Day 1: What does a Sports Reporter actually do?

After many weeks of anticipation, I finally had the chance to shadow a San Francisco Giants sports reporter. I arrived at 3pm, 4 hours before the game and retrieved my media credentials, this pass allowed me to have access to the press box, club house, the dugout and the field.  Many of the reporters there have a set schedule of what needs to be accomplished before the game even begins. 

The view of the field from the press box

• Promptly at 4, all of the reporters report to the Clubhouse to listen to manager, Bruce Bochy speak about the game and the line up for the day. 
• Next, at 4:30 the reporters have a follow up Q&A session with Bochy in the team dugout, and there the reporters are able ask questions directly to Bochy and the others players that are on the field warming up. 
• After, they have retrieved all of the information that they need, they head back up to the press box to begin transcribing the interviews in order to begin writing story 1 of 3 for the night. 
• Around 6, after the reporters have hopefully finished their articles, they head to the dinning hall because as I learned they like to miss as little of the game as possible.

Also during this time, a staff member in the press box passes out a stat sheet for both teams, which includes their lineups as well as the bullpen that is available for the night. Also they provide the reporters with a scoring card for the game, which makes it easier to keep track of various stats throughout the game. One very interesting piece of information that I learned is that, after every play challenge made by the managers, reporters have to write a short piece about that in addition to their other stories.  After the game has concluded, the reporters make their way down to the clubhouse in order to add quotes from the players to the stories they have written throughout the game. 

What is a Sports Journalist?

Many people believe that someone who is a sports journalist has always known they were going to be a reporter for their favorite sports team since they were a young child and therefore solely focused on sports. But, after hearing the stories of many reporters there, this in fact isn't the case.  Most of the sports reporters there actually were involved with writing for business and politics before they began writing for sports teams and then after finding their likes and dislikes they became involved in sports.

This job is very different from a typical 9-5 because their schedule is dictated by the times of the games. For example if the start time for a game is 7:15pm, the media usually arrives at 3pm in order to prep for the game and can even stay as late as 12am in order to gather all of the necessary components for their stories.  But, the biggest change for many sports reporters today is the fact that social media has changed the way they put out their information. Almost all of the reporters are now required to use Twitter throughout the game in some aspect and can even face disciplinary action for not doing so.  Which shows how social media has truly changed the direction of journalism, as previously current information would only be displayed in the newspaper the morning after it occurred. Many of the reporters don't simply tweet what is easily found in the box score of the game, but they rather tweet out information that will be seen as "breaking news", such as if someone is suddenly injured and is out for the remainder of the season. 

As many people know, no sport is in season year around so therefore they believe that reporters don't have to produce stories during this time. But, in fact this is incorrect, during the off-season media outlets expect the same number of stories (around 3) to be posted each day. This can create a challenge for many reporters as they wish for something newsworthy to happen. For example, a trade, a signing, a contract extension, an injury, or a teaser for spring training the following year.

This biggest take away point I learned from speaking with many reporters, is that not everyone takes the same path to become a sports journalist but having determination to succeed will drive you your particular career. and what you truly need most is internships and to develop your skills as a stronger writer.