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| Hugh Kellenberger |
The life of a modern journalist
Hugh Kellenberger says his interest in journalism was sparked when spent his childhood in Sacramento, California reading both of the city’s newpapers. He started out at The Rocky Mount Telegram, where he says he was given a chance to explore the passion he developed for sports while in college at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.
“I like the exciting part of sports,” he says. “That kind of attracted me to it.”
Today, Kellenberger is the Ole Miss sports beat writer for the Clarion-Ledger in Jackson, Mississippi. He says the relationship between news media and athletic departments is about give and take, although the athletic departments may try to control the flow of information.
"A lot of times, what's really happening is stuff that is probably good for them to let other people know about," he said. "And then there's that five, ten percent of stuff they rather not have printed, but it comes along with it."
Kellenberger says the most challenging part of working as a writer is that he’s always on the job, engaging social media and writing for a sports blog. He says journalism no longer has a definite work day, thanks to the internet.
“I think of myself as someone who writes for the internet,” he said. “We happen to have a newspaper product.”
Although social media is important to engaging audiences, Kellenberger says relying on social media presence can become a hindrance to aspiring journalists.
“I would tell them not to worry one little bit about their brand,” he said. “If you do good work, if you ask questions, if you write well, if you're engaged in multimedia, and engaged in an honest way, I don't think you have to worry about what your brand is.”
Kellenberger says the best way to build a reputation is to let your work speak for itself.
“Your brand will be that you're a trusted, respected part of the media,” he said. “People will want to hire you.”
Read the interview transcript here:
Norman Seawright: To start us off, could you tell me a little about what made you want to pursue sports journalism?
Hugh Kellenberger: Yeah, I started reading the newspaper when I was, like, seven or eight, and it wasn't just, like, one newspaper. I lived in Sacramento, which was still at the time a two-newspaper town, and we got both newspapers, so I would sit there in the morning and read about the Sacramento Kings at, like, eight years old, so I imagine it was kind of always in my head. I didn't really think about it, though, until probably high school. That's when I first started kind of getting interested in journalism, and really didn't have any idea what kind of journalism I wanted to do until probably my junior year of college, where I just kind of fell into sports and really kind of liked it, and liked how there's always a narrative. Somebody wins, somebody loses. Somebody's up, somebody's down. It makes things compelling all the time and not so procedural; "well, this was the monthly budget meeting," which can be very dry. I like the exciting part of sports. That kind of attracted me to it.
NS: Talking about jobs, what is the most difficult part of your job?
HK: Probably now, the most difficult part is that you're always on. We're talking and it's 7:30 on a Tuesday evening, and I'm just starting the fire to make dinner for my family because I got pushed back because I was waiting on a police report, and something else happened, and I gotta update a story and write a blog post and tweet about it, and that stuff is not atypical. Things don't happen on a convenient nine-to-five schedule, and I think there was probably a time before journalism where—the work they did relatively stopped for a lot of people at five o'clock because, well, I mean what else are you gonna do. If the paper was out, the paper was out. It's not that way anymore with the internet. It's created this constant grind, so that's probably the most difficult part. It's really rewarding and I love it, so I don't want to sound like I hate the internet because I think of myself as someone who writes for the internet and we happen to have a newspaper product, but I think it changes the job and certainly adds some stress.
NS: Talk about the relationship that you have between yourself and the newspaper, and the school that you cover.
HK: You know, I would say overall it's a good relationship. I think it definitely has its trials and tribulations at times. There's times that we do things that they don't appreciate, and there's times that they do things that we don't appreciate, so there's that constant tug of war, and they start to try to control their own media to a bigger extent. I think that's only going to happen with some more regularity, but I think overall we have a good relationship because I think the people that I deal with the most at Ole Miss seem to understand that there's a reason why I'm there and that I'm going to ask tough questions but it also means I'm going to write what's really happening and if they have that trust in you, I think they understand that. A lot of times, what's really happening is stuff that is probably good for them to let other people know about, and then there's that five, ten percent of stuff they rather not have printed, but it comes along with it, and so I think if both sides have a good respect for each other, which I think is the case, then I think it'd be a positive working relationship.
NS: So, it's a lot of back and forth, then. Give and take.
HK: Exactly. You can't just sit there and hammer, hammer, hammer all day long. Number one, there's not enough stuff that any college athletic department does that requires you to be hammering them 24/7, 365. At a certain point, you're digging and hammering just to hammer, but I think there are times when you are telling the good stuff and telling stories about people, namely, and when you do have to hammer it's justified and they know it's coming and they're okay with it. Well, more okay with it then they would be if it was the opposite direction.
NS: What would you tell a young, aspiring journalist who just wants to get into sports and that's their passion.
HK: I would tell them not to worry one little bit about their brand. I don't really know what a brand is, it's kind of become this niche thing, and I think it creates more problems than it [solves]. If you do good work, if you ask questions, if you write well, if you're engaged in multimedia, and engaged in an honest way, I don't think you have to worry about what your brand is. I think it takes care of itself. Your brand will be that you're a trusted, respected part of the media and people will want to hire you. I think on the flip side when you become more infatuated with your twitter account and your number of followers than what's happening on your twitter account then I think it can lead to a lot of dangers. That's one of the things I tell a lot of young journalists like, "don't be the guy tweeting the press conference, be the guy asking the questions at the press conference."
NS: So just let your work speak for you.
HK: Yes, exactly. If you let your work speak for you, you'll be fine. Everything will take care of itself.
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