University of Oregon alumna Sue Favor Skyped in with our chapter last week to discuss her passion for women’s hoops, the website she created and the steps she took to differentiate herself in the sports industry.

Five takeaways from Sue:

1 – Get to know the community you are covering. As a journalist, records and top scorers are important, but understanding and implementing the human angle makes your story relatable to the residents reading your work.

2 – Be prepared when conducting interviews. If you only use one or two sources, you will only capture a small portion of the story you’re covering.

3 – When you cover a game, make it a priority to create relationships with the sports information director.

4 – Don’t get mad – “Keep your cool and don’t say anything even though you know you’re right.”

5 – On the topic of overcoming (in the moment) sexism and just rough-around-the-edges individuals: “It always pays to stay professional. Kill them with a smile and be assertive.”

By Linden Moore

On Friday, May 12, UO AWSM hosted its second celebrity speaker in two years, sports journalist Julie DiCaro. The Chicago-based journalist is known for openly speaking out about opportunities for women in sports and the equal treatment in a male-dominated industry. In addition, she shared her experiences with sexual violence and gave some insight as to how women deal with the life-changing trauma. We had an opportunity to sit down with Julie and here are ten takeaways from what we learned

1. You don’t have to major in journalism to have a successful career

“I was a journalism major in school and I wanted to be a sports reporter but at the time there weren’t women that I saw doing that,” she said. “I was practicing law when the Chicago Tribune asked if they could pick up my blog and distribute it then I let them know I wasn’t happy at my job and one day they said there was an opening for someone to run their blog network. I got an email from WGN radio and they wanted me on it so I backed into it but a lot later than I thought I would.”

2. There isn’t one definition for “sexism”

“It’s always jarring when you hear someone say something that can be interpreted as sexist,” she said. “There’s a difference between what men think is sexist and what women think as sexist guys they’ll say something and say, ‘I’m just joking around’ but for women that hits home.”

3. Sports has turned into a validation of opinions

“Sports radio is like the bastion of people who say things publically it’s okay,” she said. “When I go to colleges and see so many women interested in the sports industry I’m excited for that and I hope they’ll work in an industry the way that sports fan base looks then having it be all guys.”

4. We need strong male allies

“I’m glad I have those guys in my life who stick up for you on Twitter, who put women front and center to amplify their voices instead of trying to talk over them I wish all guys were like those guys,” she said.

5. The More than Mean campaign kick started a conversation, which means we can do something, too.

“For more than Mean, Sarah and I felt that we had our chance to have our say in an impactful way,” she said. “The backlash was formidable for a while but the support outweighed the it. Everything changed after that in terms of me being able to let a lot of it go. The awards aren’t the reason we did it but it’s validation that it mattered to people so that’s really rewarding. I also had trolls reach out and apologize to me after the video came out.”

6. Twitter is a large vortex that can be centered with gendered and sexual comments

“There’s a lot of women in Twitter screaming about what’s happening to them all the time,” she said. “But the way women are harassed online as very different is very gendered and sexualized and that’s what so alarming,” she said.

7. Domestic violence survivors don’t have one definition for rape

“It takes most women in those situations seven times of trying to leave if they get out at all it’s already a complex situation to get someone to leave and adding one more thing in there beyond what’s acceptable in civilized society,” she said. “Everything that’s listed, it’s like being a woman is a preexisting condition it seems so simple if you’re not in that situation but when you spend time with dv victims you realize how much damage has been done to people’s psyches and how they see the world.”

8. Screenshotting tweets can help you in protecting yourself against internet trolls

“I screenshot them because so many of them get deleted and when you talk about them people accuse you of exaggerating it,” she said.

9. Prosecutors drop domestic violence charges half the time

“Having worked with domestic violence victims, 50% of the times they drop the charges,” she said. “It’s hard to tell people to report it when I didn’t report my own rape,  so I know that feeling of there’s no way in hell that I can do this.”

10. Rape is NEVER a woman’s fault, it’s not a punishment for making a mistake

“We convince ourselves that it was our fault,” she said. “Punishment for being an idiot college student isn’t rape. If a woman doesn’t give consent, it’s rape.”

By: Maggie Vanoni

AP reporter Anne Peterson spoke at the UO AWSM chapter Monday night about her experience covering sports all around the country, including the state of Oregon, to even her time covering the Olympics as well.

1. Network, network, network … Peterson emphasized the importance of reaching out to the people you find inspirational and getting a foot in the door. She believes that keeping in contact with coworkers and friends will help expose you to numerous opportunities.

2. You will have to do things you don’t want to in order to get where you want to go … Peterson started her career at AP doing the tasks that no one else wanted to, like manually entering lottery ticket numbers to doing the weather forecast. “You have to be willing to do anything,” Peterson said. “Don’t expect to cover the NBA right out of college.” Peterson said that she always worked hard no matter what she did, and her employers knew that and took it into consideration when opportunities opened up.

3. Background research … Come prepared to your reporting assignment with the homework done. Peterson stressed that during major events, like the Olympics, she has binders of background research on both teams and knows specific details about players as to be ready for any coverage.

4. Write Beforehand … Constantly working with tight deadlines, Peterson said her biggest help is writing paragraphs before she gets to the event. With her immense amount of prior background research, she crafts out sections of her gamers beforehand, always making sure to leave room for intro-paragraphs — something that she will focus on during the game.

5. Capture a moment and make that your lede … “Half the battle when writing is to try to capture a moment,” Peterson said. Peterson likes to lead her stories by capturing the game moment. Using last week’s Blazer game as an example, Peterson chose to lead her story of the game with Damian Lillard pointing at his wrist after he walked away from making a three-point shot with 0.7 seconds left, which ultimately clenched the win for Portland.

Five Bits of Wisdom from meeting with Pac-12 Football Analyst Yogi Roth

By Emma Childs

Pac-12 Network football analyst, author and filmmaker Yogi Roth met with the UO AWSM chapter last Friday. Roth brought his knowledge as a former wide receiver for the University of of Pittsburgh, a former assistant quarterback coach for the University of Southern California and now a broadcaster.

1- “You write like you read, you talk like you write. …Read!” Yogi Roth emphasized the importance of reading novels and consuming news articles every day. He threw some books into the students sitting in the classroom and said, “I always like to give gifts. These gifts are important.” He pointed out that people who read often always are one step above those who don’t in the broadcast industry, he said it is what can make you stand out.

2- He encouraged attendees to try new things. He is all about “reigniting your creative spark.” For Roth, sometimes it’s taking off to a foreign country and spending a week taking photos, or trying to write a novel. His ability to work hard and understand others has come from broadening his skill sets and helped him become successful.

3- How and why? And then listen. It’s always about the people, the people you are interviewing and telling the story about. Your ability to listen as a journalist is a key skill in connecting with people. You want to work on building elements that enable you to connect with people.

4- Form versus essence. He says to follow your curiosity because … “there is no cookie cutter way to do it.” Roth said that everyone has their own path or way of getting where they want to go in their careers and there is not one mold or form in this industry.

5- “Your only job is to seek.” Roth believes that his only job is to create value, value of the game of football for the families, the audiences, the random spectators. He encouraged attendees to seek value out of everything they do.

Five Takeaways from Meeting with Lewis Johnson

By Jaycie Schenone

Yesterday, Lewis Johnson a sideline reporter for Pac-12 Network, NBA on TNT, and NBC visited the UO AWSM Chapter. Johnson shared his journey from a walk-on track athlete at the University of Cincinnati to a nine-time consecutive NBC correspondent at the Olympics. Some key takeaways from the meeting:

1. Making connections makes you a better journalist. The people you cover, whether athletes or not, have a story to share. In order for them to trust you with their story, you need to make authentic relationships.
2. If you’re in this industry for the right reasons, it will reward you. There will inevitably be hard times but as long as you follow your path, work hard, and be persistent good things will happen.
3. Are you in control of your technology or is your technology in control of you? Social media isn’t going to get you a job but human interactions will. Look people in the eye when they are speaking with you and give them a firm hand shake. First impressions matter.
4. As a journalist, it’s important to know when to be quiet. The story isn’t about you, it’s about your subject. When an incredible moment arises let it speak for itself. Ask simple questions that will spark the subject.
5. Explore the world. Meet people with a different background than yourself.

Last spring, we did a podcast with Julie DiCaro. Well, we wanted to keep that momentum going, so we will continue to record podcasts with various special guests throughout the year.

During our first podcast of the 2017-18 school year, our president Kylee O’Connor spoke with our advisor Lori Shontz about the new movie Battle of the Sexes. 

Check it out below!

Sports anchor and columnist Julie DiCaro visited the University of Oregon campus on May 11 and 12. DiCaro is  well known for her appearance in the More Than Mean campaign, an online campaign aimed at bringing awareness to and preventing bullying through social media. The video from the campaign even recently won a Peabody Award. While she was here, AWSM had a chance to sit down and talk with her over a podcast. Listen below to hear about Julie’s conversation with next year’s president, Kylee O’Connor, and next year’s vice president, Emma Childs!

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