Josh Carney: Newhouse or Bust

By Robin Deehan

“If I’m going to do it, I’m going to do it now.”

That was Josh Carney’s reason for moving six hours from his home city of Pittsburgh to attend Newhouse, one of the best journalism schools in the country. 

Carney was covering local high school sports while attending Indiana University of Pennsylvania when he realized, if he didn’t act now he could still be doing local high school sports ten years down the line.

So, he applied to the Magazine, Newspaper, Online Master's program.

“I’ve always wanted to cover professional sports or college athletics and I’ve known for the last six to seven years that Newhouse was the best in the country and I said, ya know this is going to be my one and only shot I’m going to go for it” Carney said. 

With no back up plan Carney’s gamble paid off and he has already hit the ground running.  He is ready to do baseball game recaps and even write feature stories for teams that he does not particularly like.

“Honestly, this is going to pain me to say it but I think I would like to cover the Yankees just because of the exposure that they get.” 

Once Carney finishes at Newhouse he wants a job like his favorite Grantland.com writer Jonah Keri. He wants to pick and choose what he wants to write about, decide who he wants to talk to, and still be able to enjoy life and have time for a family. 

What would Carney choose to write about right now? LeBron James going home to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“I would talk to them just to say, don’t crown the Cavs champs yet.  There are still 82 games to play to get to the playoffs and then 16 to win it.”

Interview

RD: Why did you decide to come to Newhouse and do the MNO program as opposed to BDJ?

JC: When I got closer to graduating I was covering high school sports for a local newspaper and I didn’t want to do that the rest of my life.  I honestly saw myself ten years down the line still covering local high school sports for wherever I was going to be and I didn’t want to do that.  I’ve always wanted to cover professional sports or college athletics and I’ve known for the last 6-7 years that Newhouse was the best in the country, and I said ya know this is going to be my one and only shot I’m going to go for it I’m not going to take time off because if I’m going to do it I’m going to do it now and it was just a shot in the dark honestly.  It was the only place I applied to and I got in.

RD: If you didn’t get in what was going to be your backup plan to achieve your same goals?

JC: Honestly I don’t know I probably would’ve taken a month off and just applied to at least a hundred different places.  But it sucked I didn’t have a back up plan honestly, I didn’t think about that.  It was kind of like let me just sit here and wait until I get a response from Syracuse, which that was hectic, and once I got that it was like alright lets go we’re going to grad school.  I never honestly sat down and said this is what I’m going to do if I don’t get in.

RD: Do you see yourself doing more long form magazines or do you want to be doing newspapers or blog, like what would be your ideal medium to cover your sports?

JC: I visit Grantland.com everyday at least 3 times a day so I would love to do long form but I’ve never done that before so right now I would like to do game recaps or features on players but say when I get into magazine writing in the fall if I enjoy long form that’s probably the route I’m going to go because that seems to be where people are turning to nowadays where you see Sports Illustrated has a long form article every issue they also have a long form website now.  Grantland that’s the number one place to go, ESPN Magazine is starting to do long form so it seems to be where it’s going but like I said right now game recaps and feature stories.

RD: What would be your ideal, whether its league or team, that you want to cover?

JC: I don’t want to cover any team that I like, so that takes out all Pittsburgh teams, it takes out Liverpool...that takes out the Lakers and the Cavs.  I would like to cover Major League Baseball I want to be a part of the Baseball Writer’s Association and honestly this is going to pain me to say it but I think I would like to cover the Yankees just because of the exposure that they get, the national headlines that they get.  So if that gave me the chance to write a piece about them, hey that’s tagged, someone picks it up on the national outlet that’s exposure but again it would pain me to do it because I have a deep hatred for the New York Yankees and what they represent in baseball.

RD: Is there any particular writer that you want to emulate or somebody that you look up to?

JC: I read a lot of Jonah Keri pieces; he’s a writer for Grantland.  I actually interviewed him for a project that we have later on here in the summer session for the sports class.  I talked to him for like a half hour and he honestly seems like he has the job that people would kill for.  He works from home, picks and chooses what stories he wants to write, when he wants to write them, who he wants to talk to, doesn’t really have to go into the office, he gets to enjoy life so I would like to be like Jonah Keri.  I don’t want to be a guy that works 7 days a week, doesn’t have time for a family, or a personal life so I would like to down the line be able to do what I want to do.

RD: If you could, whether it’s a story in the past or a story right now, and you had your editor come to you and said that you can write anything that you want to write what would it be about?

JC: That’s tough.  Do you remember when the Pittsburgh Penguins made all those trades at the 2013 trade deadline? Ok well they went and got guys like Jarome Iginla, Brendan Morrow, they basically put together and all star team to win the cup, they failed.  For my student newspaper I wrote an opinion column saying don’t crown them champs yet because it seemed everyone in the city of Pittsburgh and their fan base said no way that they don’t win the Stanley Cup.  And I wrote that piece and caught a lot of backlash from people on that campus.  So I think I would do that now with the Cleveland Cavaliers and the whole LeBron James decision that just happened today.  Don’t crown them yet; they haven’t played a game together.  There still could be moves in the future that they’re going to do.  I would write that and I would talk to people that are experts when it comes to teams that get put together like that winning the championship.  Guys from like 538.com, that’s like a statistical website they do odds and all that and I would talk to them just to say don’t crown the Cavs champs yet there’s still 82 games to play to get to the playoffs and then 16 to win it.