Mark Braboy
News Editor
Veteran sports journalist and ESPN First Take host, Stephen A. Smith, gave aspiring student journalist words of advice during 16th Annual National HBCU Student News Media Conference, held in Houston, TX. In a one on one interview with The Blue & White Flash news editor, Mark Braboy, the Queens, N.Y. native shared a goldmine of wisdom to aspiring journalists and how First Take often touches on controversial social issues in the world of sports.
Mark Braboy: What are some of the adversities you faced as a young black male entering the journalism industry?
Stephen A. Smith: Well number one, the first opportunity is always the toughest opportunity. You’re working to get somebody to believe in you, because the reality is that before you get your first job, you ain’t qualified for nothing. It’s really about somebody giving you a chance to showcase whatever skills you have and then taking you under their wing, to nurture you enough where you would be qualified for any job in the future. That’s really what it is. So that hard part is really finding somebody that believes in you, that has faith in you enough to want to give you an opportunity to shine and that’s always the toughest path. You’re going to earn internships, you’re going to class, you’re taking a lot of hours and working on your degree, you’re doing all those different things. In the meantime, try to have some resemblance of a life because tomorrow is not guaranteed and you want to be able to have a good time whenever you can. In combination of all those things, there are roadblocks. For me, my brother dying was a roadblock. My mother falling ill was a roadblock. Before she got better, just having the pressure of needing to produce because my mother did so much to sacrifice for all of us. She’s doing better now.
Mark Braboy: I remember you talking about that on First Take a couple of months ago.
Stephen A. Smith: Well she’s battling cancer. She’s won her first battle, but you know it’s never ending. But at the same time, she went through so much to put me and my five siblings in the position to succeed. To fail is to let her down and I ain’t trying to let her down.
Mark Braboy: What are some of the most important aspects that can make or break a journalist?
Stephen A. Smith: You need to read everything. You need to make sure you network as much as you possibly can, who you know matters. Who can connect you to information matters. That’s work ethic and understanding the pulse of the industry. Once upon a time, newspapers were “it”. Now it’s almost extinct. Now the digital age is taking over with radio and television and newspapers are fading from the scene. You got to be mindful of things, you got to see the forest from the trees. You can’t wait until it hits you. You got see beforehand that the newspaper industry is dissipating in its popularity. You got to monitor that, you got to know what’s coming down the pipe because the world is ever evolving and our nation, particularly our job market’s, constantly changing. You got to pay attention to what’s going on so you can understand what’s going to be beneficial and potentially profitable for you. Because if you don’t you’re going to get lost in the shuffle.
Mark Braboy: Do you think that some commentators in other arenas are afraid to speak on social issues the way that you and Skip Bayless do?
Stephen A. Smith: Well first of all, I don’t think that they’re afraid, I think they’re cautious and I think they’re justifiably cautious because, especially if you’re white, you constantly have to be worried about coming across as racially insensitive. But sometimes I think it’s excessive. Sometimes we as black people get too emotional about what people of different ethnicities have to say. Yet we want to know what they feel. Well if you want to know what somebody feels, you have to give them the freedom to express themselves, just like you would want the freedom to express yourself. Now that doesn’t mean they get to go overboard and get to say some outrageous, obnoxious things, but it does mean that people have a right to think differently than us, to express a different cultural perspective than us, and they shouldn’t have to worry about offending us. We should be able to stomach that [and] I think that you have a plethora [of] white folks that dominate this industry. I think their fear of speaking out is based on that. People are losing their jobs because of things that are misconstrued and taken out of context or misinterpreted or whatever the case may be.
Mark Braboy: In the midst of people losing their jobs because of things they say, how do you keep yours?
Stephen A. Smith: I’m careful about what I say and what I do, but I don’t think about it. I pride myself on being a fair minded individual. I say what I mean and I mean what I say, but at the same time I’m very fair. I don’t think that my perspective is the only perspective that’s true and it’s the only perspective that matters. I just know that I’m real with mine so if you realistically and legitimately disagree with it, then I’m open to hearing what you have to say. And I think there is an advantage to it, why I’m successful in terms of touching on issues most people won’t talk about is because I open the floodgates to fear diving. I have no problem whatsoever with somebody who’s different than me, thinks different than me, feels different than me, culturally different than me, expressing themselves. Doesn’t bother me at all. And they don’t have to worry about offending me because I don’t think about it. I think that helps me because I’m receptive to what they have to say so they’re more receptive to what I have to say.
Mark Braboy: What’s something you wished someone would have told you when you were coming up that you would like to tell students now?
Stephen A. Smith: How important networking is and interoffice politics. Everything ain’t about your ability. Sometimes it’s about being liked and it’s about finding people who want you to succeed who are in positions of influence and decision making.
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