Jets fans, Good afternoon, my name is Connor Hughes. Informally introducing myself, I am a recent hire and employed as a New York Jets beat writer. Before hopping on the Jets beat, I covered both high school sports and the New York Giants. Over the last few weeks, I've been looking to interact and meet Jets fans in order to get a better understanding of the information they want. At the end of the day, how good I am at my job is based off of writing and creating content that you, the fans, want to read. With New York, I'm fully credentialed and at each practice, game and any other team function. I've reached out to a few message boards to informally introduce myself, and let fans know that if there is every a story you want told, question you want answered or anything in between, please do not hesitate to reach out. I can be reached on twitter at Connor_J_Hughes. If you like, you can check out the site, too. My door is open, so if there is anything you'd like to know regarding the team, please do not hesitate to ask. Thanks, Connor Hughes (I also apologize for no links in the above text. Since this is my first post, the boards rules of two minimum posts before applying links was not met. It's the reason I had to put spaces between my email address)
Building off of the above message. I was prohibited from writing the outlet that I work at because it shows up as a "link" and, since I recently signed up, I do not have enough experience to create a post with links. Aside from twitter, I can be reached via email: Connor_J_Hughes at yahoo.
Welcome. If you're knowledgeable, do your homework, and treat the team fairly and with respect (rather than contempt as many of your colleagues do), you will be received well by Jets fans. If not, woe be unto you!
My advice would be to ignore the fans and their wants. Generally fans want positive articles and hate anything that is critical. We do not need another Cimini nor do we need another "homer" writer. Rather what is lacking are indepth articles with actual analysis. IMO beat writers too often take the easy way out repeating simplistic beliefs tailoring their articles to least knowledgeable reader. Football fans are diehards. They read everything. The last thing they want or need are more simplistic articles written for the masses. Give us analysis and breakdowns of plays that went wrong and right, educate us and attempt to make us all smarter. Rather than simply starting with an opinion and then trying to justify that opinion with cherry picked facts to make a big headline that gets lots of page hits maybe we could have a more honest type of reporting that is focused on thought and logic presented in a more honest way. Many beat writers seem to think they need to make flashy and controversial stories to get readers. Give us analysis, actual thought and say no to flash and controversy and you will have a ton of loyal readers. I am not a fan of Cimini but he does some things very well and that is his frequent use of twitter in the off season and constant updates. He rubs a lot of people the wrong way but he fills a need as he provides frequent updates to a thirsty fanbase. Fill that need without the bad from Cimini and you will get a lot of his traffic. Welcome and best wishes. Being a Jet fan for over 50 years I can say not only do we need and deserve a winning team but better quality beat writers. I hope you can help us in one of those needs.
Welcome to the board, Connor. I'll speak for myself, as I know some on here might disagree, but the only thing I would ask and expect out of any Jets writer is to be as objective and forthright as possible, while making a concerted effort to stay positive. We know the Jets aren't having a good season, and nobody wants sugar-coated or ignored, but keep in mind that each NFL season is an anthology. A lot went wrong for the Jets this year, and of course there's a lot to be said for why that happened, and as a journalist it's your responsibility to analyze and interpret the how and why. At the same time, there is plenty to look forward to. We still have a young, outstanding, D-line. We just acquired one of the most explosive WR's in the league. It's very likely we'll have an early draft pick, next year. tl;dr: Please be honest, and keep in mind that many of us have years of time, and emotion, invested in this team.
Welcome to the beat. The best piece of advice that I would give is to write about Jets football as much as possible and about other things Jets only as circumstances warrant. Criticizing the Jets for poor play in an in-depth manner may not endear you to the organization or the players but it will be truth-telling when you need to do it and it won't turn you into a hack Jets writer after a few short years. Trying to figure out why the Jets did something or look for behind the scenes insight into moves is a task doomed to failure in most cases. If you didn't hear it from a source willing to be named it really isn't worth printing. If you hear it from the horses mouth and they're willing to go on the record then by all means print it. Don't worry about differentiating your product from the herd. If you do your job well enough you'll succeed without having to do things to make yourself standout. Just writing well about the Jets is enough to get the job done. And whatever you do have fun doing it. It's easy to get jaded and burned out when you cover a franchise that has had some of the twist and turns the Jets have had over the years. Don't let that happen. Have fun.
Thank you to all that have replied. I also apologize for not being able to post a link to the site right now. I have tried to re-word it in a way to make it go through, but it won't. I can say that if you go to my twitter profile, which is in the above message, the link to the site is right at the top and will direct you there. Once I get approval, I will post a link directly. At the site, we've worked to give in-depth analysis with film reviews, breakdowns, content daily from practices and also exclusive featured content. Once the link posting is passed, I will post examples of the content. If ever there is a story that you'd like written, please don't hesitate to ask and reach out via email or twitter.
Connor Thanks for reaching out to fans. Send a private message to Petrozza and see if he is OK with you sharing links. He might make an exception for you. On to the topic. Try to be objective. Don't shit on the Jets just because it brings traffic. Be fair. Criticize all you want but be fair. Don't be like Cimini and Mehta. Good luck
This is the best bit of advice you're ever going to get. Sadly, you're only going to pick up bad habits if you emulate the current crop of Jets beat writers; they all hate the team, they all wish they were on some other beat, and they all enjoy needling the coaches, players, and most importantly fanbase. There isn't a single one of them that doesn't feel superior (in football knowledge) to the most knowledgeable of all fans; almost every interaction they have with the fanbase drips of condescension. The entire group is comprised of writers that hates that it has to actually interact with its readers - it's so dopey that it borders on comical.
If something bad happens, report it. If something good happens, report it. Don't reach for stories like half of the beat writers do just so they can get a mention on ESPN or NFL Network. Don't write for retweets. There won't be a single person upset with you if you write something negative, as long as it's factual or at least well-researched.
My advice: On a slow news day, why not speak to some Jets vets and get a different perspective on historical games/events? Rags to riches UDFA stories? Do NOT follow Cimini's and Mehta's lead in lazy trash-talking on Twitter to try and get some clicks to their relevant web pages (rehashing the buttfumble/Idzik's draft policy/their score predictions for this weekends game). Neither of these idiots have done anything original in years - "per source" copy and paste of other Twitter feeds appears to be as close as they get these days. You have a chance to make a difference. Please don't succumb to joining them as the lowest common denominator in beat writing. Good night and good luck.
Pretty much...... 1) focus on football, facts, and what lies below the surface that the average "fan" doesn't realize 2) embrace the fact that this franchise will always provide material...... (interpret this as you may ;-) ) 3) Do not morph into Manish, Meyers or Cimini (in that order) or you will eventually be disregarded like they are Have fun and good luck
Welcome to the Jets beat. My advice is to be objective and fair. Don't make yourself a story (e.g. Manish) and try to keep a positive attitude. The Jets beat writers are known to have a reputation of being the "worst". It's time to change the culture of that. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This may come off as simple minded and obtuse, but my best advice would be this...whatever Mehta and Cimini do, do the opposite! If you do that you'll be just fine! All joking aside, try not to forget that you're very privileged to be one of the few that have the honor of covering a professional football team and an obligation to fans to provide fair and balanced information. No one will ever get on you for a negative (or positive) article as long as it's fair and warranted, but don't fall into the trap of the other 'beats' of just dumping on this team for the sake of it. Yes, the Jets have certainly had their share of failures over the years, but all in all, this is a very proud franchise with an extremely passionate fan base. With the exception of the past few seasons, we've been a relatively successful franchise (minus the superbowl), though you wouldn't guess that based on the we're covered by our own 'beats'. The key to our hearts is to not antagonize us like Mehta and the Cimini, but to understand the love, pain and frustration we feel for this team and our desire for good information, not information backed by sarcasm and scorn. If you do that, you'll be the best we got. Fortunately for you, the bar has not been set that high, so you shouldn't have a hard time becoming a fan favorite. Good luck and thanks for taking the time for reaching out to us lowly Jets fans!
Welcome to the board Conner, I look forward to another perspective. Feel free to check in on a regular basis and contribute to the site. I enjoy the human interest side of the game. Players and coaches. Where did they come from? How did they get here? What are their lives like now? What do players do after practice and on their days off? Look up some former players, Chrebet, Klecko, etc, and give us the highlights of a 15 minute phone call. Track down some recent names no longer on the Jets and give us their insight into what happened and how things are going for them now (Dimitri Patterson, Jalen Saunders, Stephen Hill). Again, don't be a stranger. Stop back often.
Can't speak for the younger fans, under 40 crowd, but my feeling is the team has shown some flashes over the last four decades, but is far from a winning organization. It seems most fans are either darksiders like me who want Woody to blow it up, or they wear rose colored glasses and have their heads so far up Rex's ass that they still want him around. I've been a fan through the Holtz days/Kotite years to now and have soured on how fans are treated by this team, from selling PSLs to never having their own stadium. Welcome to the circus which is the Jets and nice to have you among the suffering.
