Julie Ward: 3 things
Julie Ward is the former assistant sports editor of USA Today.
She joined USAT from the St. Louis Globe-Democrat as a general assignment reporter in 1984. She served as assistant sports editor from 1989 to 2007.
She is a Pioneer Award recipient of the Association of Women in Media (AWSM).
GRADED EXERCISE: In the comments section below, add the three things you learned from Julie’s presentation. Deadline is 30 minutes before class on Thursday Feb. 14 No exceptions!
DON’T FORGET your questions for Mason Athletic Director Tom O’Connor on Thursday.
February 12th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
3 things I found interesting about Julie Wards lecture.
1. How being a sports writer is invaluable when it comes to work outside of sports.
2. Statistics diminish returns. Having too many statistics in a game story, especially baseball, can be confusing or even boring to the reader.
3. Paraphrasing your direct quotes sometimes works better. Many times quotes you recieve from players and coaches are boring. Either ask better questions, or throw the question back at the person.
February 12th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
3 things about Julie Ward’s lecture.
1. Sportswriters are generally great at covering breaking news of any subject quickly and well. Their game writing experience build this skill.
2. She feels that taking play-by-play notes is not a good approach. It is a crutch in sports writing. She also thinks a writer should be judicious when using statistics.
3. Women have not come as far in the locker room and in jobs as she would have hoped. There have been hugh difficulties over the past 20 years.
February 13th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Three things I learned from Julie Wards:
1. Writing too many statistics in a game story makes it boring. Just because you have a lot of statistics doesn’t mean you have to use them all.
2. As a sports writer, you are not always going to cover the sports you know about or enjoy. It is important to educate yourself. If you educate yourself you will be able to write a good story.
3. Of course there are some disadvatages to being a woman sports reporter, even still today, being a woman could actually be an advantage.
February 13th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
Three things I learned from Julie Ward:
1. Have a nice flow. Don’t put so many statistics in a paragraph or else you’re boring the readers.
2. Watch people on press row…Are they really watching the game?
3. Focus on the key match up. Focus on the game within a game. Pick a theme to the game story.
February 14th, 2008 at 12:58 am
4 things I learned from Julie Ward’s lecture-
1. Any experience with game stories are invaluable. Also one must use instincts in sports journalism.
2. Do not oversaturate the story with game statistics. Baseball uses the most statistics, but be judicious when writing and using statistics.
3. Direct quotes are good for one thing… to fill in space. It’s lazy said Julie Ward. Be judicious using quotes and try to use paraphrasing at all possible.
4. Focus on the game within the game to find gimics.
February 14th, 2008 at 1:31 am
What I learned from Julie Ward:
1. Be judicious when using statistics; overloading stats in a story can interfere with the objective of the story.
2. Avoid chiches when quoting. Make sure that quotes add something new to the story.
3. Focus on a key play and avoid concentrating on inconsequential parts of the game.
February 14th, 2008 at 4:00 am
Three things I learned from Julie Ward:
1. Some journalists over saturate their work with statistics. This tends to happen more often in baseball than other sports. It’s important to keep in mind that you might lose the reader if you build up an entire paragraph with stats that might not be important.
2. All quotes aren’t good. It’s important to be judicious when using them because it’s lazy to use weak or irrelevant quotes just to fill up the page.
3. When covering a game, admit when you don’t know something. People generally want to help you understand and to find the game within a game.
February 14th, 2008 at 8:18 am
Here are my three things:
1. Don’t overload your stories with statistics. They make your story weaker and make your writing look weak as well.
2. If coaches/players are giving you canned responses that aren’t helpful (ex. “We left it all on the court”), don’t just accept it. You can find a way to turn it around on them and get more out of them.
3. Much of the adversity that female sports writers have faced has come not from male athletes, but from male sports writers. Fortunately it sounds like this adversity is becoming increasingly rare.
-Jeremy
February 14th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Julie Ward’s presentation was a great help when looking at an editor’s position at a large newspaper. The three most important things that I learned from Julie Ward were:
1. Do not overload a story with statistics and quotes. It is not the most important thing to know all the statistics of the event. The reader will be lost and confused if there are too many quotes and stats.
2. Look for the game inside the game. Try to find something within the event you can base your story around.
3. Don’t be afraid to admit that you do not know. People will be there to help you out when writing a story. There is always someone.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:43 am
3 things I found to be the most important were:
1. Focus on a key play, dont throw in stuff that happened early in the game when it has no meaning.
2. Do not focus on just the game. If you do this you will miss out on important things.
3. Be honest that you do not know something. Admit when you do not know.
February 14th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Nadia Hajeer
1. Just because they said it doesn’t mean you have to use it.
2. Never let on you don’t know anything.
3. Find somebody who will help you
February 14th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
3 things from Julie Ward’s presentation:
1. Sports writers are very useful in other journalistic fields. We have great instincts and write well on deadline.
2. Don’t overload the reader with stats. This is my most notable shortcoming.
3. Read the lead out loud. It helps to notify if it’s too wordy and would wear out the reader.
February 14th, 2008 at 12:18 pm
1. One of the most interesting things I learned is that she hates statistics and overuse of them will diminish a story.
2. It was interesting to hear about women and how far they’ve come and how far they still need to go in the field of journalism.
3. I also learned that it’s important to have knowledge of many different sports because there’s a good chance you’re going to have to cover a sport you know nothing about.
February 14th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
1. Don’t flood your story with statistics.
2. Sportswriting will help make you better at all kinds of deadline writing.
3. Stay away from cliches in quotes. If a source uses a cliche ask them to clarify what they mean to get a better quote.