Millennials and Journalism
Lanie Angel
Marietta Daily Journal intern
BIRMINGHAM – Journalism has adapted throughout the years to fit into the ever changing and growing technology that individuals use today. It’s not just newspapers and magazines that provide our world with information, but is now digital media and social media that are coming into play to deliver us with the greatest news.
Sports editors and journalists are trying to find new ways to reach audiences and to draw individuals into their articles. One way they are doing this is by partnering the two together to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of sports reporting. A student panel during the Associated Press Sports Editors Southeast Region meeting at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, three young sports journalists discussed how they are adapting to fit the current media environment and the changes they are experiencing within the journalism world today.
Terrin Waack, Evan McCullers, and Evan Greenberg are three diverse young journalists and are a part of their schools many journalism departments. Waack, a Tuscaloosa News intern and writes for the The Crimson White at the University of Alabama. McCullers was a journalist at Auburn University and is a current sports writer for CBS Sports, and Greenberg is the Georgia baseball beat writer at the Athens Banner-Herald. Together, these journalists were able to explain how to get to the next level of sports writing and how media has impacted their reporting.
When asked about the changes they have seen in their desired profession, they were able to give detailed answers of how media serves a role in getting their articles out into the world.
“Its all about niche content and how you can make something unique and different,” Greenberg said. “We are moving toward a time of digital media and the two are now partnering like never before.”
Greenberg emphasized how important it was to find a story and make it something that no one has ever seen before and once you have it, use all the tools you can to spread what you have written about. The journalists highlighted how the use of social media helps journalist to share their stories and get the most accurate information to fans. Finding and sharing the good stories and features within a beat is what helps market their content.
Twitter was a central topic of discussion on this panel as thousands of sports fans get their sports news from this media outlet. Sports editors and reporters today rely on the use of different media outlets to cover and spread their feature in order to get the most page views.
“Twitter is a great aggregation tool,” said McCullers. “We may be absorbing it more than normal but its important to follow media outlets you like.”
No one wants to get updates from accounts that have little or nothing to do with a person’s interests so it’s best to be able to follow your favorite sports accounts to get the best information. Twitter is the best outlet to keep everyone connected and in the world of journalism, that can be the most important part when digging to get information.
Many journalists think that with having competitors, they can’t share other reports features or articles.
Waack disagreed with this philosophy and feels that not only is this important in spreading her work, but it’s central to building work relationships, staying connected, and helping to increase the field of journalism.
“It’s important to support other journalists and read people you meet,” said Waack. “There is no shame in sharing another competitor’s stories and if you’re interested in what the story has to say, then go to the outlet.”
It is important to understand that in a field such as journalism, which can be shadowed by the amount of technology, journalists can help to get individual’s features out into the world and work together to spread stories written by passionate reporters. In a field such as this, it’s best to have other journalists on your side whom you can collaborate with, share ideas with, and who you can work with to provide individuals with the best coverage of sports.
