There are few journalists more respected in this country than Malcolm Moran, who in his most recent stops has added the title of professor to his extensive resume. Now director of the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University, he helps lead best practices and study of the field which as we know is ever-changing in its definition with the decline of traditional media and the expansion of the social pace.
We caught up with Malcolm to talk about his role today, the business in general, and the opportunities that lie ahead (his bio follows).
Describe your latest role now at Indiana, how is it different than what you were doing at Penn State?
There are two significant differences. The first is that the core of the National Sports Journalism Center is at the graduate level. There is a wide range of backgrounds, including reporters with industry experience that join us to build their credentials and others that come to us as part of a career change with little journalism experience. The other significant difference is that the role, as it was explained to me during the interview process in 2012, is connected to both the Indianapolis and Bloomington campuses.
But other responsibilities are very similar. I was able to take two students to the College Football Playoff semifinal at the Rose Bowl, and two others to the championship game at Arlington, Texas. As we wrapped up our work that night, long after Ohio State’s championship celebration, I remember thinking there aren’t very many professors that are teaching at 3 o’clock in the morning.
For new people getting into the media business today, what are the most important skills one should have?
We encourage all our students to be able to cross as many platforms as possible. That means becoming familiar with as many different ways to tell a story as you can. Where once reporters would appear at spring training with notebooks in their back pockets, now many of them have tripods and small video cameras, too. The fundamentals still involve writing ability, critical thinking, developing sources and being able to ask the right question at the right time. But the way that information is distributed is changing every year.
Who are the outlets you think that do the sports media business best and why?
We are very lucky to have Ed Sherman as a regular contributor to our National Sports Journalism Center website. He established a national presence when we were both at the Chicago Tribune more than 15 years ago. Sports Business Journal and SI.com have become must reads. Outlets that are known for their overall media examinations, such as the Columbia Journalism Review and American Journalism Review, have produced thoughtful articles on the coverage of high-profile stories such as the Sandusky scandal at Penn State and the Duke lacrosse scandal.
Who are some of the people you follow most?
I always look to the Sherman Report, even when Ed is not writing for our site. John Ourand and Richard Deitsch are must-reads. Richard has been especially active on Twitter, and has built an influential audience.
What is the most important skill one needs to have today to be in the media business?
The ability to write clearly, quickly and effectively is still the bedrock of the industry, regardless of whether you are in broadcast, traditional print or a digital hybrid. But for all of the technological advances, I am more convinced than ever that the most important skill is personal, not technical. The ability to ask informed, thoughtful questions, to dig beneath surface issues, is more important than ever. Consistently thought-provoking questions are the way to develop a positive reputation, gain the trust of subjects, and earn a chance to learn about sensitive or controversial information.
Looking back at your time at your alma mater Fordham University, what were the lessons learned there that still apply to the business today?
I remember racing from Madison Square Garden to a dingy print shop in the West Twenties, sitting down at a typewriter – I know, I just dated myself – typing a lead paragraph to a game story describing Fordham’s basketball victory over Notre Dame and Digger Phelps, and then thinking, “Now what?” That’s not the most comfortable way to learn how to come up with a transition paragraph. So there were the technical lessons, with all that trial and error.
But the more influential lessons had to do with the ethics of the business, the necessity of going out of your way to be fair, and the responsibility to seek out all sides of a complicated story. I call upon those lessons all the time, and I am careful to pass them along in the classroom.
One other important lesson took place the day after I covered the Rams at the Garden. I took the D train downtown to go to Penn Station and buy a copy of Newsday to compare my work to that of its reporter. I read their story and arrived at the immediate conclusion: I stink.
The reporter’s name was Tony Kornheiser. He wasn’t Mr. Tony yet. He taught me to cut myself a little slack.
What is your best memory of Fordham, either as a student or in your post-graduate years?
The best memories, by far, are all the times I sat in the offices of faculty members, administrators and coaches who took the time to explain to me how all of this works. It never occurred to me, at the time or for years later, that they might have something more important to do – like grading projects or preparing for the next class. They always took all the time I needed, and then some. There were so many people that made me feel our conversation was the most important thing they had going on, even if in truth it wasn’t in the top 50.
In terms of the sports media business, looking ahead, what types of companies do you think will excel the most?
The most successful operations will be the ones to make use of the latest technology while applying the standards of traditional reporting, writing and storytelling. That can be a combustible mix, when a complex, volatile story is unraveling at a frantic pace and the pressure builds to uncover the next untold aspect of it. In the late fall of 2011, I saw that happen on an hour-by-hour basis at Penn State. And yet students with relatively limited experience produced outstanding work by combining the use of technology with a fierce resolve to get it right.
How important is having a global perspective on media today?
A global perspective is no longer something out there in the future. It’s here. Professional sports franchises and leagues are tapping into it. Recruiters from college athletic departments are tapping into it. Networks and ambitious media outlets are tapping into it.
The buzz word today is content; you have to have great content. Does it matter as much if the content is hyper local vs. national in scope?
That would depend on the outlet and its mission. A national perspective can be comparatively costly. Look at how many local newspapers and websites have been successful with coverage of high school and youth sports. There are great stories in nearly every community. I wish we could read a lot more of them, and see fewer stories about the verbal college commitment of the ninth-grade basketball player, three years before he has to sign a letter of intent that binds him to a college.
You are around a lot of young people in the business. Has the value of college media, radio, digital video, improved in recent years, and who does it best?
The value has been high in the effective places for a long time. The difference now is that more places have the resources to develop new opportunities. Penn State started an internet-based radio outlet that quickly achieved a great reputation. The students made that discovery when a temporary technical glitch during a football game inspired emails from the other side of the planet: Where are my Lions? When I worked at WFUV, it was such a big deal that a 50,000-watt signal could send our broadcasts out for several hundred miles. Now, online, you can hear WFUV on the other side of the world.
Malcolm Moran is the director of the National Sports Journalism Center at Indiana University. As director, he oversees programming for the Indianapolis-based center, which serves as a comprehensive institute for the study of sports journalism. The School of Journalism launched the center in 2009.
As a sportswriter, Moran worked for USA Today, Newsday, The New York Times and Chicago Tribune. In 2006, he was named the inaugural Knight Chair in Sports Journalism and Society in the College of Communications at Pennsylvania State University and served as director of the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism within the College.
Moran was honored with the Curt Gowdy Print Media Award in 2007 from the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame for outstanding lifetime coverage of basketball. In his sportswriting career, Moran covered 26 bowl games, 26 men’s NCAA Final Fours, 16 World Series, 11 Super Bowls and two Olympic Games.
He also holds the Louis A. Weil Jr. Endowed Chair at the School of Journalism and us involved in the curriculum, which includes the nation’s first master’s degree in sports journalism.
The National Sports Journalism Center is the official partner of the Associated Press Sports Editors and the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association, the nation’s two largest professional sports journalism organizations. Through its programs, the center provides instruction on sports media for journalists of all levels from high school to college to veteran professionals. Moran’s own career reflects work on all these levels. He first worked in 1977 as a sports reporter for Newsday, covering high school, college and professional sports. Two years later, he joined The New York Times as a reporter and columnist. Moran moved to the Chicago Tribune in 1998 to cover Notre Dame football, as well as contribute feature and event coverage of professional and college sports. He joined USA Today in 2000 to cover college basketball and football and write professional and college sports features.
