The second Temple Sports Summit was held Monday, Nov. 4, at The Howard Gittis Student Center South on the campus of Temple University. A collaboration of the Temple University School of Media and Communication and Associated Press Sports Editors, the event was largely geared toward the students and included a lunchtime job fair.
A total of 102 preregistered; six more paid at the door and another 12 arrived after lunch for the afternoon sessions. Another 32 were involved as panelists, moderators and as part of the job fair. All were members of the regional media and Philadelphia teams.
Job fair participants included CBS Radio Philadelphia, Comcast SportsNet, Philadelphia Eagles, Philadelphia Flyers, Philadelphia Union, Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Harrisburg Patriot-News and Wilmington (Del.) News-Journal.
Temple students covered the three panel discussions and keynote address by Claire Smith and filed the following stories:
By Greg Frank, Class of 2017, journalism major
The Temple Sports Journalism Summit’s first panel discussed the relationship that the press and sports information directors share. It featured Temple Sports Information Director Larry Dougherty, Philadelphia Union Director of Communications Aimee Cicero, and Inquirer writers Mike Jensen and Keith Pompey. John DiCarlo, Temple’s student media program director, served as moderator.
All four stressed the importance of social media in today’s world of journalism and how it has changed the way they go about doing their jobs. Dougherty said he is always getting contacted by reporters seeking information and looking to confirm news. That happens more often nowadays with Twitter being so prevalent. “You really are on call 24/7,” Dougherty said during the hour-long presentation.
Cicero said that the role of PR people has changed when it comes to their relationship with reporters and journalists. “Reporters don’t need PR people as much anymore due to social media,” Cicero said, implying that Twitter acts as a way for reporters to get news. Instead of obtaining new information, reporters use the PR people to confirm the information they see on Twitter and look for more.
From the journalistic side of things, Pompey said that coupling Twitter with this relationship with PR people has made his job far more complex as the Sixers beat writer for the Inquirer. “It’s an 18-hour [a-day] job,” said Pompey, who follows all the Sixers players on Twitter and invests time into doing a lot more than just going to a game and writing a game story.
Jensen furthered this notion about the importance of Twitter. “I’ve stopped looking at web sites. Twitter is my newspaper,” Jensen said. Jensen went on to say that in this day and age with the PR people and with Twitter, it’s imperative for journalists to be on top of their game.
“You have to know the difference between thinking you’re right and knowing you’re right,” Jensen said. The abundance of sources available to journalists is what makes it important to know the truth and report it appropriately.
Afterward, Dougherty said he was pleased with the way the panel went, noting that Temple is one of the top schools in the nation for aspiring journalists. “It’s always good to get in front of all the students,” he said.
Jensen also was impressed with the number of students who came out for the first panel. “The subject matter wasn’t going to be something where students would say, ‘OK, this is going to be something that gets me a job,’ ” Jensen said.
However, the four on the panel certainly left students with plenty to think about.
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By Eric E. White, Class of 2017, journalism major
The second panel of the day, which featured some well-known names and faces in the Philadelphia area such as NBC10 sports anchor and Temple alumnus John Clark, spoke to students about the art of breaking into the business and networking, something that seems to weigh heavily on the minds of most journalists in the early stages of their career.
Temple students Kaitlyn Hemsley and Chase Senior combined to moderate the discussion.
The four-person panel shared their stories with the audience, from how they got into the business to how the business of journalism has changed to the sacrifices they’ve had to make as full-time journalists. They also talked about all the reasons why they feel being a journalist is one of the best jobs in the world, stressing how dedication and passion are two of the biggest keys to success in the field.
"You gotta love it,” said John Quinn, sports editor of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Reality is …you ain't getting paid. You won't have a life. It's all about the love. You gotta love it."
Shawn Oleksiak, an executive producer at Comcast SportsNet, also alluded to the amount of work he has put into his job. “There’s not one minute in the 365 days in a year [that] I, or any journalist, hasn’t worked in some way. You miss a lot.” Oleksiak told the audience how he had forgotten that it was Halloween when the Phillies won the World Series in 2008, and realized he wouldn’t be able to take his children trick-or-treating.
However, despite the obvious downsides that were revealed in the hour-long discussion, the reoccurring theme of the love that this group has for the business seems to be what keeps them going every day.
“I have worked 12 Thanksgiving Days in a row, I have covered Eagles games on Christmas, but I love the unpredictability,” said Clark. “Being in the middle of the action is an amazing feeling. I don’t think I could survive with a nine-to-five job, honestly. I wouldn’t trade this for anything in the world.”
The group stayed around after the discussion to speak with eager students on a more personal level, hoping they could pass their knowledge and experience on to the next generation.
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By Chase Senior, Class of 2015, broadcast journalism (also, anchor and reporter for Temple TV; WHIP Radio sports talk show host, Monday-Friday, 11 a.m. to noon; Temple golf beat writer: Temple News; Temple men's basketball beat writer: Philahoops.com)
ESPN news editor Claire Smith’s current job title simply does not define the impact she has had on thousands of people and the trail she has left for women looking to make it in the sports journalism industry.
Smith recently was named the first winner of the Sam Lacy-Wendell Smith Award, which is given to a sports journalist who has made significant contributions to racial and gender quality in sports. Smith was to accept the honor at the University of Maryland a day after appearing at Temple.
What makes Smith so great is not what she has accomplished and the trail she has blazed, but her genuine, humbling personality that left students awestruck and appreciative at the second annual Temple University Sports Summit.
Smith was the keynote speaker of the event and talked for over an hour to a gathering of students and professionals who were on hand to hear from the legend. David Boardman, formerly of The Seattle Times and the new dean of Temple’s School of Media and Communication, introduced Smith.
She spent time at the Philadelphia Bulletin, the Hartford Courant, The New York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer for over 20 years and her dedication to sound reporting and groundbreaking strides in sports journalism made her one of the best at her craft.
“I miss print journalism,” Smith said. “My fingers itch. They’re itching right now. I wish I was writing something,” she added.
Smith has blazed many trails for women seeking to break through in the industry, but it did not all come easy. In 1984, Smith was physically removed from the San Diego Padres clubhouse during the National League Championship Series.
It was a situation that at the time was a major controversy, but by dealing with the problems she faced with ultimate class, Smith constructed a path for many women to follow.
After the incident, Smith knew she had made it. Executives in baseball filed complaints because of what occurred, which has further allowed women admittance into locker rooms.
“I asked the New York Yankees why they filed a protest against the San Diego Padres and their response brought tears to my eyes because it was what I was fighting for my whole career,” Smith said.
“I knew that I had arrived and that meant the world to me,” she added.
Without Smith, women in sports journalism might still be dealing with debilitating problems in the workplace. Smith credited her breakthrough to her mother and Jackie Robinson.
“I always wanted to cover sports. Specifically baseball,” she said. “I had come from a baseball-rich environment in that, sitting in my mother’s knees I heard stories about sports. She grew up in Jamaica and the fireplace in the little village of Jamaica happened to be the short-wave radio, where American sports would come in and filter in,” she added.
“Jackie to me represented so much that was right about America and baseball’s move, which came about 20 years before the country integrated,” Smith said. “[Robinson] also represented [not only] what was right about America, but what was possible. I wanted to know about that sport. I wanted to know about the people that made those things happen.”
Although Smith is no longer on the beat or a national columnist, she has made an impact for women that has been intact for years and will continue to do so for years to come.
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By Kaitlyn Hemsley, Class of 2014, media studies and production major
The last panel of the day, called “Twitter: Its Uses and Misuses,” included four professional sports journalists and professors who are also Twitter enthusiasts.
The panel consisted of Amy Quinn, an adjunct professor at Rowan, Temple and the University of Delaware, Kerith Gabriel, a journalist for the Philadelphia Union, Jonathan Tannenwald, a journalist for Philly.com, and Sarah Glover, the social media editor for NBC 10.
Moderator and Temple assistant professor Matthew Fine began the panel with a question about the positives and negatives of social media such as Facebook and Twitter and how it affects sports journalists.
“If you want to be a sports journalist, you need to be on Twitter and you need to be following it,” Glover said. “You have to be active, you have to be aware.”
Panelists then asked how many people in the room had a Twitter account and told them how they could easily interact with other sports journalists and even their future employers.
“The relationships have changed,” Quinn said. “It’s the same number of clicks to get from person to person.”
Students were able to address the panel with their questions. Some of the topics included personal branding, negative tweeting, followers, and handling their own tweeting. However, the most important thing that the panelists wanted to drive home to their audience was about “being yourself.”
“If you are snarky, be snarky. If you are witty, be witty. If you are funny, be funny,” Gabriel said.
While “being yourself” was the strongest theme of the day for students, panelists also wanted to make sure that students were warned about the negatives of doing too much personal tweeting.
“Think of the images of yourself. Pick three things that you want to tweet about, besides sports,” Glover said. “Personality is important. Tweet with style, colorful words, play on words. But be aware and be mindful of what personal things you put on your account.”
