The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette sports writer started covering the Razorback beat in 1981, and he has seen a shift toward advanced statistics.
In sports journalism's heyday, reporters hobnobbed with the athletes they covered and served as the official mouthpiece for sports figures at a time when social media was decades away from existence. Arkansas' sports writers have minor disagreements on when the "golden age" of the state's Razorback coverage was, but many believe it was in mid-1980s through the late 1990s. Holt, a sportswriter for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, lived through and covered many of the top-billed moments throughout that time, including the glory days of football coach Ken Hatfield and his subsequent replacement attempts, the rise of Frank Broyles' post-coaching athletic directorial career, and the Razorback basketball team's NCAA tournament run that included a 1994 championship and a runner-up performance the very next season. In this time, Holt has noticed a number of changes, both nuanced and obvious, that altered the trajectory of Arkansas' sports reporting. "With new technologies comes obvious changes, so it's just one of those things where things are changing every single week," Holt said. "Social media changed it a lot, so did camera phones."
Holt's introduction to advanced analytics in reporting came through some of the self-trained users, like Scottie Bordelon, in his own company. While he has begun using these types of techniques in his own writing in recent years, he is firm in his belief that deadlines wallop the need for flowery writing and added mathematical analysis, particularly if the latter must be explained. Holt believes simple writing typically always gets the point across and serves to truly benefit the average reader. "I'll [add analytics to my work] when guys like Scottie get them and send them to me," Holt said. "If they really help to guide the story, well then sure, they're really valuable. It's just one of those things where I don't necessarily have the time to seek them out." Still, his familiarity with many of the workplace changes that have affected many if not all of the sports writers in Arkansas makes him a valuable asset to this project.
Holt's introduction to advanced analytics in reporting came through some of the self-trained users, like Scottie Bordelon, in his own company. While he has begun using these types of techniques in his own writing in recent years, he is firm in his belief that deadlines wallop the need for flowery writing and added mathematical analysis, particularly if the latter must be explained. Holt believes simple writing typically always gets the point across and serves to truly benefit the average reader. "I'll [add analytics to my work] when guys like Scottie get them and send them to me," Holt said. "If they really help to guide the story, well then sure, they're really valuable. It's just one of those things where I don't necessarily have the time to seek them out." Still, his familiarity with many of the workplace changes that have affected many if not all of the sports writers in Arkansas makes him a valuable asset to this project.
More People, Less Access
After Holt graduated from Missouri's lauded journalism program, he had the choice between job offers in Independence, Kansas, and Fayetteville, Arkansas. "I wouldn't say I was smart back then, but I was smart enough to recognize that the Razorbacks were bigger than Independence College," Holt said. In the early part of his career, sports writers had a bigger freedom of movement. Sports information directors were not there to stifle journalists' requests; in fact, anybody with a pad and a pen could visit with players for one-on-one interviews that were as long and detailed as needed, Holt and his comrades could venture into the locker rooms after practices and games, and coaches often met with the media every day during the week to provide fresh insight and updates.
That all changed in the early 2000s as network television contracts and an increase in the quality of player relations resulted in the "press conference format" often seen throughout major college programs today. "You just don't get to know the guys like you used to," Holt said. "It's not like I palled around with college kids, but you get to know them a little bit. With some of the guys I covered 20 to 25 years ago, I'm friends with them now, and I covered their kids." The industry's boom shortly after Holt started resulted in an influx of new sports reporters throughout the area, particularly in the television stations, and the increased number of individuals pursuing interviews made it harder for that initial personal action he once enjoyed.
That all changed in the early 2000s as network television contracts and an increase in the quality of player relations resulted in the "press conference format" often seen throughout major college programs today. "You just don't get to know the guys like you used to," Holt said. "It's not like I palled around with college kids, but you get to know them a little bit. With some of the guys I covered 20 to 25 years ago, I'm friends with them now, and I covered their kids." The industry's boom shortly after Holt started resulted in an influx of new sports reporters throughout the area, particularly in the television stations, and the increased number of individuals pursuing interviews made it harder for that initial personal action he once enjoyed.
Social Media Shifts Modern Storytelling
New technologies, including social media, also changed the landscape of sports journalism. Prior to the advent of Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, there was a certain blanket of security for athletes and coaches. Instead of worrying whether a night out would result in a viral video for all the world to see, these college athletes and coaches were able to live out relatively-normal lives in peace. Now, that security is gone, and even someone like Holt has to make sure his public life is just as careful and precise as his professional one. Also, athletes can break information themselves and completely bypass the media, as seen in many of the transfer announcements and committals in recruiting. With that development, tidbit stories in the next day's paper are often read significantly later than the initial social media clip was posted, and that has, in turn, proven to be a challenge for daily newspaper writers.