Tuesday, July 23, 2013

A Changing Field for Josh Barnett

A Changing Field




A Changing Field
Job descriptions change in the sports media world as often as the weather. From job to job, place to place, everything can be different. Josh Barnett is a perfect example of this. From starting in a small market in Glens Falls, New York, to his current position at USA Today, Barnett has worked in most every size market, with one common theme: success.

“You encounter new challenges every day,” Barnett said. “The key is to just keep pushing forward.”

Pushing forward is what Barnett says has placed him as one of the key players for USA Today’s Sports Media Group, and its weekly publication, titled “Sports Weekly,” which is published on Wednesdays. When Barnett started in the field, he was covering local horse races and high school sports. At USA Today, coverage shifts more toward events like the Super Bowl and the World Series.

But USA Today, like many newspapers, is in what some consider a dying field. Print newspapers have become less valuable, compared with TV and other sports media outlets. It seems challenging to keep up in the field. Barnett doesn’t see it that way.

“If you look at the top sports organizations…we’re really the only one that actually prints out a daily newspaper,” Barnett said. “It’s really a model we’re trying to put together…to not only generate great content, but obviously have a strong business model and a strong performance on the revenue side.”

Barnett looks at the fact that USA Today has that daily newspaper as a bonus. It’s a different kind of audience, but when USA Today is producing quality content on the web, as well as in weekly publications, readers are more apt to follow the paper to new endeavors, like “Sports Weekly.”

When asked if he has already reached the pinnacle of his success, it was a quick “I hope not” from Barnett that summed up his whole career. You have to continue to grow, Barnett said. Whether it’s horse racing in Glens Falls, New York, or the World Series in Philadelphia, Barnett says you have to always sharpen your skills.


“The business changes every day, and you should be willing to change with it,” Barnett said. “You have to be willing to change with it.”






Interview with Josh Barnett-Transcription


M: You’ve climbed the ropes (in your career path), from starting in Glens Falls ending at USA Today. How has that been gratifying for you?

J: You know, I think I’ve been really fortunate that I’ve had a lot of great people who have taken me under their wing, I’ve had a lot of great people to work with and be around. I’ve had a lot of great support from my wife who has allowed us to move as many times as we have in a relatively short period of time. And I think it’s gratifying that I’ve accomplished what I’ve been able to do, but I think the business keeps changing and you encounter new challenges every day. Whether it’s different stories, or different technology, or different opportunities the key is to just keep pushing forward and keep trying to do different things. At USA Today, we’re trying to build a larger footprint and change the way we operate with the formation of the sports media group and I think all those things are really what keeps you motivated to keep moving forward.

M: You mentioned how the business changes. How has your role changed from the different jobs?

J: Well in my situation, I started out as a writer in Glens Falls covering high schools, covering horse racing at a relatively small paper. Part of that was everybody did at least some page design, and sorts of other different roles whether it was taking phone calls or scores. I’ve done a little bit of everything and I think it was a great training ground for the notion that you have to be versatile and you have to see sort of where you can fit in and what other things you can move into. You know I always joke I retired as a writer at 26, by the time I had gotten to Utica I was able to move into management as an assistant sports editor, and then had a chance to run the sports department for a time on an interim basis. All those experiences really helped me as I’ve moved forward. My role has changed in that I went from writer to editor to manager/editor. And in Syracuse, I came in as a copy editor and ended up as an assistant sports editor, running night operation and in Philly I went in as a copy editor and was running the sports department within a couple of years. Now here, I’m in a completely different role at USA Today in that I don’t really have a lot to do with the daily print product, I’m more in the special publications type role, handling sports weekly, handling our magazines and running our special editions. I’m also doing a lot of business budgeting, planning, and all those kinds of things, so I think I’ve just tried to find something different to interest me at each place as I’ve moved along.

M: You mentioned to me earlier that USA Today has sort of gone separate with its sports, and like most newspapers, it is a changing field in terms of going digital. I’m just wondering how challenging that change has been for you guys?

J: Well I think USA Today kind of took a different tactic in that the sports media group was formed last year, last winter I guess. So that really has been a separate entity to handle all the sports entities that are part of USA Today. Both the USA Today staff and the USA Today sports digital property, which is a group of about 225 websites (the number varies because of affiliate contracts), and then also coordinating with all the properties around the country with both print and broadcast ultimately will give us potentially 140 markets. We’ve kind of put together a really impressive group of people and products and markets that will allow us to produce content that really is across the board, both in print, in digital, in BDO, in the social media space with the formation of For The Win a few months ago as our social news website, so we’re obviously trying to move into whatever technologies we can find at all levels obviously available in the tablets, android, and different devices. It’s really an interesting process right now, and if you look at the top sports organizations as far as com-score goes, we’re really the only one that prints out a daily newspaper and I think that makes us a little bit different, both in terms of the way we’re structured and the way we operate. You know, ESPN obviously doesn’t have a daily newspaper, Yahoo! or Bleacher Report, Turner, or NBC Sports Network, or CBS and its affiliate in Compton, so it’s really a model where we’re trying to put together what are the best assets and best organize them to try to not only generate great content but obviously have a strong business model and a strong performance on the revenue side.

M: You mentioned Sports Weekly, and we talked about that earlier as well. What are you trying to do with Sports Weekly?

J: Sports Weekly is actually sort of the name we call this whole group we put together that I handle and Sports Weekly is the 52 week a year edition that comes out in print and there is also an e-edition for that. It also includes special editions, which are 24 or so topic areas but also significant regional editions, so like I mentioned we’re doing an NFL Preview right now, but we’ll put out ten editions of that, even though we only count that as one (nine regional editions, then an edition for the rest of the country, a national cover). Then we also have magazines, so what we’re really trying to do is organize our non-daily publications and their digital entities into sort of a different business or almost a subsidiary type business of our main sports brand, but obviously leverage branding, leverage all the assets as content sources, along with the talent of our writing, photography, and design staff. That’s sort of what we’re trying to do in terms of a larger strategy. In terms of the Weekly, specifically, I think you know the evolution of that product in its history started as Baseball Weekly; it became both baseball and NFL Weekly. When I came in last fall, we added college football, we’ve added college basketball, NBA, NHL, horse racing…we’re trying to focus it as more of a broadly based sports publication and obviously are hoping that the readers will come along with us. We’re in the midst of some plans for a relaunch of that product and hopefully that will happen soon.

M: If you could sit down today and look at the 22 year old version of yourself, what advice would you give him?

J: I think it would probably be the same advice I would give 22 year old versions of anybody today and that is try and be as versatile as you can. Try to be as ingrained in what the business is, and how it works and learn as much as you can. You know, the opportunities are there for people if they can find the niche where they can fit in, in entities, you know not only on their content operations side, but on the technical parts of it, and the business parts of it. The sports business has become so vast, the sports media field has become so vast that the chances to do different things exist and to really try to be creative and innovative. You obviously can’t do that, it’s difficult to do if you operate just within your own style, so you really need to be aware of what’s going on, and the other thing is you just need to continue to sharpen your skills. You know, we have an opportunity to see some young people right out of college at our place and I think the challenge there with them is to just sort of try to get them more experience, or at least more exposure to different things rather than just what they’ve been doing or their particular area. I think having as many tools as you can makes you more valuable, so that would be my advice.

M: Are you at the pinnacle of your success? What’s next for you?

J: You know, that’s a great question; I hope I’m not. I’ve been fortunate to have moved along pretty nicely over the last 20 years or so. My goal was to be the sports editor of a metro daily by the time I was 30. I missed that a little bit, but just by a little bit, I was 32. Now I’m 41, in a major role at a national publication and obviously the chances to try different things, and do different things, and in a lot of ways, that’s what this job is. I’ve been taking on more of a role, and more of a business role in some ways, and also a role trying to come up with a new model that can allow us to do some things with the non-daily publication, both in print and digital, so I think if you ever think you’re at the pinnacle then you set yourself up for failure cause you’re just not giving yourself an opportunity to continue to grow. You have to find ways to continue to grow, continue to get better, get more efficient, get more effective, learn more. You know, the business changes every day, and you should be willing to change with it. You have to be willing to change with it.

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