Frustration from readers is unfortunately a part of the job for any journalist.
Not every person who reads your stories is going to like them. There is always that chance that someone will take exception to something you wrote and let you know about it.
Colin Bane, who is a writer, editor, researcher, photographer, and social media expert specializing in print and broadcast sports journalism for X Games, Echo Entertainment, ESPN, and NBC Sports, spoke in an hour-long masterclass for St. Bonaventure University students on Nov. 13.
He showed halfway through that he knows the forms of unrest that people who do not work in journalism can have toward those that do.
“Like, it’s just fascinating to me,” Bane said. “All the different kinds of stats that exist and that people track, and, you know, fans will call you out on if you get wrong.”
This resonated tremendously in multiple ways.
Fans who are avid supporters of teams in more mainstream sports like football and basketball on the professional and collegiate level can be quick to let a journalist who writes about that squad know that they disagree with their opinion on a given topic.
These people are exhausting. But there is also the issue that parents of athletes pose.
While parents of players who are professional and collegiate athletes surely care about what a media member may write about their child, parents seem to obsess even more about the media coverage of their children in high school sports.
They may complain that you are not writing about their child enough even though you would never intentionally leave anyone on a team out of a story you may write on said team. They may complain that you accidentally left their name out of one story. A coach may complain that you did not choose him as the Coach of the Year in a certain sport for your local newspaper.
All of that has happened to this writer. The coach who complained about being deprived of that honor just so happened to have a daughter that was a key member of his softball team.
“The advent of social media has changed the entire landscape of how parents are able to criticize journalists,” said Jarrid McCormick, who is a regional sports editor at HD Media in West Virginia. “It has given parents more avenues to be critical of even the slightest flaw or omission in sports reporting. For example, if a reporter does not mention a kid’s name, they quickly hear about it from parents through social media.”
Something else Bane said in the masterclass can remind journalists about another antic of parents who have kids that play high school sports.
“A Finnish snowboarder named Enni Rukajarvi won X Games one year in from the alternate list, and I, like, literally had to, like, run out and interview this girl real quick and record her saying her name for our announcers,” Bane said.
Hearing this from Bane shows that it is also important as a prep sports journalist to make sure you spell the names of players right. Writers have also been called out before by a parent for accidentally misspelling a certain player’s name.
While being a journalist certainly has its positives, it is not always a walk in the park.
Is the plan to then let that discomfort get to you and give up on journalism or have thick skin, stay the course, and continue striving to be the best journalist you can be?
“There are times where being a journalist isn’t easy, but it will pay off for you in the long run if you’re patient and you stick with it,” said Zack Klemme, who is the sports director at HD Media. “The long-term rewards and memories are worth much more than the times you might encounter a parent or coach who is tough to deal with. You have to take the good with the bad in this business and have faith that your career will work out for the best.”
The reality is that these fans and parents who always have to give their two cents do not know what it is like to be a media member and that most of these people are presumably trying as hard as they can to excel at their craft.
“You just have to keep your head down and keep trying to be the best journalist you can be,” Klemme said. “Ignore the outside noise and keep doing what you’re doing.”
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