While my beat ended its season a little
earlier than in recent years, there were still plenty of writing opportunities
and learning experiences available to me covering the UNC men’s basketball team.
Over the course of the 2011-2012 basketball season I used an array of story
styles. I had two columns, three profiles and numerous event stories published
over the season. This year, though, I had the chance to not only experiment
with new assignments and techniques, but improve on what I already felt
comfortable doing.
The workload of covering a beat wasn't
anything new to me, but continuing to expand my comfort level with the beat and
try new writing styles is where the real learning occurred for me. It may not
seem like a big difference but the fact that this year's Bears team had its
worst season record wise since the 2006-2007 campaign made it
challenging.
I had the luxury in the last four years
to write about winning seasons as the team’s beat writer for The Mirror. Writing about a win is easier
than writing about a loss. With the rebuilding and underachievement by this
year's team, I gained experience in writing columns that pointed out negatives
in my beat.
What
I liked about completing these assignments for my beat was getting to work with
video for the first time. It is a skill
that is growing increasingly important in the journalism industry. At first I
was hesitant to try it, but as the assignment went along I enjoyed working
behind the camera.
If
there was one thing I really wish I had improved on during this semester, it’d be with this very blog. There is a lot of things I still have to learn
about incorporating social media and blog posts into my work.
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