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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