Story and Photos by Bridget Chavez
Reporting primarily on men's basketball during his undergraduate career, Zarett’s turning point in his professional career came during a visit to Syracuse University.
The recent Binghamton graduate said he made the decision to pursue a graduate degree at the Newhouse School of Public Communication after seeing photos of alumni in sports journalism displayed in the building.
“Just having it up on the wall and seeing it like that of the people who had been in the program before and how successful they’ve been and it was… I just don’t know how you could say no to that,” Zarett said. "I was sold and decided to come here."
Zarett majored in political science and later added English as a second major because it was the closest thing to journalism the school offered. Despite the lack of journalistic courses, Zarett joined the school paper, The Pipe Dream. He worked his way up from sports reporter to sports editor by the time he began his senior year.
Zarett said he is looking to help refine and improve his writing and multimedia skills in the Magazine, Newspaper & Online concentration at Newhouse.
"I’ve never really had any experience taking videos, taking pictures and recording interviews and that kind of thing and I’ve already started to learn that in my classes and that’s been a real plus so far," he said.
"I’ve never really had any experience taking videos, taking pictures and recording interviews and that kind of thing and I’ve already started to learn that in my classes and that’s been a real plus so far," he said.
“I’ve never really had someone look over my work and tell me what I’ve done right and what I’ve done wrong,” Zarett said.
He had worked with editors who had been trained in the business similar to his own experience. The courses he is taking at Newhouse have already begun teaching students how to take pictures and videos and record interviews.
He had worked with editors who had been trained in the business similar to his own experience. The courses he is taking at Newhouse have already begun teaching students how to take pictures and videos and record interviews.
“That’s been a real plus so far and I look forward to learning more about that stuff,” Zarett said.
Listen to the full interview here.
Full Transcript:
Q: (0:09) Okay, first question is where are you from originally?
A: (0:12) I’m from Long Island Sayville it’s in Suffolk County.
Q: (0:15) Where did you do you undergrad?
A: (0:17) Um, Binghamton which is right down the road.
Q: (0:20) Tell me about what your undergrad was like in Binghamton.
A: (0:23) So I um double majored in political science and English since we didn’t have a journalism program and I started with my political science major and then I joined the school paper and I really started liking it so I added the English which is where the four journalism classes that I could’ve taken were
Q: (0:40) And did you work at the school paper during your entire undergrad?
A: (0:45) Yeah so I started my sophomore year as a sports reporter and my junior year I was the assistant sports editor and my senior year which was last year I was the sports editor of the paper.
Q: (0:56) Do you miss Binghamton?
A: (0:57) Um, I really liked it there by the end. It was a great school and I made a lot of really great friends there and yeah I miss it but it was kind of time. Four years is a long time and I had a lot of fun and I really liked it there and I learned a lot but it was time to do something new so in a way I’m glad that I graduated when I did I guess.
Q: (01:15) What attracted you to Syracuse for grad school?
A: (01:19) Uh, well it was a bunch of things. I was looking at a few of schools and since Binghamton was so close I was able to come up here a few times and visit and I saw the city when all the undergrads were here and I saw the city and felt like there were a lot of people here and there was a lot to do and also the program and the professional sports program was definitely it. So I went to the preview day in April after I had been accepted and I sat through all the meetings and it was okay and then we went and split up for the sports communication emphasis meeting and professor Nicholson took us into that big room where they have the wall with all the alumni and that was it I was sold and that was when I decided to come here.
Q: (01:56) Did Professor Nicholson say anything specific that made you seal the deal or was it just that experience?
A: (02:02) It was just that… it was a combination of both and he explained the program and how alumni have been very successful but just having it up on the wall and seeing it like that of the people who had been in the program before and who did undergraduate here and are in the business and how successful they’ve been and it was… I don’t know how you could say no to that.
Q: (02:22) So when you’re doing print, or when you’re writing a sports story, what is your process? Do you look for background and how do you frame it so that it is your style but you’re still getting the information across that you need to?
A: (02:37) That’s a good question. Well I guess it depends on the story that I’m doing if you’re doing if I’m doing… When I’ve done features and stories on coaches and players in the past that’s when I’ve gathered a lot of the background and then I’ve come in with really specific questions and have tried to have a really focused angle and ask them questions and sometimes you know they go somewhere that you don’t expect them and when I’ve covered a game at least in the past, in undergrad, I’ve really tried to focus and find a specific turning point or something that really influences the game of specific players and that, that’s where I try to base my story off of. And then go off of that turning point or tell the story through the lens of the turning point or that specific player.
Q: (03:21) Can you give me an example, if you can think of one, of a game that you covered where the turning point you’ve talked about made the story make sense and you were able to just run with it from there? Or even a favorite one that you’ve done?
A: (03:33) Hmm… well I covered one game where the best player on the Binghamton basketball team scored like 30 points and had 12 rebounds and really he was the focal point of the offense for the whole game so that was a pretty easy one to write. And then there was another time where right out of halftime a player on Binghamton had back-to-back three pointers to make the lead grow substantially and they ran away with the game after that and they didn’t win very often so that was a pretty easy one also
Q: (04:06) Is there a reason why you have chosen to stick with print journalism? I know everything is digital so you’ll be doing web stuff most likely but what do you like about it and make you decide to stick with print?
A: (04:17) Well I guess when you are broadcasting you have to speak, kind of like ad-libbing and you don’t really have a ton of time to think about your arguments and what you’re saying where as in print you can really sit down and even if it’s just for a minute you can really think about what you want to write. And at least for me personally, I feel like I’m much better at, my arguments are much better, or even the story that I’m telling is much better when I’ve sit down and thought about it for a couple of minutes rather than having to go right away. I don’t feel like that’s what I’m good at.
Q: (04:56) When you’re on deadline what is a go to strategy that you’ve had when you have to submit and the game’s going to end and you have to press send? How do you deal with that pressure?
A: (05:07) Hmm.Well to be honest the school paper only printed three times a week so I’ve only really written on strict deadline a couple of times but when I’ve done that I’ve tried to during halftime write about the first half and then write about the second half as it’s going on and that way once the game ends try to edit it, put it together really quickly at the end and that way I’m able to have something and I’ve been able to have something the few times I’ve needed to submit it right at the final buzzer. I’ve been able to do it like that and after interviewing the coaches and players put together a more cohesive article. I don’t know if that’s the best way to do it but that’s the way I was able to so.
Q: (05:50) What skills specifically are you hoping to improve at Syracuse or fine tune?
A: (05:58) So like I said I never really had experience in classes in terms of journalism because there were very few at Binghamton and were very very basic so I’ve never really had someone look over my work and tell me what I’ve done right and what I’ve done wrong. The only experience I have doing that is with other editors from the school paper who were before me who I have come to realize were doing the same thing that I was doing which is they had never been taught either so I’m really looking forward to having high people in their field telling me and looking over my work what I do right and wrong or could do better or what I do well and could do better. And also I’ve never really had any experience taking videos, taking pictures and recording interviews and that kind of thing and I’ve already started to learn that in my classes and that’s been a real plus so far and I look forward to learning more about that stuff.
Q: (06:53) Is there anything else you’d like to share or anything you can think of that I haven’t asked you?
A: (06:57) I think we covered most of it
Q (07:01) Thank you for your time. If I have a follow up can I message you?
A: (07:06) Yeah you can text me and my number is in the group also
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