Blog Post #5

Kimberly Pena
Journalism 360-01
Professor Yavner
December 5, 2017

    Social media is constantly evolving and with that comes new forms for journalists to implement social media into their everyday work life. Snapchat is that new beginning. With Snapchat you can do brief videos reporting live on whatever event you are covering. You can ask players questions and have them answer in short snippet videos lasting from 10 seconds all the way to one minute. Not only that, fans can send in their questions and that way you are feeding the audience what they want and interacting with them at the same time. The main goal of social media is to interact with your audience and Snapchat really gives you the opportunity to do. You can create stories on the app and just report live and demonstrate highlights on your stories. It is fun, quick and its all in the palm of the hands of your audience.
    Despite all the fun things you can do with Snapchat and the interactivity it creates, there does still exist some disadvantages. In the excerpt it states,”Still, Snapchat represents a major shift from virtually all other applications because of one crucial aspect: Images and videos shared are only temporary, ranging from 1 s to a maximum of 24 hr. Some view the temporary nature of Snapchat as a major disadvantage for sports fan engagement as well as marketing and sponsorship aspects; as Burns (2014) argues, ‘Why would I give valuable content to an app where content disappears as opposed to Facebook or Instagram where it lasts forever?’’’ Yes, the videos do disappear from your story and technically you really can’t share the story unless you screen record the whole thing. However, you can still save the story on your phone and share it on Facebook or Twitter and that way you can use all your social media accounts from just one app. Snapchat will allow you to save your story so you can have one long video of everything you shared, and it can make it for an interesting video on social media.
    Although I think Snapchat does introduce a new spin in how sports journalist report when using social media, I still believe Twitter and Facebook are still the most effective ways of reporting when using social media. On both of those accounts, it is easy to share your tweets/posts and can really reach a wider audience. For Snapchat to work the person must be following you so they can view the content you put out there, meanwhile Facebook and Twitter basically everyone can see it.
    Snapchat is still relatively a new app so there can be changes made to make it more interactive and public for journalists. Snapchat is also off to a good start and it sure is a fun app that journalists can get involved with when reporting live during sporting events.

Blog Post #4

Kimberly Pena
Journalism 360-01
Professor Yavner

    Social media has impacted the world of journalism is numerous of ways. Now more than ever journalists can interact with viewers and readers in real-time causing there to be things for journalists to be excited about as well as concerned. Journalists now have more an effective way of crowd-sourcing and talk to engage with the people who read and view their writing and productions. On Facebook you can ask users to show what is going on around them and journalist can go live, and users can share your broadcast to their users, spreading your message to a wider audience. In the excerpt, it states, “With the rise of social media come opportunities but also challenges for sport communication professionals. The widespread adoption of social media among both professional communicators and their audiences has opened up new lanes of communication between fans, teams, and athletes that are difficult to control and challenge established roles and practices (Price, Farrington, & Hall, 2013).” Despite the great things social media provides us, there are also negative things that can make things go haywire for journalists. With social media, crowdsourcing is a tool we can use, however, there are the risks that the information is bias, inaccurate or exaggerated and, so it is the job of the journalist to filter out the truth.
    Despite some of the downfalls, the upside certainly outweighs it. Social media has given consumers a new tool to consume sports news in a more effective way. In the excerpt, it states,” Americans spend more time on social networks and blogs than on any other type of Web site (Nielsen, 2012). Because of this trend, social-media sites have become a pathway to information. In a 2011 study, 19% of Americans reported encountering news or news headlines on a social-network site (Mitchell, Rosenstiel, & Christian, 2012), and all but one of the top 25 news Web sites in the United States derive at least some of their audience through Facebook (Olmstead, Mitchell, & Rosenstiel, 2011).” Through social media, viewers can now connect with whatever is going in the palm of their hands at any moment they desire to. Let’s face it, with the younger generation it is difficult to see them consume their news via a newspaper. The world is changing and so is journalism.
    Also with social media, new skills are required from journalists that were not required before. During games, journalists are asked to give updates on game action and scores. There are also those journalists who go into postgame interviews and tweet quotes from the players and the coaches. In a way, social media is a way a journalist can tell their story. With your tweets, you already have the game action as well as the highlights and then right after you have your post-game interviews all placed nicely for you on your twitter feed. It is important for journalists to know of all that comes with social media and the tool it is for the profession.

The Silent Season Of A Hero

by Kimberly Pena

                “The Silent Season of a Hero” is an interesting and well-written profile piece on Joe DiMaggio. The piece, written by Gay Talese, provides specific details and observations to allow the reader to form an image on DiMiaggio. In the piece Talese speaks in detail on the appearance of the baseball player and how he seems to age well. In the excerpt it states, “At 51, DiMaggio was a most distinguished-looking man, aging as gracefully as he had played on the ball field, impeccable in his tailoring, his nails manicured, his 6-foot-2 body seeming as lean and capable as when he posed for the portrait that hangs in the restaurant and shows him at Yankee Stadium, swinging from the heels at a pitch thrown 20 years ago.”

                It really paints a great image in my head and it is something he does throughout the story. In the profile he goes on to talk about DiMaggio’s personal life, such as his relationship with Marilyn Monroe. When reading this you get a really good idea of who DiMaggio is and his personality, which is something I attribute to Talese’s storytelling. The article goes back and forth with different moments of the ex-Yankees’ life, keeping the reader (including me) compelled. The creativeness of the piece really does stand the test of time and makes it an enjoyable read no matter when you read it, whether during the 1960’s or now.

                What I enjoyed most from this piece is that although it is meant to entertain the reader because of DiMaggio’s stardom, the human nature of the story is very compelling. You kind of forget that you are reading about a baseball player, but instead about an actual person. Obviously when the story mentions names like Marilyn Monroe it is hard to ignore, you really do get the human element of the story and know DiMaggio as the person behind the legend he is.

                When reading the piece, I also got the feeling of sadness. There is a part where you get the feeling that DiMaggio lost his love for the game of baseball. In the excerpt it states,” ‘Ohhh,’ DiMaggio yelled, dropping his bat, his fingers stung. “I was waiting for that one.” He left the batting cage, rubbing his hands together. The reporters watched him. Nobody said anything. Then DiMaggio said to one of them, not in anger or in sadness, but merely as a simply stated fact, ‘There was a time when you couldn’t get me out of there.’”

                Overall, this was a fantastic read and very well-written. The storytelling was phenomenal and you are so intrigued and soaked into the story that you really forget that you are reading it because the details provided give you the sense that you are seeing it come alive in your head. It is a style of writing that many journalists should strive to write like.

ASHLEY CAVANAUGH: ACCOMPLISHING HER GOALS ON AND OFF THE FIELD

by Kimberly Pena

Soccer has always been a way of life for Central Connecticut State University women’s soccer team goalie, Ashley Cavanaugh. She has been playing the sport since she was six years old with two of her three sisters in her hometown Belchertown, Massachusetts.

“One of them was actually a goalkeeper too, and the other one played a little bit of goal keeper, but not as much,” Cavanaugh said. “Me and one of my other sisters went to SoccerPlus camps together for years, probably like five years and we both pushed each other so hard.”

But it was her father, Joe Cavanaugh, who pushed his daughter to reach her full potential. Cavanaugh explains it was her father’s continuous support that put her in the position of being CCSU’s goalie, succeeding former Blue Devils superstar Nicki Turley.

Cavanaugh began her first two years as a Blue Devil as a second-string goalie to Turley. In the 2017-18 season and her junior year, she took over the full-time duties as goalie. Although everything has not been perfect for Cavanaugh, it has been a learning experience that she has taken with stride.

“I grow everyday as a player,” Cavanaugh said. “I feel like I have learned a lot from her (Turley) and I kind of carried that into now my junior year and I feel like Hannah (Page) and Rachel (DeBellis), the sophomore and freshman goalkeepers, I feel that they learn from me and I learn from them and I feel like it is nice to keep that rolling.”

Cavanaugh, who is an MA native, decided to come to CCSU because several of her friends from SoccerPlus played at Central, and it was not too far away from home. It also did not hurt that CCSU women’s soccer team head coach Mick D’Arcy, was a coach of Cavanaugh during her years at SoccerPlus, easing the coach-player relationship.

One thing Cavanaugh says that she learned from D’Arcy is to keep the growth mindset, and it has been a message that D’Arcy has spread to the whole team.

“We want the whole team to come out with a growth mindset,” Cavanaugh said. “If we are down a goal, we don’t want to play like we’re down a goal. We are going to win regardless that should be the mindset there. Try hard for everything and work together.”

Cavanaugh and the team are off to a 8-7 record and are 4-2 in conference play. The team got off to a rough start within the conference, making the task of playing forward that much more difficult because the team needs to be perfect from here on out, according to Cavanaugh.

However, she feels it is a task that the team can conquer because of their ability to pull for one another. With only two seasons remaining as a Blue Devil, she hopes to end it the only way she knows how: winning.

“Ultimately the goal is to make the tournament and when we make it to the tournament, the goal is to win the tournament.”

My Own Interviewing Strategies

by Kimberly Pena

Interview Strategies That I Use & Others Can Use As Well:

• Preparedness- by this I mean to do my research about my interviewee. You want to come in knowing what are you going to ask and how you are going to get the best answers from that person. Also you do not want to look ignorant, you have to let your interviewee know they are important and you came in prepared to talk to him/her.
• Know your platform- is it a three minute TV interview? A one hour radio segment? 15 minute off-camera interview? These are important answers to know because it tells you how you should approach the interview. Do you want to just dive write in to the important questions because of your limited time or do you want to work yourself in and have a nice casual conversation. You want to make sure you get the best out of your interview with the given circumstances you have.
• Ask open-ended questions- you do not want your interviewee answering your questions by "yes" or "no", you want real answers. Use words and phrases such as, what, how, explain, tell me more about that. You want to have a fruitful interview and have your interviewee tell you as much as he/she can. 
• It is about the interviewee- the interview is about the person who you are asking the questions to, not about yourself. Make sure you always keep that in mind. If you notice you are doing all the talking, stop and put the focus back on him/her. Everyone wants to know about that person, not yourself. Let your ego down and do your job.
• Be comfortable and make sure the interviewee is comfortable- if you are comfortable it helps ease the interview. You do not want to be tense and nervous because the energy could spread. Relax and just enjoy the interview. Your body language says a lot and you want your interviewee to feel as comfortable as he/she can possibly feel so the interview could go smoothly. 

The Reporter and Fan Issue Bullets

by Kimberly Pena

• I believe there are those sports fan who think being a sports journalist is about having with players and having fun at the games, but do not understand the work that goes into it. There is deadlines that have to be meet, interview players who at times do not have much to say.

• During games, your main priority is to get the story and not focus on who your favorite player is especially is he/she really did nothing to contribute to the game. 

• Fans also tend to take gists from players, like autographs and signed jerseys, however a sports reporter must remain professional and do his/her job. Gifts are unacceptable, except for free hot dogs that are meant for the media!

• It is important to dress as a professional to your job because if you take your job seriously others will take you seriously. Never wear home colors and dress as if you were going to work. This is something I found to be true during my internship at the Herald last summer. 

Six Worst Sport Clichés

by Kimberly Pena

In the world of sports media, there are many clichés that should be avoided. But we still hear it because they are clichés. These for me are the six worst clichés that I pledge to avoid at all costs.

• 'They're a great team on paper'
• 'They have to come together as a team'
• 'That was a Rookie mistake'
• 'They need to generate some offense'
• 'Their go-to guy'
• 'Jets will win the Super Bowl'- we all know that is not happening anytime soon.