Raise Your Voice

This week in my Sports Journalism class, my professor (and Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer) Phil Anastasia stressed one point to his audience.  He wrote the word five times over on his marker board: “Voice.”

He said that no article, outside of a column, is complete without outside voice.

I agree with this statement, and admit that I haven’t always been the best at seeking quotes for my articles.  It’s necessary to get the ideas of the players from both teams.  The audience wants to know what it’s like to lose a close game just as much as they’d like to know how it feels to win one.  It’s important to get the feelings of the coaches from both sidelines.  The audience deserves to know what game plan worked better than the other.

And though I LOVE writing columns because I enjoy the sound of my own voice, even opinion pieces could occasionally use a little flavor.

This piece, for example, by ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard, is intended to be a column, however, there’s so much voice within it, it almost plays out like a feature.  I feel like the voice within this article makes it a little more interesting for the readers, and adds a bit more insight than it would have otherwise.

I feel as though all readers deserve a little bit of an expert voice within the articles they read, and if quotes can be obtained, they should be utilized.