Name: Eric Richard Redner
Job: I am currently a writer/editor for the Sports Network, a sports wire service based in Hatboro, PA.
What are your responsibilities? My job consists primarily around writing and editing any sports related stories in both the professional and collegiate realm. These include games, trades, signings, controversies and anything else that our clients and readers would find of interest.
What's a typical workday? A lot of what I do at my job depends on what time I come in. If I open (7am), I will set up the game files, story files, and headlines and generally read over the games from the previous night to ensure accuracy. After I am done the morning tasks, the rest of the day I will write and edit and stories and games that happen during the day. If I come in later in the day (anytime between 3pm and 6pm) I will make sure that no stories have been missed and will review any stories that were written. If I come in for the 7 p.m. or 8 p.m. shift, I will mostly write games and do the closing tasks.
What do you like/dislike about the job? I would have to say the thing I like most about my job is that I get to watch sports and get paid for it. I am a huge baseball and hockey fan and my boss tries to make sure that I only write those sports. I also like football (mostly college), but am not as knowledgeable about that sport as I am with baseball and hockey. What I dislike about my job is the random hours I work. One week I might have day shifts during the week (7 a.m.-3 p.m., or 10 a.m.-6 p.m.) and then have overnight shifts (8pm-4am) on the weekends. It makes it tough to have any kind of normal sleep schedule, let alone being able to have much of a life outside of work.
Background: I am a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia in 2005 and also attended Bucks County Community College in Pennsylvania from the fall of 2000 through the spring of 2002. After graduating from Temple University in May of 2005, I got a job at the Sports Network at the end of July that year and have been with them since.
What are the skills young journalists need today? The most important skill young journalists need today, aside from writing ability and a strong vocabulary, is the ability to use the Internet and computers effectively. Our world is a computer-based world whether we like it or not. If you don’t know how to use a computer effectively, you will not be able to make it in this profession, or many other professions.
Any advice to aspiring journalists? Journalists will always be a necessity in this world. While many newspapers are struggling with their printed version (personally I don’t know of any of my friends who buy the newspaper and I do only occasionally), it doesn’t mean that the profession will die. People always need information, whether they are curious about events overseas, what their favorite team is doing, or even the latest celebrity mishaps, and journalists are the ones who will get them that information.
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