I recently spoke with sports multimedia journalist and sports anchor for 13WMAZ Wes Blankenship. We discussed a story that he recently produced during the Jibri Bryan tragedy. Bryan was a Mercer University basketball who was shot and killed Feb. 2, 2015, at a service station near campus.
This piece showcased reactions of a young fan and her mother dealing with the after effects of the tragedy to a beloved Mercer University athlete.
According to Blankenship, the initial report was difficult to comprehend, but knew he had to produce the story, because the tragedy affected citizens in the community.
“It was jarring for this whole community. Mercer has huge basketball following in this community,” he said. “I knew those guys and got to build a relationship with those guys. For him to be taken away, it was just a tragic situation.”
Blankenship said the news was so fresh when it first occurred, but had to carefully report on the events and information he had at the time.
“I had to handle it carefully, but also told the story of what happened with the information that was new,” he said.
Young Fan
Before the story of Bryan’s passing, Blankenship pitched and produced a story of a young fan and her favorite player. He said this was one of his favorite stories he produced and reported on because it profiled Christina Hamlin and her daughter Molly Hamlin, a 7-year-old fan of Bryan’s.
He said she would always have signs supporting Bryan at every home game, even if Bryan was injured.
However, when the unfortunate news of Bryan’s murder unraveled, Blankenship knew he had to once again reach out and profile the Hamlins to get a closer look at how they were dealing with the news.
“Christina didn’t know how to tell Molly — Jibri had passed,” he said.
Blankenship decided to tell the story with details. Although it was a difficult situation for those involved, it was important to have the story told in the correct way.
“I told the story with Jibri and the Hamlins. You have to tell the story with the details. Those were some hard questions,” he said. What was coach Hoffman thinking when he got that information? What did Christina say to her daughter who looked up to him? Don’t ignore any information; and state the facts of what happened. Having help with managers and news directors are things that get stories told in the right way.”
He said it was one of the most difficult stories to tell and required a lot of teamwork. However, the response from the community was great.
“It was the most heart-wrenching story I’ve had to cover, just because of what it meant to our community, Mercer Basketball, and Jibri’s family. The community responded well to it and enjoyed the story of Bryan and the Hamlins,” he said.
Tough Details
The biggest issue for Blankenship was telling the story without having all of the facts. He understands that breaking news stories don’t have all the information needed, but when dealing with a story that strikes the community in a way that the Bryan murder did, a story had to be produced.
“The story was very fast-paced. They still didn’t have test of substances when the story happened. You have to say substance was found with the money, but you also can’t indict people,” he said. “Those kinds of decisions require a lot of teamwork and a lot of discussion. To not address it would have been irresponsible. You can’t gloss over the fact of why the murder happened. You have to tell the story.”
Having access and relationships with the coaches and players for any sports story is a necessity, Blankenship said. Report with these people is about a reporter’s reputation and how they respond to a specific story.
“The response was great from coaches and the players,” he said. ”They didn’t want players to be open to too much discussion, but the communication with the Sports Information Director (SID) was rock solid and professional with me.”
This story was one of Blankenship’s most difficult stories to tell, but also one of his most rewarding, because he was able to tell the story of a young fan and the impact Jibri had on her.
On the Lighter Side
Blankenship says he enjoys covering stories that are unlikely to happen. He said one of his favorite stories covered Bob Butler, an 85-year-old golfer from Dodge County. It was Butler’s second career hole-in-one at a local golf course. According to Blankenship the reaction made the story great.
“After Bob hit the hole-in-one you could hear someone say, Holy (expletive),” he said. “If I didn’t have that moment, the story wouldn’t have been complete. In my opinion some of the best stories have humor in them, the reaction was great.”
Blankenship says he loves his job, but getting to his position and specialty required a lot of hard work. He said he would advise anyone to learn as much as they can.
“Specialization is great, but you work up to specialization. Be a great team player. If you get hire for sports go help the newsroom go out and shoot stories. Be ready to help out all departments and have the skills. Be willing to multitask,” he said. “And when doing a player profile look past the numbers, a player tick as a person? What does he do with his teammates? Why is he successful as a person? Look for those angles. Look beyond just the stats. What can you provide as the anchor.”
Kyle Jones is a senior journalism major at the Center for Collaborative Journalism. He works as a producer and camera operator with WMUB/ESPN3 and hopes to find a job doing sports production after graduation.
