News and information to help journalists serve the public and stay safe.
July 28, 2020
TOP STORIES
Everyone has an opinion, but not everyone expresses their views with power and impact. Some voices rise and echo, and others never penetrate the noise that surrounds us. Having an important platform — like the New York Times or L.A. Times — can amplify perspectives. In this program from the National Press Club Journalism Institute, L.A. Times editorial page editor Sewell Chan , L.A. Times columnist Erika Smith , Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones , and New York Times Magazine editor-in-chief Jake Silverstein will describe:

  • How to make yourself heard 
  • How to work with an editor or writer to hone a point of view 
  • How to pitch (& catch) a column or opinion piece 
To a sports writer, covering Major League Baseball during a pandemic-shortened season means fewer journalistic scoops, less access to players, and the fear that baseball writers roaming a clubhouse in search of stories may be a thing of the past.

Paul Sullivan , the president of the Baseball Writers Association of America and an award-winning veteran reporter for the Chicago Tribune, shared his observations about this most unusual, late-starting 60-game season with National Press Club President Michael Freedman in an NPC Virtual Newsmaker event Tuesday (watch the video below).

“It’s changed our jobs drastically,” Sullivan said. “A beat writer, his whole thing is to have a good relationship with players and managers, and trying to gather information that your competition doesn’t have….You want to do one-on-one reporting that no else can do. But that’s gone, at least for this year.”

Sullivan described reporters in joint Zoom interviews with players, waiting in line to get temperature checks before entering stadiums, and sitting in hot unairconditioned press boxes writing game stories while cleaning crews disinfect the premises.

“I'm afraid that the Zoom thing is here to stay,” he said. “And I know that they say it's just for this season, but I don't know. I just see not just baseball but other sports closing down their locker rooms in the future and saying this is your only access.”

“That'll have a negative effect on writers’ relationships with players because they won't get to know them in the future like we did.”

Other top takeaways from Sullivan’s conversation with Freedman:

  • The recent positive COVID-19 tests experienced by the Miami Marlins will weaken their roster and make them the equivalent of a Triple A minor league team.
  • Photographers should have more freedom to photograph inside ballparks.
  • The recent embrace of social justice by baseball players and owners was late but “here to stay.”
  • He learned his writing skills from Pulitzer Prize-winning Chicago columnist Mike Royko.
  • He cheered at the Chicago Cubs 2016 World Series championship but misses no longer being able to write about a historic championship drought.
Join moderator  Michael Days  of the Philadelphia Inquirer,  Libor Jany of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and  Jamiles Lartey of the Marshall Project for a conversation with practical suggestions for “Covering Justice: Reimagining the cops, crime, courts beats.”

Registration is now open  for this program co-hosted by the National Press Club Journalism Institute and the News Leaders Association, on July 31, from 11:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. EDT. 

The conversation will help journalists and the public understand: 

  • Daily decisions newsrooms could make differently, including the use of suspect descriptions, mug shots or coded language like ‘unarmed black man’ 
  • Short-term considerations, for example eliminating the crime blotter, explaining how police are funded or what it means to ‘abolish’ or ‘defund’ police'
  • Long-term questions of who the audience is for justice coverage, whose authority we seek/trust, how we can re-envision routines and what we should be tracking & investigating.
The National Press Club Journalism Institute is spotlighting the next generation of journalists , students who graduated from college or Master’s programs this spring into a challenging job market . We hope they’ll meet future bosses and colleagues here, who will reach out and support them in building journalism’s future together. 

School : Arizona State University
Location : Tempe, AZ
Student media : The State Press
Internship : USA Today

What have you learned from your internship experience(s)?

Ravikumar : My internship experience has taught me how to be a nimble reporter and an effective team player. I spent the summer after my junior year as a breaking news intern for USA Today in Los Angeles, California, where I covered breaking national news and wrote the occasional enterprise story. One of the stories I helped cover was that of the shooting at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California. I had covered breaking news before, but I think that particular story taught me the value of going the extra mile as a reporter and communicating with reporters in other newsrooms to serve audiences all over the country.

What's the wackiest story you've worked on?

Ravikumar : I had a lot of fun writing this story. I noticed that this Facebook event to "raid" Area 51 was getting a lot of attention, and I asked my editor at USA Today if I could write a quick story about it. As I started writing it, I realized that my perspective as someone who grew up in Nevada helped me add in extra details that others might have missed — for example, this story noted that the Area 51 Travel Center about 90 miles outside of Las Vegas isn't just a combination diner and convenience store, but a brothel as well. It was such a weird and funny story, and I'm glad I got to write it.


To support journalism students, contribute here to scholarships .
Leading remote teams demands a lot of managers. You need to be a better communicator than ever. Your emotional intelligence needs to be fine-tuned for each employee’s needs. Even if you hate detail work, you need to be a planner. And most importantly: Be a guide, not a guard . 

Advice from  Jill Geisler , Bill Plante Chair in Leadership & Media Integrity, Loyola University Chicago, Freedom Forum Fellow in Women’s Leadership
Do you qualify as an ally? Join Jill for the next Freedom Forum Institute Power Shift Project program on August 20 at 1 p.m. EDT. Registration is now open .
Reaching for your phone first thing in the morning may be how you check in to your day. But checking in with yourself first thing should be part of your routine, experts say. How you do that will be specific to you, and consistency is key . 

Among the health benefits to having a solid morning routine? Less stress . Here are a few tips for focusing inward for a few minutes. 


Want more ideas? Explore this list of 127 ideas as you revamp your morning rituals, or take a peek at the routines of successful authors, entrepreneurs and creatives .

Read on for more self-care tips, or share your own .
RESOURCES

ONA Insights: Emerging Tech is this week, July 29-30. The name-your-own-price program lasts from 12-3:30 p.m. EDT each day, and sessions are scheduled on immersive ethics , mapping local news , AI , AR , and more.

Other upcoming conferences include:

This newsletter is written & edited by the National Press Club Journalism Institute staff: Beth Francesco, Holly Butcher Grant, Jim Kuhnhenn, and Julie Moos. Send us your questions and suggestions for topics to cover.

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