December 4, 2013.
This past Wednesday, Newhouse students were blessed with the appearance of three familiar faces – Pete Thamel, Greg Bishop and Michael Cohen. All being Newhouse alumni, the three revisited the campus to discuss their road to eventual success, and through a lengthy Q&A session talked about the positive traits one must possess in order to achieve vocational success. Here is a rundown of the three writers
Hired by ESPN in 2003, followed by a stint at the New York Times, Pete Thamel now finds himself working for Sports Illustrated. He emphasized to the entire room the importance of the internet, stating that everyone interested in pursuing sports writing now is in a perfect position. The advent of the internet and a more global culture supports job positions such as these, and a career may be closer than one might think.
The next writer was Greg Bishop, who continues to work for the New York Times. Focusing mainly on tennis, boxing, NFL and college sports, he highlighted the glamor of the job, recalling a time where he ran into Dave Chapelle, who was curious as to Bishop’s roots.
The last writer, Michael Cohen, affiliated with Syracuse.com, highlighted the importance of networking within Newhouse, not only with professionals but with other students who aspire to be professionals. He explains how even sometimes he calls Bishop if he has a question about a particular field of writing, and emphasized how important it is to know as many people as one possibly can.
After a long-winded introductory phase, the conversation shifted towards the students, as a Q&A session began. The first question was regarding response to criticism. Hearing from these writers was interesting. Upon becoming a professional, they explained that they often are faced with a base of followers, some of which have negative or nasty opinions. They all agreed that although constructive criticism is important, there are always those people that are just completely unable to be pleased. Another question which was raised involved switching employers. The student was wondering whether or not it was like “burning a bridge” when any of the three decide to change jobs. All of them again unanimously agreed that it was a non-issue, and job switching for the sake of advancement is generally always encouraged by the employers.
They wrapped the Q&A up by discussing some of the most general points of breaking into the profession. All of them, once again, agreed that it is extremely important to write as often as possible and get one’s personal work out. Keep your head down, and work better than your peers. After awhile, it will begin to pay off. If there’s one message to be taken from this valuable discussion, it would be that the only reason people are successful is because they are passionate, and they’re willing to work to achieve their goals.