On Thursday, March 31, I attended the Mike Tirico event in the Herg. Originally I was just going to go because I love sports and I am a fan of Tirico’s, but then I received an e-mail the day before from my editor at the D.O. asking if I would cover the event. I accepted the invitation and was thrilled to be able to have a personal interview with Tirico following the event.
Tirico talked a lot about his time at Syracuse University and how he broke into the industry himself. For me, the most interesting part of Tirico’s speech was during the question and answer period. A girl in the audience was called on and asked Tirico’s opinion on women covering sports in the communications industry today. Tirico explained that women are held to a much higher “mistake-level.” He said that when a women makes a mistake on-air or even in print, she is criticized because of her gender. But yet when a man makes a similar mistake, he gets off easy.
I was interested in this question because I myself would love to write for the sports section of a major newspaper one day, but I often doubt whether or not I will be able to get a job. Not only is the newspaper industry in trouble, but I would also have a problem finding a job in sports because I’m a female.
The advice that Tirico gave the girl and the rest of the audience was that if you don’t want people criticizing you for being a female and messing up when covering sports, then you have to become an unidentifiable expert. That way no one will ever be able to criticize you because you will know everything there is to know about a specific sport.
The encouraging words from Tirico inspired me and made me reconsider doubting myself and my goals as a journalist. I look forward to hearing him speak again at Newhouse in the future.
