BY DAN SPEARS
The direct line between movies and sports journalism is much shorter than you might think.
The theater isn’t a bad place to meet the people who show up in the sports section, and it’s the perfect environment to eventually become a strong editor.
“I ran into a lot of athletes,” Lauren Jennings said of her job in Newport Beach, Calif., calling out several former members of the Anaheim Angels, led by Torii Hunter, as well as Lakers great Kobe Bryant and his daughters.
Jennings, now a sports content coach of the USA TODAY Network’s Center for Community Journalism, also said it was the right place to learn how to work with young people figuring out life.
“That was a lot of first people’s jobs,” Jennings said. “I really enjoyed that. It’s kinda like what I’m doing now.”
Recently elected APSE’s new third vice president, focusing on small-newsroom members, Jennings steps into this leadership role familiar with the people she’ll be a voice for in the organization.
A Cal State Fullerton graduate, her first full-time journalism job was at the Ridgecrest Daily Independent, covering news and water issues — “If you’re from California, you know,” she said with a laugh — before the paper’s sports reporter left and she took over that role.
She eventually moved to the Visalia Times-Delta, reporting on news and education, including protests, forest fires, COVID and education.
“I went to Sacramento and slept on a church floor to cover protests,” she said. You’re surrounded by “People you don’t know, and they are going to march for hours. That hasn’t left me to this day.”
About three years ago, she stepped into her current position, leading sports reporters for a host of small newsrooms in the western United States for USA TODAY Network.
“Sports is something you can come home to every day. … And we get to contribute to that, there’s nothing else like it,” she said.
Now, the APSE Foundation Fellowship graduate will take what she’s learning and hopes to spread it to more people and places.
“John Bednarowski asked if it was something I’d be interested in. At the very end, he talked about representing smaller newspapers. That touched my heart genuinely,” she said. “Representing those solo shops, hard-working reporters that can get overshadowed. When John said that, I think was already sold.”
Jennings will start her two-year tenure at the end of the APSE Summer Conference in July in Arlington, Va. Combine her current role, fellowship time and attendance at this year’s judging in Las Vegas, she knows creating and reinforcing relationships among small organizations is critical.
“I’m honored but anxious at the same time,” she said. “I can’t wait to be around all the great people. APSE is genuinely full of great people; I hope other people get to see that and want to be a part of it.”
