Gary Langfield 
Recently I had the opportunity to interview with Evan F. Moore, a journalist and co-author of the book Game Misconduct: Hockey’s Toxic Culture and How to Fix It. Moore, who writes about sports, race and culture, has had his work featured in Rolling Stone, Chicago Magazine, The Bleacher Report, Chicago Reader, and ESPN. He’s also a journalism professor at DePaul University, and he taught me some things that every young journalist should know.
Moore says that young journalists should, ¨Write about as many stories as you can.¨ Not putting yourself in a box is important because the more flexible you are the more essential your writing becomes. An example of that flexibility is when sports writers had to cover breaking news stories during the pandemic because there were no sports going on to talk about.
When asked about writing on culture, Moore shared that culture could be a variety of things, so it has a lot of wiggle room for a writer to branch out and write about a variety of different topics.
When you’re brainstorming ideas and looking for new things to write about, Moore offered a simple suggestion–“localize the national story.” Covering big news is good, but writing about how big events shape you, your community or your culture is also really great material. Try to find ways to ground the big story and make it more meaningful.
Lastly, Moore wanted us to understand that when you’re writing a story about someone or using them as a source, it’s a privilege for them. He said, “When you write about somebody, realize that you gotta do right by the story.” Getting somebody’s story right is extremely important. It’s the foundational skill as a journalist. Moore mentioned that after you write about someone they show that to the people they care about, so be sure to portray your subject as accurately as possible.
To see the full interview with Moore click the box below.
By Gary Langfield Jr., Senior, The Noble Academy
Instagram: @ima_menaace18
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