Preps reporter -- Reno (Nevada) Gazette-Journal

The High School Sports beat is different than any other at the RGJ. The successful candidate will reach prep athletes where they are living – on Facebook, Twitter and in other media. We’re looking for a creative storyteller who is willing to think beyond the traditional feature and gamer. We’re not looking for a reporter who is happy to go with the flow.

This reporter will also have a read not just on who the top point guard is in our coverage area but also why the last girl on the Reno High volleyball team’s bench has a story worth sharing. Attention to detail is important, in that this person will set the agenda for football Friday coverage and other significant game-coverage events (state tournaments, etc). The immediate coverage area includes roughly 20 high schools. A strong social presence and the ability to develop your personal brand not just in print but in a number of spaces online (Facebook, etc), is important.

This is a full-time writing and reporting position for a candidate with previous beat-writing experience. High school stories regularly carry the sports section and can also rise to 1A. Prep sports are a priority for our audience and we endeavor to offer readers sophisticated, thoughtful, forward-leaning coverage from this beat.

REQUIRED SKILLS

Able to use a variety of story forms and platforms to engage audience and deliver information.
Has video production skills (via iPhone) and familiarity with social spaces (Facebook and Twitter).
Knowledge of football, basketball, baseball, softball and all other sanctioned sports. Ability to keep an accurate box score. Deadline writing experience.
Superior command of grammar, AP style and libel law.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Maintains accurate high school sports schedules (and results/standings when appropriate) and liaises with freelancers on a weekly basis to determine in-season schedules.
Develops video storytelling, both short- and long-form (with assistance from our videographer).
Uses social networking tools, including Twitter and Facebook, to engage the audience, develop sources and share information.
Produces weekly Sunday watchdog, explanatory or storytelling piece.
Researches, reports and writes one quarterly, 1-A worthy piece on topic of concern for sports readers.
Maintains high school sports blog.
Assists on other sports stories/beats as time and schedule permits.

We offer excellent medical, dental and vision coverage, flexible spending acct, 401(k) with company match, generous paid time off, free on-site fitness center, on-site cafe with large game rooms and much more.

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And just 15 minutes from Tahoe ...

 

But really, it is.

 

Any job that lets you stalk reach that last girl on the Reno High volleyball team sounds pretty gosh darn fine to me.

 

I would have gotten the job, but I sent in a story on the next-to-last girl on the volleyball team, dammit!

 

My work is exclusively preps-related and I emphatically would not follow a high school kid on Twitter or Facebook. It's just plain creepy.

I would have no problem telling kids that it's OK to tweet me if they have an announcement to make (re. recruiting, injury, etc.) or would like to reach me for whatever reason. But I will not follow them nor will I troll up and down their list of posts, looking for private insights. They're kids, for cripes' sake.

Hey Reno: You want info on recruiting, injuries, story ideas, etc., you pick your lazy ass up from in front of the computer and you go to school and you talk to the coach and the kids at practice. You don't snoop on the lives of minors who aren't mature enough to grasp the concept of private info vs. public info.

If this outmoded opinion of mine means I'll never work in Reno, well, I don't know how I'll live without being near Tahoe but starting right now, I'm gonna try my damndest.

 

It's funny you bring that up baddecision. I thought the same thing for a long time but over the last few months my opinion on that has changed. I don't follow any of our kids on Twitter but I know most of their handles and at-Tweet them when we write a story on them or during a game. They seem to enjoy it.

Facebook was a little different. I actually created a professional account just for the purpose of friending the kids, not to stalk them. We blog a lot, shoot video, etc., and I got tired of hearing, "Hey, you interviewed me but I never saw it." So I started tagging the stories when I link them. They enjoy relinking the stories, sharing with their friends and being recognized.

And, to be perfectly honest, it's worked out quite well. Earlier this week, I was finishing up a feature in the evening and had my professional account open at work. A kid from one of our area teams wrote on Facebook he thought the 2013 cross-country season would suck. I shot him a quick message and found out the coach had resigned earlier in the day. Same thing happened last night. A swimmer said she was happy that they'd promoted an assistant coach to the head coach. Without those two posts, it would have been several days before we'd have heard anything.

I think there's pros and cons to the situation. I'm also 27 and have a pretty good report with the kids so they know I'm not a creepy old guy trolling for high school girls.

*Additional note: I also didn't do the Facebook page until my second year at the paper, once the kids knew who I was.

 

I think it does depend on your age. I don't love Twitter, but it sure helps to follow a kid who plays a sport you cover. When I've searched for scores on deadline and can't get the coach on the phone, I've turned to Twitter and more often than not, a kid who played in the game can tell me exactly what happened and we'll have it for the next day's paper. They seem to enjoy interacting with me, and it helps that I'm only 25, so I'm not that far removed from their world. Now, if I was 35, I might think twice.

 

I'm an old man, all right, but I don't think that's it. I mean I was hanging around on Compuserve on my Tandy 200, I've built and maintained websites, designed an online system for data entry. I'm up on the computer stuff. But I still think it's creepy. I don't want there to be any possibility of a perception that I'm being stalky or "a little too interested."

It was the same in the pre-Twitter 90s when I covered minor-league pro hoops. I told the guys that because we're in a small town, we're going to run across each other. Let's make a deal: You see me in the bar first, you go somewhere else; I see you in the bar first, I'll go somewhere else. Didn't want to be involved as a guy who had been hanging around earlier if anything developed that I might have to report on later.