Informational Interview

A couple of day ago I spoke with Tim Graham of the Buffalo News about his career as a sports journalist and professor at Canisius. When thinking back on the interview, there were many things that I learned and took away from Mr. Graham. Tim Graham has been covering sports for 23 years, but when he was attending college, he didn’t study Journalism but instead Sports Management. After school he worked for small market newspapers, and then worked his way up to the Buffalo News and beyond. During the interview with Mr. Graham, I was told that a lot of writing and patience would take me far. He said that starting out for a small newspaper is always a good start because you can all improve. Another thing he said was that it is very important for a lot of people to read over my work. These tips that he gave were very important for someone who wants to be a sports Producer. Although the interview was 20 minutes, I learned that it takes time for someone starting out in journalism to get their dream job.  Although Mr. Graham worked at ESPN for three years, he realized it wasn’t at all what he wanted to do. He wanted to control what team and sport he was covering, and that is the reason why he came back to the Buffalo News. As of now, Mr. Graham is satisfied as the beat reporter for the Buffalo News, and told me that he would read over anything I submitted to him. I believe that this experience was a great Networking tool.