Trust is key to stories
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I’m Bailey Johnson, a sports activities reporter at The Dispatch. I began in February as the highschool sports activities reporter and likewise chip in on the Blue Jackets beat sometimes.
Join with me: Twitter, author page, Instagram
Columbus highschool sports activities:Who are the top 11 senior football players to watch this fall in central Ohio?
Why I turned a journalist
I’ve all the time liked writing, however I by no means thought of changing into a journalist till my sophomore 12 months of school. After one too many texts about my ideas on Michigan soccer (sure, I’m a Wolverine in Buckeye nation!), each of my dad and mom urged that I look into writing for the scholar newspaper.
As soon as I walked within the doorways of the Michigan Daily, I by no means appeared again. Protecting sports activities was the proper mix of my lifelong love of each sports activities and writing, and I knew I’d discovered what I needed to do for the remainder of my life.
What I like greatest about my job
Constructing relationships with the gamers and coaches I cowl frequently is by far the perfect a part of my job. Beginning as a stranger asking for a random interview and finally changing into somebody that’s trusted to inform a private story is so rewarding. It’s one thing I prioritize in my work.
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What I like least about my job
Chilly calling! The spike of nervousness proper earlier than I make a cellphone name has by no means fairly gone away, but it surely’s gotten higher through the years. I am all the time satisfied the individual I am calling can be indignant with me for some motive, which has by no means occurred — by and enormous, individuals take pleasure in being requested for his or her opinions and emotions about issues.
A narrative that had a long-lasting influence on me
Whereas at Michigan, I spent two seasons masking the hockey workforce as one in all 4 beat writers. I all the time received to the video games early and seen among the gamers had very particular pregame routines, together with one who all the time stretched earlier than the sport in precisely the identical spot.
After I requested why he selected that spot, he instructed me his late grandfather had season tickets within the seats instantly beneath, so he’d began standing there to wave good day earlier than every recreation and stored it up after his grandfather handed away.
I went on to write down a feature story about his relationship with his grandfather and the way supportive his grandfather had been of his hockey profession, and it’s one in all my favourite tales I’ve ever written. However what stands out to me greater than the story I wrote was that he felt snug sufficient to inform me about an extremely private second.
I can’t do my job with out the belief of the individuals whose tales I’m telling.
That story all the time jogs my memory that increase a relationship — a person-first relationship, not a transactional one — is the easiest way to have the ability to inform highly effective, necessary tales.
What I love to do after I’m not working
I’m not from Ohio, so since transferring right here, I’ve tried to discover Columbus as a lot as I can, and I like to go for lengthy walks across the metropolis. I’m all the time in search of new locations to go, so all suggestions are welcomed!
I’m an enormous canine individual, so I can’t await the day I can have a canine of my very own. Within the meantime, I attempt to pet each canine I see and I’m trying ahead to getting concerned as a volunteer with a canine rescue group quickly.
Why journalism issues
There are all kinds of broad-sweeping causes journalism issues — holding the highly effective accountable, revealing the reality, informing the general public and extra — however for me, it may be summed up actually merely.
Journalism issues as a result of individuals and their tales matter, and with out journalism, these tales would go untold.
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