Switching from sports to news

What they said. It'll make you a better reporter.

 

It gives you a different perspective. I did it as a designer/copy editor and I enjoy working with the young reporters in our newsroom.
There are some things I miss about sports but for now, news is the right place for me.
Less grief, same money, wasn't that hard to figure out.

 

When I was interviewing for my first job, I had mostly sports experience and was applying for a handful of news jobs. Most news editors seemed concerned that I had mostly covered sports and that I would either not get the whole "news" thing or would be too interested in sports to do a decent job.

Needless to say, I assume that if you're going the other way, upper management would look on it kindly that you spent some time with news. That, and I'm enjoying the (somewhat) regular hours during the day.

 

If you go to news and your paper has a computer-assisted reporting person, leech onto them and learn how to hunt for records, etc. I still need to do it, but the little I have learned about the subject is impressive.

And from a design standpoint, I definitely suggest it. Realize that in news you won't have anywhere near as much art/photography to play with. You will have to be more resourceful. Sometimes, you'll even have to resort to iStock or something similar to get decent stuff to carry the page. You'll be much, much better for it.

 

I've done some news and it definitely looks good on a resume, not to mention it is an interesting change of pace. I had to come back to sports, though, because I couldn't take many more council meetings.

The biggest thing that I had to adjust to was not being able to witness firsthand what I was writing about. When covering a game, you watch the whole thing then do your interviews. But with on the spot news coverage, you have usually missed the story and are catching up, whether it be a wreck, fire, burglary, whatever. It takes a different type of reporting skill to gather what happened second-hand. But it is a valuable skill to have.

 

Interesting point, Ty.