Tyler Dunne talks feature reporting with JLM 312

Tyler Dunne, an NFL features reporter for Bleacher Report, came to the shores of Lake Ontario Monday morning to talk to a class of aspiring sports reporters about what the career is really like.

Before Dunne started working for Bleacher Report, he graduated from Syracuse University in 2010, after spending time interning in Green Bay covering the Packers and at the Olean Times Herald. He covered the Packers professionally for a few years at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and then moved back to Western New York where he grew up to cover the Buffalo Bills for the Buffalo News.

Since Dunne’s expertise is in feature reporting, he gave students advice on what it takes to write a good feature story.

He said feature reporting is “a lot of research more than anything.”

“You can never report too much on anything,” Dunne said.

Dunne said it is best to talk to as many people around the subject as possible, including family members, friends, teammates and coaches. Talking to more people gives reporters more to work with, so they can use only the best content at the end.

“The best [stories] are ones when I only use 1o percent of my notebook,” Dunne said.

To prepare for Dunne’s arrival, professor Brian Moritz had his students read some of Dunne’s work, which he discussed with the class.

One story Moritz had the class read was called “The Motivation of Melvin Gordon.”

Dunne told the class how he reported on the story about Gordon, a young running back from the Chargers.

“Just be curious,” Dunne said. “Don’t assume anything.”

That was the mindset Dunne had going into this story. Dunne said he was researching Gordon when he came across something Gordon said in college: His father was in prison for selling cocaine.

Dunne said Gordon never mentioned it again and it had never been written about. It piqued Dunne’s curiosity and he ended up writing a long-form feature on Gordon and his relationship with his father for Bleacher Report.

Dunne wrote another emotional feature on Buffalo Bill’s defensive tackle Marcell Dareus for the Buffalo News. The story revolved around how Dareus continues to perform at a high level when it seems as if everyone close to him is dying.

When asked how he is able to get meaningful, emotional responses from athletes, Dunne said the best way is to ask pointed questions.

“You can’t just be this robot,” Dunne said. “You have to know the emotions involved.”

Dunne also gave the students advice on locker room etiquette as a reporter. He said reporters get around 45 minutes in the locker room to talk with players after games and practices. The best way to get to know players, according to Dunne, is to use all the time in the locker room to talk to them.

“You can’t hide,” Dunne said. “You can’t walk in the locker room and be afraid.”