Q&A: K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune

Editor's note: Please use the audio player on the right column to listen to an excerpt of K.C.'s interview.

K.C. Johnson currently covers the Chicago Bulls for the Chicago Tribune's print edition and manages a blog for the Chicago Tribune web site on which he also covers the Bulls and the NBA. Johnson joined the Tribune staff in 1990 and began writing for the online version of the newspaper in 1996. Johnson's first full-time beat at the Tribune was covering the Chicago Blackhawks for two years before moving on to the Bulls. He attended Beloit College (a small college in Wisconsin) for his undergrad studies where he majored in creative writing. The first publication he wrote for was the Beloit Daily News. (Photo provided by K.C. Johnson)

Camelia Rodriguez: What drew you to sports journalism?

K.C. Johnson: I played sports my whole life but I wasn’t good enough to make it to the pros or anything. [Laughs] I always loved writing so I figured it was kind of a way to combine the two and stay around the world of sports. I read a lot of great sportswriters growing up in Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune and I always figured it’d be something fun to do.

CR: How different is sports journalism today from how it was when you first started as a sportswriter and how has technology changed your job?

KJ: Do you have six hours for my answer? [Laughs] When I first started in this business a reporter’s goal was to remain anonymous. We were just a faceless person with a byline in the paper. But now you almost have to brand yourself. You have to become an expert. It seems like every sportswriter in the world is on TV or radio talking about the sport they cover.
That aspect of the business has changed. Now there’s so much more opinion, analysis, and commentary involved. That’s just where the business is headed.

As far as technology has changed, everything is instantaneous now. Before you could know something and think you know it exclusively and sit on it for tomorrow’s newspaper. Now, no matter what you know when you know it, you can basically put it online right away. You can blog about it or put it on your Twitter.

CR: How did you feel when you first began writing your column in 1996 for the Tribune’s new Internet site?

KJ: That’s a great question. At the time I was ecstatic that I got the break that I got. I had been at the Tribune since 1990 and had mostly been dealing with high school sports coverage and wanted to do more. They called me into the office and told me to cover Michael Jordan and the Bulls. I gotta be honest, at the time I wanted to be in print because online was brand new and nobody knew about it. But I actually had a lot of fun with it.

I ended up really embracing working online because it was new and different. It was kind of fun to develop a following and interacting with the readers*...I’ll be honest, given that the view back then was that print was more legitimate than online and everybody read print I was still pitching stories for the paper. So I was sportswriting for the online site and writing stories for the newspaper. It’s kind of funny how things have evolved. I would say now that online is more legitimate than print just because that anyone under the age of 30 reads their news online.
(K.C.’s blog "Full-Court Press")

*One of the things K.C. incorporated to his coverage of the Bulls in 1996 was something called the "mailbag" which has become somewhat standard for online sportswriters. Readers submit questions to "Ask K.C. Johnson".

CR: You recently traveled to London. How was that experience covering the Bulls from overseas?

KJ: Anytime you’re in a different country it’s going to be a great experience. It is kind of neat to see how stuff you take for granted that are part of your everyday life are viewed differently and maybe more passionately elsewhere.

It’s just neat to view things from a different perspective. It’s something that the players get excited about too. They might have been down-playing the event a little bit because they probably thought ‘Oh, man. We gotta fly all the way to London’. But once they got there they all really liked it and the team got really into it. It was obviously a great experience for everyone involved.
(Read K.C.’s article from London here)

CR: Do you think that there is more competitiveness now in sports journalism than when you first started out?

KJ: It’s a different kind of competition because everything has to be so instantaneous...I think we’ve lost a little bit of the thoughtful writing. I think everybody is so focused on the now that substance and quality is eroded as a result. That’s just my opinion. I mean, not everyone shares that.

I’ve always found journalism to be competitive. Even back in the day when I’d wake up in the morning to compare what I wrote to what the Sun-Times had written. It’s just a different kind of competition now because there’s just so many more people because of the Internet and there’s the need to do it more quickly.

CR: How are you using Twitter in terms of being a journalistic tool?

KJ: I’m using Twitter to promote some of the work we’re doing at the Tribune. I also promote our mailbag on Twitter. I noticed some NBA writers are tweeting during the games. I’ve done that a few times, but I feel that if you’re a Bulls fan you’re going to be watching the game; not paying attention my Twitter account. I draw the line there. I don’t know if it’s the right call or not, but it’s just the call that I’ve made.
(K.C.’s Twitter)

Finally a part of "The DePaulia" writing staff

When I started going to DePaul a little over three years ago I said that I would definitely make it a priority to be part of "The DePaulia" (DePaul's student newspaper). Due to schedule conflicts with classes and work it was difficult for me to attend the paper's weekly Monday night meetings.

Last spring I heard that DePaul would be offering a Writing for DePaulia class. I quickly put it in my course cart and enrolled. Marla Krause, the paper's faculty advisor, is the instructor. We meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 3:10-4:40. On Monday's we discuss story ideas and do preliminary research. On Wednesdays we write the rough drafts of our stories. Our final drafts are due to the editors by 5pm on Thursdays.

This class is very convenient for students like me who have very busy schedules and cannot commit to attending weekly DePaulia meetings. I'm really glad I was able to take it my senior year. I would have been very disappointed if I went through all four of my years at DePaul being a journalism major without contributing to the paper.

So far I've had 3 stories published in the DePaulia. The first story was really fun to do because I just talked with different businesses around the Lincoln Park and Loop campuses about the discounts they offered to DePaul students. The most recent 2 stories about the typhoons in the Philippines were very important to me because it is a situation that concerns my parents' homeland and I was flattered that the DePaulia editors chose me to cover them.

Call for help from the Philippines
Philippines hit hard by typhoon

Equality March in Washington, D.C.

Here is an article by the RedEye's Alexia Elejalde-Ruiz about Chicagoans who participated in the Eqaulity March in Washington, D.C.

I only talked about 3 of the many rights not given to LGBTQ people. Below are links to sites that provide more information on the hundreds more:

Equal Rights - Which Equal Rights Are Denied To Gay People?
Legal Benefits of Marriage
EqualityMatters.org

President Obama speaking at HRC dinner, vows to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy

Lane Tech High School students go wild at Pep Rally

I am a proud alumna of Lane Tech High School (located in Chicago's Northwest side) and my younger brother is currently a senior there. I'm always asking my brother for updates on the school and he usually has some pretty interesting stories. But the most recent piece of news I heard from him really upset me.

Last Friday Oct. 2, Lane Tech held its annual Pep Rally in the recently renovated Lane Stadium. According to my brother, the Pep Rally was just like any other from previous years; lots of cheering, people with their faces painted the school's colors of myrtle and gold, and students' screaming out their class years. But once the Rally was over and students began to file out of the stadium, chaos ensued.

Some students from the senior class (underclassmen later joined in) decided to be reckless and "storm" Addison St. and Western Ave. (the major intersections Lane is located near). For those who are not familiar with Lane Tech, the campus is 33 acres and has a student population of about 4,000. Here is a video of the craziness uploaded by a Lane Tech student:


First question that popped into my head when my brother showed me this video was, "Why are these kids so stupid?" They seemed to be oblivious to the fact that there were cars driving down Addison and Western. Nor did they seem to realize that if just one driver was not paying close enough attention and was a split second late hitting the breaks someone or multiple people could have been seriously injured.

The situation was so out of control that the cops had to be called to try and bring some order and direct traffic and the traffic lights were turned off.

In my four years at Lane Tech, nothing like what happened on Oct. 2, 2009 ever occurred. Students of my class would never think to do something so dangerous and stupid. We understood that any type of disobedience, big or small, would result in punishment.

I know that since I graduated the principal and many of the other faculty and staff have changed. I do not mean to offend anyone, but it seems they are not doing enough to let the current students of Lane Tech know that certain kind of behavior is unacceptable.

On Monday Oct. 5, Lane Tech's principal called a "special assembly" for students of the senior class. I do not understand why it was not school-wide. It's foolish of her to think that no underclassmen took part in the incident. My brother said that none of their privileges or special events were taken away. The principal merely said, "We are all ashamed of you."

Are you freaking kidding me? That's all you got? What kind of lesson are these students learning? Adults who refuse to show zero tolerance for disobedience and simply just turn a blind eye to the situation are the reason why many students think they can do whatever they please whenever they want.

I personally feel that Lane's principal should have taken away Oktoberfest, Winter Formal, and Junior and Senior Prom from the students. Yes, not every student was a part of the incident, but the students need to realize that they are all a part of Lane Tech. The actions of one or more individuals directly affects others. If students don't understand this by the time they leave high school, well, then I wish them luck in the future. They're going to need it.

We could all use a little mashup every now and then

Mashups are a journalist's best friend. Well, only if that journalist takes advantage of such tools. Mashups are websites that combine information from multiple sources; i.e. real-time Tweets from Twitter and a world map; real estate listings from Craigslist and Google maps; or a crime database with a mapping software (example given by Mike, my Online Journalism professor).

According to Wikipedia, there are many types of mashups. Consumer mashups, data mashups, and enterprise mashups are a few of them. Consumer mashups are said to be the most common as they are aimed at the general public.

For those that are into social news, Popurls will keep one up to date on what everyone is reading and talking about on the web at the moment. The layout is not very flashy; just a plain black background with blue and white text. Things may seem like a jumbled mess, but upon a closer look the site is actually well organized. Popurls displays the latest hot topics from Digg, Delicious, Google News, The New York Times, and Twitter.

Popurls is a handy and convenient mashup for journalists to use because there are many sources for popular news items gathered on just one site. There is no need to go to several sites and go through the hassle of searching through different levels of the site to find a hot topic.

EveryBlock is another great site for finding information on news. The great thing about EveryBlock is that it allows visitors to localize their news and information. You just enter an exact address, zip code, or neighborhood in the search bar and you are given endless information on current events and news within that specific area.

A really interesting mashup is PolitiFact.com; I was only made aware of this site recently by my Online Journalism professor. It is such a fascinating site that analyzes the level of truthfulness of a political fact. I love the site's "Obameter" feature. The fact that people have taken the time to develop this type of site which tracks the progress of our nation's president in terms of the promises he has kept is awesome.

Finally, a great mashup a friend told me about is WeatherBonk. It combines Google Maps, the National Weather Service, and WeatherBug. Visitors can view webcams in almost any location on the globe, get a personalized route forecast for a trip, and get traffic updates. This mashup is definitely a must use for those people who are avid road trippers or reporters who are required to travel for their job.

Chicago muggings disrupt seemingly safe neighborhoods

In a span of a few days this past summer, several men were attacked in what are seemingly considered to be safe neighborhoods. According to police, there have been five separate events in Lincoln Park involving men who were robbed and beaten. Police believe all of them to be linked. All the victims were men in their early to mid-20s, walking alone, and confronted on foot from behind by at least four attackers. The attackers are said to also be men in their 20s who asked the victims for their wallets and proceeded to beat them in the head and face. Two of the victims were hospitalized due to the injuries they received.

Typhoon Ondoy (Ketsana) devastates Philippines

My parents' home country, the Philippines, was hit by a devastating typhoon this past weekend. Typhoon Ketsana (in the Philippines it is referred to as "Ondoy") hit the country's main island of Luzon on Sept. 26. The storm is said to have affected over 300,00 people leaving many homeless and without food. The storms' winds are said to have been 85 kilometers per hour with gusts of up to 100 kph.

According to an article posted on Bloomberg.com by Francisco Alcuaz Jr. and Clarissa Batino about three hours ago, "At least 95 people have died, many of them from drowning, according to government reports. The dead include two soldiers and three militiamen who were killed during rescue operations, and Red Cross Secretary General Gwen Pang said in a phone interview that more people may die waiting for relief."

My family and I have been glued to my television watching The Filipino Channel (which I get through Direct TV) that has been showing news coverage of the situation nonstop. We are thankful that our family members living in the Philippines are safe, but our hearts our breaking for those who are not as fortunate. Many have lost their homes; their mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children; and their lives.

News coverage in the Philippines is not as censored as it is here in America. Video clips of dead bodies have been shown and makes it almost unbearable to watch, but I want and need to stay informed.

Even though I'm feeling sadness right now, I am also very angry. I read an article last night with the headline "GMA [Gloria Macapgal Arroyo, current Philippine president] used P800-million emergency fund for foreign trips". It is no secret that the Philippine government is made up of mostly corrupt individuals led by a woman who lacks morals.

When President Arroyo was in Washington, D.C. and New York this past summer, it was reported in The New York Times that she and other Philippine government officials wined and dined at expensive restaurants. The tab for one single dinner was $20,000 which is nearly P20 million. Arroyo does not seem to understand that she is suppose to uplift the Philippine citizens and help to better the lives. Instead, she is spending millions of pesos that is so desperately needed right now for rescue efforts in Luzon.

Survivors seethe with anger - Philippine Daily Inquirer

Calls for help flood cyberspace as "Ondoy" pummeled Luzon - GMAnews.tv

Dozens dead as flooding engulfs Manila - CNN.com

Up to the minute news articles about the current situation in the Philippines can be found on Inquirer.net