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Compared to news, sports are easy

A former journalism professor of mine once said he went into sports writing because it was "safe."

He wrote about athletes and their accomplishments, scores, stats, and the puff piece on the high school hero who received the scholarship he always wanted.

That was until one dark day when he had to interview the parents of a young man who had been trampled to death during a rodeo.

All of a sudden his job wasn't so "safe." He had to look two people in the eye who had just lost their son, and ask them questions as he took notes for the next day's issue.

It wasn't quite the same as writing about a state championship football game.

But despite that instance and a few others, sports writing isn't quite as a dangerous as news reporting.

My job is 99 percent fun with an occasional tough piece I have to write, or an angry e-mail I have to answer.

Not everyone at a newspaper has that luxury.

Those who report the news have a tough time when it comes to issues affecting citizens.

In a small town, more than half the time a reporter is writing about someone he or she knows. Heck, he or she could be writing about a relative.

As a sports reporter, most of my stories are positive, therefore the reaction is usually a good one. Unfortunately, for a news reporter, that is not always the case.

But just like a TV anchor who reports a double-murder or shines the light on a corrupt businessman, newspaper reporters tell what happen.

They don't make the news, they record it.

When I write a story about the football team winning a game, I'm not congratulated by parents. The high-fives and handshakes go to the coaches and parents.

It should be the same way for a news reporter or editor. The negativity of a factual article is not the fault of the person whose name appears on the byline.

Too many times the newspaper is blamed for negative events in a town's history.

It doesn't make sense.

It's not a yearbook staff's fault if it has the record of the winless football team on a page for everyone to see.

It's not the TV station's fault if someone rattles off a cuss word during a live election debate.

Those entities, along with newspapers, are there to record history.

I'm lucky because you can usually find a positive spin in the sports world.

Unfortunately, in the real world, that's not always possible.

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