There’s been radio silence on here for a wee while.
Those of you who know me will know that the last two years have been a busy time. It started with work on my dissertation documentary (which I got 90% for...just in case I forgot to mention that) and then last June when I was offered my first full-time job in journalism. Three whole weeks before I graduated. I know, check me. It wasn’t just any job either; I was given a job that would see me report on the football team I support. It was literally something I’d dreamt about since I wrote my first match report for the Milngavie and Bearsden Herald when I was in P7. The dream job then. And if I had a tenner for everytime someone had said that to me then I’d be able to make up the percentage of my wages that have been cut because a man ate a bat or something in China. So, all my wee Frasers, aspiring sports journalists and people who have far too much interest in me for my own good - I thought I’d spend my first day in furlough coming up with a wee article letting you all know what my life has been like as an actual, proper, irl journalist for the first (almost) year. Yes I do still feel a wee bit sunglasses emoji saying that. Everyone tells you your job is a dream I’ve mentioned this one, but it’s true. Every single person I know has, at one point or another, mentioned that I have the dream job. Now I won’t lie and pretend that reporting on the Sons is a dream, and I won’t lie and pretend that I don’t love my job...But hang on in there for a second. Do these people think that I literally just turn up at football matches, watch them and get paid? Have they ever had to file an on the whistle report? Are they aware of how woeful my multitasking skills are? I can’t even message someone without muting the TV, so writing an on the whistle match report whilst watching a game blows my little mind. Have they ever sat in their car until 8pm trying to upload a match report on a system that isn’t responding and with a phone hotspot that drains about 30% of your battery in a 20 minutes? Exactly. It’s fun and I love it. But people don’t know the work that goes in. On a Saturday night I tend to be in bed by 10 and I’m pretty wiped. Remember that’s after a week doing normal work too… Everyone thinks they can do your job There are a few jobs everyone thinks they can do, and journalist is most definitely one of them. I’ll give you five blank pages of sport and you tell me how you’ll fill them. I’ll then give you three blank pages of news and a picture spread and you can fill them too. Stick up a few online stories in a way that will prove popular and make sure everything you’ve done is flawless whilst you’re at it. Got that? Cool. Oh, and did I mention that of the ideas you had only three people will answer their phone (don’t even consider email interviewing them you weirdo). So you’ll need a few backup ideas. Got all that? Ideal. Now repeat it 52 times. You’re scum Pier Morgan hacked phones before I was born, which means that I am the lowest of the low and must be vilified at all costs. That’s all fine and well when you’re being tarred with the same brush as every single other journalist; from Trevor McDonald downwards, but when your own family and friends make journalist ethics jokes, you do start to question if you’re a bad person for writing about what’s going on in the world. For the avoidance of doubt, I do not hack phones and I just want to speak to you about raising £4000 for a cancer charity. What you’re writing is the biggest thing in someone’s life Serious point for a minute. This is something that I’ve always taken with me throughout my nonentity career so far. Whatever story you are covering, in order for you to be covering it, must be something that means a lot to someone. And in many cases it may be the biggest thing in their life at that moment in time. Whether it’s a fundraising event, some classic local newspaper dispute over bins, or something far more serious, remember that this means a lot to someone. Don’t take the piss, and treat it - for however long you’re working on it - like it’s the most important thing in your life too. Someone will always find faults This is something that actually got me really down a few times during my first few months, but now I’ve grown big enough and ugly enough to quietly seethe about it for a few minutes and move on. I will remember your name and I will curse you every night however. Be in no doubt about that. It doesn’t matter how much you’ve invested into a story, how seriously you’ve treated it and how hard you have worked to make it perfect. Someone will find a fault. A picture caption wasn’t worded properly, you’ve used a word when I’d have preferred another, it’s on page 13 and it should be the splash. Expect every single wee detail to be scrutinised, and if someone finds something they don’t like, know that they will not resist the urge to scream BINGO and go tonto telling everyone. Come on guys, most journalists are people too. We have some robots and some very clever dogs who write stories too. But for the most part we’re just people. Time for some sport specific ones now… Covering football matches is apparently everyone’s dream job. Which makes it all the weirder that in the press area after most Dumbarton home games there is just me, Jack from our rival paper that I can’t name (but we all know it’s the Dumbarton Reporter), Graeme from the programme and someone from the opposition team. Anyway, there you go…Here are a few things for you budding sports journalists. You’ll study weather forecasts Between the end of October and the start of the Coronavirus I’m fairly certain I spent longer on the Met Office website than any other. Let me tell you how a paper comes together. At the Lennox our deadline is a Monday, so on a Monday we’re all in early to pull everything together - and with sport all happening during a normal (non-corona) weekend then that can obviously fill a lot of space. After deadline, the first thing I do is start planning the following week’s paper. Actually that’s a lie, I have lunch and then message Sarah, my girlfriend, to tell her how hard a deadline I’ve had. Then it’s on to the following week’s paper. Now in the summer months - especially August and September - you have an abundance of stuff. We’re lucky in West Dunbartonshire in that we have a lot of sports teams and athletes, and a lot of very good people who give up their time to send reports and photos in. Robert, John, Caroline, Tom, Angela and other John - I’m particularly talking about you guys here. You are legends. I’ll take a look at fixtures and see which teams are playing and start deciding where to put the reports they send in. In winter though a lot of sports stop or take a break and that means less is going on. Add in games being called off on a Saturday or Sunday morning and you’ll see why I don’t sleep very much on winter weekends. Every day I’ll religiously check the weather to see what chance events have of going ahead, and that’ll help me plan how much I need to get in advance. Not that you can ever have too much...which takes me nicely onto my next point. Hold it… Imagine, as ridiculous as it sounds, if sport just stopped. In the space of two hours you went from having a full card of football, rugby, hockey (including a cup final), youth football, tennis, boxing, kickboxing, taekwondo, motorsport or whatever...and then had nothing. Now imagine that was on a Friday afternoon when you had planned everything out and the weather was looking positive. That’s exactly where I found myself a few weeks ago. Fortunately I had built up a bank of articles that I’d held for a few weeks...or months in some cases...In preparation for the worst case scenario. In my head that was Beast from the East V2.0 wiping out sport for three weeks. If you get a good sports feature then don’t just squeeze it in right away...you never know when it might come in handy. Lennox readers will notice that over the next few weeks in their sports section. Managers are unpredictable 45 minutes. 10 minutes. You just never know. I feel like I spend more time hanging about outside changing rooms than is really acceptable waiting to speak to managers and players, and you just never know how long they’ll take. The longest I’ve had to wait was almost an hour for one manager at a home game on the night where I was meant to be in Crieff at an engagement party. Other times managers pop out almost straight away, say what they want to say and vanish away early leaving us to get written up and go home to, usually, thaw out. When I come to power, managers will be forced to leave their changing rooms for post-match 15 minutes after the end of the game or their team will be docked points. Footballers get a bad name I’ll say it. I’ve spoken to almost every player in Dumbarton’s squad, plus a host of former players, managers and coaches...and you know what, I like every single one of them. Some are shy and clearly a bit uncomfortable at first, whilst with others you just click and get chatting straight away - but on the whole I can honestly say that they are a really decent bunch. Now Scottish League One is not exactly going to be ego-central, I accept, but based on this season I really do think footballers get a hard time. I actually hate seeing players who I’ve got to know taking stick from fans now as well. Be a bit more understanding guys, you wouldn’t like someone coming to your work and screaming at you. Chill. Don’t be scared of anyone Ever felt daunted before interviewing someone? Me too. Loads. It happened all the time for my first few months...but you know what, they are just people. Treat people with a bit of respect, ask them questions that show you are knowledgeable about whatever they are doing and take their subject seriously and you’ll be just fine. And yes, this is why I don’t just go into post-match, look at Jim Duffy and ask him if Player X has incriminating pictures of him that he’s blackmailing him with to get a game every week. That would be silly. Use your position to talk to interesting people "I’m a real journalist now. Maybe people will talk to me." I won’t lie here, I have absolutely used my role to talk to people who interest me and who are doing things that interest me. You’ve just got to chance it sometimes. I’ll keep the name hidden seen as it won’t be in the paper for a few weeks, but I’ve wanted to speak to a former Dumbarton player who went on to have a pretty stellar career for quite a few years. Last week I decided I’d start digging in the hope he might be up for a chat. Two days later I spent 45 minutes talking to him. The same goes for other stories I’ve picked up and worked on, especially motorsport ones. Motorsport interests me so naturally I want to cover as many stories as I can relating to it - because it gives me the opportunity to geek out about it with someone who I’ve probably paid good money to watch race. Don’t be afraid to just chance it and try and speak to people who you’re really interested in. You’ll have to bluff your way into games This is probably exclusively a lower leagues thing, but I’d say that I’ve had to bluff my way into a good five or six games this season because my name isn’t on the media list. Be confident, drop a wee bit of the charm (maybe that’s just me actually…) and wangle your way in. As long as you’ve contacted the club and got a reply then you should be in there. Remember, you’re working. You wouldn’t pay £15 to get into a council meeting so you sure as heck won’t be paying £15 to get into Raith Rovers against Dumbarton. If you get the right steward then you’re in luck, if you get the wrong one then keep trying until you find the right one. And don’t stress it every away game like I did. Finally be prepared to write match reports in your head See that goal there, was it “lashed home”, “rifled home” or “finished confidently”. There is a big difference. Was that a “crunching” tackle or was it “robust”? Did “furious team X manager slam referee name Y” or did “furious team x manager tore into referee Y”. These things are important and you’ll find yourself writing match reports in your head for every game you watch. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been at games I’m not covering and have found my head saying “a neat interchange of passing opened up space for Striker A, but Goalkeeper A was out sharply to block with his legs.” Halfway into day one of furlough leave and I’ve written 2200 words. God help us all for when this is over.
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April 2020
CategoriesAuthorI'm Fraser, 22, Sons fan who is now living the dream of reporting on Dumbarton for the Lennox Herald. |