Sports writer, Lorain, Ohio

Report on local high school sports, and more, in a highly competitive daily newspaper market. We also publish a weekly local sports magazine and do video stories for our newspaper Web site www.MorningJournal.com plus our special high school sports Web site, OhioPrepZone.com. Applicants must know sports and be able to write clearly and concisely under deadline pressure. Preferably be proficient in NewsEdit Pro, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop as well as FinalCut Pro. Expertise in page design and graphics a major plus. A passion for sports and a determination to be the best are a must. E-mail cover letter, resume and work samples to Tom Skoch, Editor, at tskoch@MorningJournal.com.

 

Would a recent college graduate with 2 years experience covering high school athletics have a shot at this job?

 

I would think so.

 

Thanks for the reply.

 

I imagine they typically hire people out of college or with no more than a couple of years experience. The pay probably reflects that. But with the market the way it is, there probably could get someone with more experience if they want to go that route.

 

One thing that I can tell you about this place is that they require all their reporters to learn video and do it while youre covering football games at which youre also supposed to take a box score. And their copy deadline is 10:30, every day, even Friday.

 

Do they still cover Ohio State, or did that go when Jason Lloyd left?

 

Unless you're getting the stats after the game from a team scorekeeper, how the heck can you shoot a video while keeping track of stats at the same time?

 

At my job, I've taken stats while shooting photos. I can't imagine it'd be a whole lot different. There's enough time in between plays to record play by play and you have total stats when you get a chance. If you're good enough at math, it's not hard. If not, you've got to do it at halftime and during timeouts, etc. It can be challenging if a team goes no huddle, but that's usually not for long periods of time and you can catch up pretty quick.

 

I think it depends on how much of the game you're supposed to record. A few plays here and there ... not too hard. But it's a real crapshoot trying to guess which plays might turn out to be big ones.

 

While it can and is being done, shooting, reporting and keeping statistics of any sporting event is really too much multitasking.

 

Absolutely. But it's being asked of sportswriters all over. We had to do it at my last shop ... thankfully, not film the whole game. But I have a hunch it's only a matter of time until it comes to that.