelled at by a coach into something positive, so when I wound up beat reporting years later, I would be in press conferences with players after they lost a game and would feel for them. It bothered me when members of the media – many old and overweight – would put the athletes in awkward positions, making them answer difficult questions about how they didn’t perform well in the game. Obviously this is all part of the job and something players and coaches at the collegiate level are one hundred percent used to – and even deserve at times – but that didn’t make it any easier for me to take part in the criticism.
It was interesting to hear Greg discuss how he actually ended up earning respect from certain players by being brutally honest about their performances in his personal coverage of their games. This gave me a bit of a change in perspective. Maybe as a young athlete I wasn’t able to deal with criticism, but that hardly means that other athletes, particularly ones looking to potentially make a career out of their sport, can’t make light of it. It must have been difficult for Greg, and beat reporters everywhere, to be harsh at times, but at the end of the day, that’s what their job requires of them, and there’s a reason why he’s so good at what he does. He’s not afraid to be honest and provide his opinion no-holds-barred, so I have a ton of respect for that.
One other very interesting part of the lecture was when one student asked how Greg and Fluto balanced their personal biases – if they wanted to root for teams/players they covered – with their duties as beat reporters to be unbiased in their coverage, and Greg explained that what makes things easy is simply not being a fan of the team you’re beat reporting for. It makes sense that high school or college aged kids interested in beat reporting might think their dream job is covering the Patriots, for example, if their favorite team is the Pats, but in reality, that’s the job they should be least interested in. Separating business and pleasure is never a bad idea.
Fluto also discussed how, as a beat reporter, you’ll come to learn things about athletes that you may never have wanted to know. He talked about his wife telling him to stop sharing stories that he learned about players because she didn’t want ugly truths to ruin her affinity towards them. If beat reporting is something you think you might be interested in as a career, know that you’re going to find out some behind-the-scenes things the casual fan will never know. If you’re okay with that, great. If not… maybe another career path is a better choice. Again, beat reporting is one of those things you really have to do – it’s a huge commitment, and while it certainly has its perks, it may take the “fun” out of your passion if you’re not careful.
Is beat reporting for me? Nope. But after listening to Greg and Fluto talk about their work as beat reporters, I have a ton of respect for their dedication and anyone who decides to commit to that career. There’s no doubt at all that they are true professionals. We could have asked Greg and Fluto ANYTHING about their respective teams, leagues, etc., and they would have always had an answer.
I enjoyed my experience with beat reporting, but I’m not upset I hung up my jersey instead of entering my name in the draft.