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Chasing the Dream: A Career In Sports Journalism

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It only took one story. At nine years old, I was waiting in the orthodontist’s office,

patiently listening for the lady at the desk to call my name. I was terrified. I had heard getting

braces made your mouth hurt from the very start and even months past their end. To calm my

nerves, I decided to do what I always did for solace: read. I picked up a magazine with a dark

border and a soldier on its cover. Sports Illustrated, it read. Remember His Name, it called. After

reading about Pat Tillman’s road from 9/11 to Afghanistan, I knew I wanted to spend my life

doing what Gary Smith did in that story. I wanted to learn and explore. I wanted to listen and to

tell. I wanted to shine the spotlight on the people inside the helmets, the personalities away from

the net, the stories behind the statistics, and I wanted to do it all as a sports journalist. As a

sophomore in college, I’ve come to realize that the path towards my dream isn’t easy. As voiced

by several professionals in the field and seen through a number of studies, a career in sports

journalism requires a variety of aptitudes and skills, a willingness to overcome various

challenges, and a readiness to make certain sacrifices both while preparing for the future and

after earning the job.

With the expansion of segments such as media contracts, the Internet, and a variety of

traditional media options, today’s sport industry has seen continued growth at an increasing

magnitude. Plunkett research valued the global industry at an estimated $1.5 billion USD in 2014

(“Sports Industry Overview,” 2014 as cited in Pedersen, Laucella, Kian, & Geurin, 2017).

Furthermore, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects career opportunities in sport to increase

by 13 percent between 2010 and 2022 (Lockard & Wolf, 2012 as cited in Pedersen, Laucella,

Kian, & Geurin, 2017). Despite such outlook, opportunities within the field of sports reporting in

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particular are not as promising. Newspapers across the country are already making cuts due to a

shortage in circulation and revenue. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates jobs in

reporting to decline by nine percent between 2014-2024, resulting in 4,800 less openings (2014).

Such shortage of staff results in editors’ increasingly high expectations towards their sports

reporters. “The days of just writing your game stories are long gone,” Indianapolis Star reporter

Zak Keefer said in an interview. “Sports journalists are now expected to know the ins and outs of

social media, write feature stories, appear in recap or commentary videos, and do anything and

everything they can.” Pay is minimal, too. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, a

sports reporter earned a median pay of $38,870 in 2016. This combination of decreasing staff,

high on-the-job demands, and low pay has resulted in an increasing reporter burnout rate.

Reinadry (2006) found that young, less experienced journalists working at newspapers “suffer a

higher rate of emotional exhaustion and depersonalization.” He added that these low rates of job

satisfaction “lead to stressors that in turn can result in emotional exhaustion and

depersonalization.”

Such a tight window for opportunity and the job’s taxing demands shouldn’t discourage

prospective journalists, however. Students can engage in several measures of preparation to

enhance their chances post-graduation. Like Keefer, students can major in journalism and

specialize in sport journalism to expose themselves to the foundational components of the field.

Earning a Master’s in sport journalism is also a viable option, one that Keefer decided to take by

attending the graduate program at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and

graduating in 2012. While education is important, experience is just as crucial. “A lot of people

graduate college,” Indianapolis Star sports columnist Gregg Doyel said in an interview. “That

alone won’t make you special, though. However future journalists can do work right now, they

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have to do it. They have to show why they can be trusted, why they should be hired, and why

they’re better than anyone else.” These experiences do not have to be obviously relevant to a

student’s ultimate goal of being a sports writer. At the start of his career, Doyel was working at a

small local paper in Georgia, taking phone calls and filling out sports agates. Similarly, Keefer

took advantage of an opportunity to work as a “video guy,” fulfilling a need no one else could to

impress his employers. Once a student has their foot through the door, Doyel added, it’s crucial

to never settle. “There are no days off after that,” Doyel said. “You have to be the best in the

room to get to the point where you want to be, and you can never think you’re the best you can

be.” Doyel’s “never settle” mentality is how both he and Keefer capitalized on promotional

opportunities that come infrequently and only to those who prove their worth. Doyel went from

his small Georgia paper to writing for the Miami Herald and Tampa Tribune before serving as a

national columnist for CBSSports.com and, now, a columnist at the Indianapolis Star. Keefer

impressed editors by delivering on his own story ideas while producing video for the publication,

eventually landing him the job as a Colts beat reporter. While Keefer has few regrets about his

progression, he does wish he sought after more internships after graduating from college.

“Networking and relationships are everything,” Keefer said. “I wish I would’ve gotten an

internship at a major paper out of college because, if you get there and prove your worth, they’ll

keep you on, and you’ll never have to deal with a small paper. It gives you a chance to meet the

right people and get with the right organizations.” Internships through the American Society of

Magazine Editors (ASME) and the Pulliam Journalism Fellowship are avenues to follow

Keefer’s advice. Both opportunities place prospective journalists at large publications like Sports

Illustrated, Men’s Fitness, National Geographic, the Indianapolis Star, and the Arizona Republic

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for an entire summer. The USA Today also offers summer internships every year, including

opportunities to work at the company’s headquarters in Washington D.C.

In addition to work experiences, other various job skills and personality traits are

necessary for success as a sports writer. As mentioned in Profile of Sport Industry Professionals,

those working in the field of sport media need “skills in computer and electronic technologies,

news and feature reporting and writing, and ability to work well with diverse populations”

(Robinson et al., 2001, p. 241). Both Keefer and Doyel stress the importance of a balance

between humility and confidence in a sports journalist’s personality as well. “When I was young,

I made the mistake of thinking I was good and telling everyone I was good rather than proving

it,” Doyel said. “No one is going to promote you because you’re an egomaniac who’s out of

control. At the same time, you have to have the guts to ask LeBron James that question. You

have to be confident and know you belong.” Attention to detail is also crucial. In such a

competitive field, there is no room for grammatical and copy editing failures. Once such skills

are honed, Keefer believes it is important for journalists to continue to seek growth. “I am

constantly reading the best writers out there, constantly training my eye to look for detail and

look for human interest,” Keefer said. “Writing is a constant challenge. It’s never an easy

process, but that’s what I love about it, because there’s always room to grow.”

Unfortunately, writing is not the only challenge Keefer faces despite already cementing

himself in the field. As noted by Moritz (2015), digital media and the Internet are challenging

how sports journalists do their jobs every day. Challenges from Grantland.com’s Bill Simmons

are included in the report, including questions that ask, “Do we really need 25 people crammed

in a baseball locker room fighting for the same mundane quotes? What’s our game plan for the

fact that—thanks to the Internet and 24-hour sports stations—a city like Boston suddenly has

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four times as many sports media members as it once had?” Newspapers have yet to find answers

to their struggle to remain profitable and viable in an increasingly digital world. As a result,

reporters’ job security is not as stable as it once was. “I once said I wasn’t sure if websites would

be around for the next ten years, but newspapers would always be around.” Doyel said. “Now

I’m saying the exact opposite, and your job is safe if you’re really good and can do everything.”

Job status isn’t the only challenge that arises with the growth of digital media. In a political

environment where the nation’s top leader insists on labeling the media as “fake news,” news

industries are struggling to assert their credibility. This is in part due to the rise in citizen

journalism. “When we have websites and blogs and people who can write whenever and

whatever they want, it’s hard to do your job and be respected,” Doyel said. “It shouldn’t be a

threat, but it is because readers think we’re all the same.” Women, too, are facing especially

challenging circumstances as sports reporters. Sport in the United States has long been a male-

dominated industry. The Associated Press Sports Editors found that women account for just 6.3

percent of sports editors and 10.6 percent of sports reporters (Lapchick, Little, Mathew, & Zahn,

2008, as cited in Schmidt, 2015). When they do make it into the newsroom, 48 percent of women

reported being sexually harassed by sources (Hardin & Shain, 2005), and others reported

working with men who “don’t talk to me; they talk to my chest” (Staurowsky, 2002). Women’s

knowledge of sports and dedication to the field is constantly in question by their male

counterparts. Because of this, women constantly have to strive to prove themselves, fighting to

overcome what Indy Eleven Professional Soccer Marketing Manager Katie Donnar called “man-

splaining.” “One of the challenges we’re always facing as women is trying to tell people that, not

only do we deserve this position, but we deserve this position before we know sports,” Donnar

said. “I’ve been around the sports world and I know how sports work and what we’re trying to

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accomplish, but there are some people in the industry that are still skeptical of our knowledge.”

Glass ceilings are overwhelming, too. Promotions feel unattainable. The composition of

leadership depicts a line of male faces, a trend that frustrates women like Kate Guerra, who

currently serves as the Senior Manager of Advance Communications for the Verizon IndyCar

Series. “History just gets in the way,” Guerra said. “Especially in racing, women have not been

seen in those leadership positions. I would like to see more, especially when you get between the

executive leadership team and my position.” As a result of such challenges, women find

themselves leaving the field at a substantially higher rate than males (Reinardy, 2009).

Despite the challenges, however, Keefer, Doyel, Donnar, and Guerra find themselves

lucky to be doing what they do. “I might cover the Colts on a crazy in-season schedule and take

6 a.m. flights and not get done writing until 3 a.m. on the road, but I wouldn’t have it any other

way,” Keefer said. Sport, to me, has always been a lens through which reporters can view the

world and create an impact. One story or one column can have the power to change a subject’s

life forever. Doyel has seen it firsthand, growing to love the way his writing can empower a

community to act in service. “When I write about a baseball player at the University of

Indianapolis whose raising his sister’s children, for example, I see how a community rallies

behind a player,” Doyel said. “Sports really can make a difference.” Even Donnar views her

struggles as women in sport media as means to shape society. “I am the elephant in the room,

and as much as that is a challenge, it is also a good challenge,” Donnar said. “It challenges us to

speak up for ourselves and prove that we earned our way into this position.” Donnar’s approach

to her challenges as a sport media professional show how much she is a trailblazer for

prospective female reporters, public relations directors, or marketing specialists. Such strive to

make change is inspiring, especially for female students like myself.

Chasing the Dream: A Career In Sports Journalism

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After speaking to Keefer, Doyel, Donnar, and Guerra and reading into various

publications, my path to becoming a sports reporter is clear. It’s difficult, but it’s there.

Experiences are key, and with my working at the Indianapolis Star as a sports clerk and covering

events like the NFL Combine and Women’s Big Ten Tournament, I’ve already taken some of the

necessary steps to prove my worth. I realize that being a woman—and specifically, a Muslim

woman—will not make an already competitive and demanding job any easier, but the challenge

is worth it. For ten years now, I’ve dreamed of doing what Gary Smith did with Pat Tillman’s

story, and I am determined to get there. I realize that I won’t be the richest, but I don’t want to be

a sports reporter for the money. I want to tell stories, to share the lives of inspiring individuals

with others, and I’m willing to make the sacrifices, to endure the long hours and less-than-

glamorous jobs I might have to take to get there. I’m ready to do it all so that, one day, I, too, can

tell people to remember people’s names.

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References

Donnar, K. (2017, April 13). Personal interview.

Doyel, G. (2017, April 20). Personal interview.

Guerra, K. (2017, April 27). Personal interview.

Hardin, M., & Shain, S. (2005). Strength in numbers? The experiences and attitudes of women in

sports media careers. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly., 82(4), 804-819.

Keefer, Z. (2017, April 20). Personal interview.

Moritz, B. (2015). The Story Versus the Stream: Digital Media’s Influence on Newspaper Sports

Journalism. International Journal of Sport Communication, 8(4), 397-410.

Pedersen, P. M., Laucella, P. C., Kian, E. M., & Geurin, A. N. (2017). Strategic Sport

Communication (2nd ed., pp. 4-7). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.

Reinardy, S. (2006, June). T's gametime: The Maslach Burnout Inventory measures burnout of

sports journalists. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 83(2), 397-412.

Chasing the Dream: A Career In Sports Journalism

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Reinardy, S. (2009, June). Female Journalists More Likely To Leave Newspapers. Newspaper

research journal, 30(3), 42-57.

Robinson, M.K., Hums, M.A., Crow, R.B., & Phillips, D.R. (2001). Profiles of sport industry

professionals: The people who make the game happen.

Schmidt, H. C. (2015). “Still a Boys Club”: Perspectives on Female Sports and Sports Reporters

in University Student Newspapers. Qualitative Research Reports in

Communication, 16(1), 65-74.

Staurowsky, E. J. (2002, March). Young women talking sports and careers: a glimpse at the next

generation of women in sport media. Women in sport & physical activity journal, 11(1),

127-161.

U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. (2014). Librarians. Occupational outlook

handbook, 2014-15. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-

library/librarians.htm