Value Add: Issue 7

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🌟 Note from AAJA Sports President Michele Steele

I just came from a journalism conference held by Eric Deggans, the great NPR media reporter and now Knight Professor for Journalism at Washington & Lee University in Lexington, Va. Alongside CBS' Vlad Duthiers, we discussed stories that we had each worked on that raised interesting and important ethical questions for the class. My story is linked here - how Iowa football reckoned with race in 2020. While coaches defended themselves saying their intent was not to discriminate or make Black players feel less than, dozens of former Iowa Hawkeyes went on the record to say regardless of intent, the impact was the same: they felt they did not belong at Iowa. The program would end up separating from their strength coach after more than 60 players spoke up. We also had good conversations about the future for underrepresented voices in newsrooms - I suggest you read this piece on the late Chiefs reporter Perez Taylor and the scholarship his fiancee and friends funded at Mizzou. It’s thought provoking, and raises questions about respecting the wishes of the scholarship provider against operating in a new environment for many states. Lots of heavy news this month but I believe strongly there is a path forward for everyone to feel vested in a common vision - and for stronger and more thriving media organizations. Without further ado, let’s do that newsletter…

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🚀 Stay Inspired

Congrats to This Month’s Job Movers…

• Cedric Derecho, who just landed a job in Presque Ile, Me. as an MMJ/sports reporter

• Kelyn Soong elected as VP of Events for AAJA DC

• Deesha Thosar is the new chair of the New York chapter, Baseball Writers' Association of America

• James Koh adds NBA TV in-studio host to his busy schedule

• Ohm Youngmisuk, who re-signed with ESPN with a new focus on the NBA’s southeast region. Watch for him at Hawks, Magic, Heat & Hornets games!

• Nelson Austria was promoted to content associate at ESPN

The Jobs Board …

• Rockets Beat Opening: The Houston Chronicle is hiring a Rockets beat reporter. Hello, dream job!

• MLB Fellowship: This is such a cool opportunity to be a Digital Content Fellow, which comes via our sponsors at Major League Baseball. Think about how good the World Series was, and how much momentum Baseball has going into the 2026 season. Applications due Jan 15.

• The Athletic Internships: All students (undergrad and graduate) are welcome to apply for the video internship and ad marketing internship - though The Athletic will have a preference for students going into their sophomore or junior years. They highly encourage students to put thought into their applications: cover letter, letters of recommendation and links to a portfolio or work samples, as those will be strongly considered in the application process. Applications due Nov. 17.
  
  Have something to promote to an engaged audience of AAJA Sports members? Email [email protected].

📳Sports Task Force Goes Coast to Coast

The Athletic’s Vik Chokshi hosted a group of STF members in Chicago on Nov. 14  

Background: While many STF members attend convention every year - many more of us cannot go, often because of work or family conflicts or just the time and expense involved with traveling to a different location for multiple days a year. But the convention is such a valuable time to really connect with our peers, learn best practices and network with new contacts. So we thought to ourselves, how can we bring a little piece of that convention energy to membership? And we came up with the “Coast to Coast” campaign - an opportunity for members to meet up IRL, build that network outside of work and talk about sports, work and life. The Athletic’s Mark Kim hosted our first gathering in LA, and Vik Chokshi organized the meetup in Chicago this week.

Key Learning: We are flying the plane as we’re building it, so in the future we’d love to build on this and include opportunities with our partner companies (and new/prospective partners!) to speak about a trending topic or lead a discussion with members about a subject that impacts journalists. For now though, we are using this as chance to build community! Our next Coast to Coast city is Boston - if you are in New England, definitely go and tell ‘em STF sent you.

On a final note, if you would like to host a local meetup, email [email protected] and we will figure out how the organization can support you in doing so. And check out our socials for more Chicago pics!

🔥 In case you missed it…

Media News …

• The NBA’s new media rights deal is showing big returns in the ratings.

• ESPN has a new betting partner, DraftKings.

• Speaking of which, sportsbooks DraftKings and FanDuel are getting into the prediction markets. Watch this space.

• Interesting pod topic: “Everything is Television,” via Derek Thompson, who was a longtime writer at The Atlantic. Industry analysts’ say consumption of video podcasts is growing 20 times faster than audio only podcasts.

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Till next time,

AAJA Sports Task Force

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