Calm in the chaos
Star Tribune Digital Sports Editor Howard Sinker shares his thoughts on his career, the media and student opportunity.
by MEGAN NICKEL | Web editor
Howard Sinker began his career as a reporter with a wide variety of passions and talents. Years later, he has excelled in his current position, digital sports editor at the Star Tribune. With this opportunity, Sinker is able to combine his web skills and passion for sports. Sinker views this position as a platform to influence sports media, which he sees as an industry that is continually losing credibility. As the Star Tribune is the leading news outlet in the Twin Cities, Sinker is able to engage a sports audience in an exciting and honest way.
How have you seen the media world change since you started working?
Sinker has been teaching journalism for 10–15 years and remembers when the examples used were all positive. “Media now is so filled with garbage,” Sinker said. “It shows ways of how not to do something.” While Sinker sees much of the media to be deceptive, he says the Star Tribune is different because the staff still has traditional values. “Don’t try to fool people,” he said.
Do you have a mentor who has inspired your career?
“To be honest, in this career path it’s kind of just me. I’ve learned this on my own. I hate to say I don’t have a mentor because it makes me sound full of myself but I’m one of the first to be in this position. I have more peers than mentors.” Sinker has people around him he can look to and ask advice from. Some places where he learns and gets ideas from are the Boston Globe and NewsOK.com. He also likes looking at ESPN; however, he claims the network leaders “have a different mission than we do.”
Tell me about how you got to your position as digital sports editor?
He worked in the sports department three times as a clerk, reporter and sports editor. Eight years ago, his boss offered the position because he knew Sinker had a passion for sports.
“I would like my hands and wrists not to fall off so the breaks are really nice.”
What kind of hours are you working?
He works from 5:30 a.m. till 3:30 p.m. with some breaks during that time period, Monday through Friday. He says that those breaks work well for him so that he can stay refreshed. “I would like my hands and wrists not to fall off, so the breaks are really nice,” Sinker said.
What happens during a typical day on the job?
He starts at 5:30 a.m. and works from home for the first part of the day. During this time, he is working on stories and content for his visual staff. Part of his responsibility includes working on the budget and roadmap for his staff. He would say that about half the work he does is for the public and the other half for his internal staff.
Did you always want to work with sports?
For Sinker, sports were not always the clear goal. He first started as a news writer. While doing that, he developed editing skills that helped him get to the position he now has. Working in sports right now is a bonus for him because he gets to mix his love for sports with his computer skills. However, he is interested in other areas, such as music and politics.
“The thing that I really like about what I do is the morning part gives me quite the adrenaline rush. You never know what is going to happen. You can be an adrenaline junky while sitting still.”
What is your favorite part of the job? Least favorite?
“The thing that I really like about what I do is the morning part gives me quite the adrenaline rush. You never know what is going to happen. You can be an adrenaline junky while sitting still,” Sinker said. He says that in the sports world, something can happen at any time. When Teddy Bridgewater was injured during practice, he had to find a way to cover that in a way that will still keep his audience interested.
As far as his least favorite part of his job, there isn’t much to complain about.:“I love the subject matter and I like the people. 90 percent of the time it’s really fun,” he said. However, if we are getting picky, he can find some things that he could do without: “If I didn’t have to wake up early, or when the technology doesn’t work, so when I’m faster than my computer.”
How is the world of sports media different than you thought it would be?
“There’s just so much more bad journalism,” Sinker said. “TV sports journalism is just TV characters and garbage.” Sinker mentioned how a good amount of TV commentary is not all educational. Some sports broadcasters just talk for the sake of talking, not producing intelligent conversation. He does not, however, think that this is a universal trait. Sinker credits people like Dan Barreiro and Paul Allen as exceptions. “They help me learn things that I can use on the web,” Sinker said.
What advice do you have for students who are trying to get their foot in the reporting/editing world?
“Learn all the different media skills right now. Writing is always important, but you should have a basic grasp of everything,” Sinker said. You should have the ability to shoot good video and engineer podcasts according to Sinker. While he says it’s good to have a good grasp on a wide variety of skills, he also says that to have an area of expertise is helpful. Everyone has unique skills it’s just a matter of learning how to use those skills efficiently. “I’m really blessed to get this opportunity,” he said.
Throughout this interview, Sinker stressed how much he loved his job and how thankful he was for the opportunity he has been given. He had only good things to say about his position, which was interesting to me because I have always viewed his position as a one of high stress. Instead of describing it as stressful, Sinker referred to it as a constant adrenaline rush. He gave the example of when Teddy Bridgewater was injured. No one knew that Bridgewater was going to get hurt that day, so when he was alerted of the news, he dropped everything he was doing and got to focus on ways he could express it in a new and engaging way for his audience. I never thought of this job in an adrenaline standpoint, so hearing this made me excited for the potential opportunities that this could open up for myself.
It was also interesting to hear Sinker express his opinions on the sports media world. I had not realized the amount of poor sports reporting. Since Sinker mentioned how TV sports journalism is just characters, I have noticed how he is right. There is not a lot of pure fact reporting or honesty in this industry. There is mostly just opinion giving and arguing (Skip Bayless, I am talking about you). This epiphany has motivated me to be genuine in my work. It has also helped me to actively search through sports media to find good and intelligent reporting.
Lastly, it was helpful to hear what Sinker had as advice for journalism students. I have always been told how important it is to be well-rounded in my set of skills, so that came as no surprise. However, I liked how he said having an area of expertise is helpful and that area should be something you are passionate about. For me, I know my area of passion is sports. Sinker mentioned how he wants to hire people who will bring interests into the room, which I think I would be able to do. For now, I think it’s important to keep rounding out my set of media skills, to the point where I feel comfortable in different media.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
