By Jon Dye University of Nebraska-Lincoln Sports have always been a part of 35-year-old Kevin Sjuts’ life, starting as a high school athlete and continuing today as KOLN-KGIN-TV sports director. Sjuts, who grew up in rural Illinois, said when he realized he wasn’t going to be a professional athlete he decided he would be happy covering sports. Sjuts ended up in Lincoln after graduating with a broadcast journalism degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. His first job was at KLKN-TV Channel 8 in Lincoln and he learned a lot there. “You have to soak up everything like a sponge ...ask questions, pick people’s brains, learn from as many people as possible, observe your boss and try to learn from as many people as possible,” Sjuts said in a phone interview. “There is more than one (way) to do something.” After eight months at Channel 8, he landed a job at KOLN-TV Channel 10/11 in Lincoln in 2005 as a weekend sports anchor and reporter. He was promoted to sports director in 2007. “No day is ever the same and that is one of the great joys of this job,” he said. The days can be long for Sjuts. He gets to work between 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. and leaves around midnight. He puts together a sportscast, writes and edits, shoots videos for stories, coordinates coverage, sets up interviews and plans the next sportscast. He has covered major sports stories such as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s jump to the Big 10 conference, the hiring and firings of Husker football coaches, the College World Series, NCAA Final Four for volleyball and more. One of the most memorable stories was the Heisman trophy ceremony in New York City in 2009 when Husker football player Ndamukong Suh was a finalist. In 2013, he was named Nebraska Sportscaster of the Year by the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association. Sjuts said he sometimes makes tough news judgment decisions as sports director. “Some days there are pretty big decisions and some days they're pretty minor decisions,” he said. Sjuts said in the 24/7 media environment he sometimes cannot wait to report breaking sports news until a 6 p.m. or 10 p.m. broadcast. “In my industry of TV it is known or traditionally known as the times you get your news at 5, 6, or 10 o’clock,” he said. “We cannot just do that anymore because there’s just so many ways to get news. So we have to make sure we are providing information on Twitter, providing information on Facebook, and doing that allows us to connect with our viewers. “No longer are we mouthpieces and just delivering the news. We’re more providing conversations with our viewers. They are able to respond and we’re able to get their opinion on some issues.” Sjuts said the around-the-clock news cycle can also affect accuracy. “A bad report can demolish credibility,” he said. But, Sjuts said that while social media has made it easier for citizen journalists to report the news, viewers will always turn to local TV for one important thing: weather. “Do I think local television is going to die? Absolutely not. … what if a tornado is bearing down on this area? Where are you going to go for what the latest news is on the tornado? Do you want to go to Twitter and read people’s posts or do you want to go to a trusted weatherman? For that alone, I think local television will never die,” Sjuts said.
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