By Silas Brown University of Nebraska-Lincoln Parker Gabriel, who envisioned himself covering sports as early as middle school, is the beat writer for Nebraska football at the Lincoln Journal Star. On a typical day Gabriel attends practices, interviews players, writes updates on potential recruits and previews the 2018 season. Most days the New Glarus, Wisconsin, native starts off his morning going to Memorial Stadium to attend practice. After practice, his working partners, which include columnists and reporters, have a mini meeting to break down their responsibilities. For instance, a reporter might go interview the coach, a columnist talks to the players, and Gabriel is usually doing all the above. Once he gets all the information that he needs, the rest of the day involves tweeting a news story or reporting. Gabriel’s heavy days are normally Monday through Thursday working around 10 to 12 hours a day. With off-season practices and workouts looming, Gabriel will be busy. Clark Grell, who is the sports editor for the Journal Star, oversees Gabriel’s writing content. “Editors are really important. We write in a real-time environment meaning we write during the game,” said Gabriel, who started in August 2017. “Good editors like Clark Grell come up with big picture ideas. They have directions and rules and they keep things consistent.” There is no question social media plays a big role in journalism today. Journalists and reporters are always battling to see who can break the news story first to their followers. “Stuff happens so fast, you can't even tell if you are competing over a matter of seconds when updating breaking news, scores or injuries,” Gabriel said. Gabriel, 28, spends much of his time on Twitter posting daily coverage of Husker football. This upcoming season will be special under new head coach Scott Frost. Gabriel tends to scroll past the fans who make their frustration known by calling out players and coaches after a tough loss. "I just ignore it, move past it," Gabriel said. “It doesn't make sense to put my energy into something negative.” Gabriel graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2012 double majoring in journalism and political science. After college, Gabriel covered Montana State athletics for the Bozeman Daily Chronicle for three years. “Covering Montana State athletics was great experience for me after graduating college,” Gabriel said. “I had the chance to get my hands wet for the first time and get connected in the field I wanted to work with.” This will be Gabriel’s second year covering Nebraska football, but he's already covered a lot of big stories. Parker covered the firing of an athletic director and head coach, and then the hiring of new athletic director Bill Moos and coach Scott Frost. While Gabriel has always wanted to cover sports, he had no idea he would land at one of the more high-profile college football programs. “It’s cool to cover a program with tradition and history of Nebraska, mostly because the fans are so engaged. It makes for good readership and it keeps you on your toes always looking for a unique story or angle,” he said. Gabriel advises college students to learn about all aspects of journalism and in sports find something they like about practice. “Find any way to, just do it. Experience is important,” Gabriel said. “It takes reputation to get where you want. Find some way to do it as much as you can.” Gabriel plans to cover Nebraska football for as long as he can. He likes covering a team that has such a passionate fan base. The 86,818 fans who attended the Nebraska spring football game this spring broke the attendance record for a spring game at Nebraska. "The atmosphere, the tradition, the fans is what makes my job that much sweeter," Gabriel said. You can follow Gabriel on Twitter @HuskerExtraPG.
0 Comments
|
A note about the content: This site showcases the final projects of University of Nebraska-Lincoln editing students. Each semester, students pick a journalist or communications professional to profile. This is their work.
Categories
All
Archives
April 2018
My Favorites
On the mediaNieman LabPoynterRomenskoPoliticoErik WempleThis is me. I run this site. |