Story Links
By Jeff White
CHARLOTTESVILLE – This is my first official day as part of what newspaper types like to call the Dark Side – the world of PR – and I must admit it feels strange.
I’m sitting here in an office at University Hall, wearing a polo shirt that bears the logo of the school I spent most of the past decade covering, as dispassionately as possible, as a sportswriter for the Richmond Times-Dispatch.
Yesterday was my final day at the T-D, for which I also covered high schools, Virginia Commonwealth University and Virginia Tech, among other things, before taking over the UVa beat in 2000.
Today I have a new title – Director of News Content for VirginiaSports.com – a new office, a new laptop and a new employer. Not to mention newfound security for myself and my family. This gig will take some getting used to, but I’m excited about the possibilities, and I suspect “Dark Side” will turn out to be a misnomer.
These are tough times for newspapers everywhere, and as staffs and budgets continue to shrink, or disappear, more and more stories are being left untold. After 21 years at one Richmond daily or the other, I’m looking forward to telling the stories that touch on one of Division I’s most successful athletic programs. I’ll have the resources to do so – if the Cavaliers make it back to the College World Series next year, I’ll be in Omaha with them — as well as unprecedented access to coaches, staff and athletes here.
Moreover, I have the support of the men at the head of the athletics department, Craig Littlepage and Jon Oliver. When they approached me about this position, they made clear that they wanted me to continue reporting on UVa in the manner I had for The Times-Dispatch, and they’ve assured me (and told coaches in the department) that I’ll be given great latitude in covering the entire athletics program.
I’m not naïve. I know who’s signing my paychecks now, and I won’t be breaking bad news about UVa athletics before officials here want it released. But if a team is struggling, I’ll write that, and if a player is dismissed from a team for some infraction, I won’t ignore that. For two-plus decades, I’ve prided myself on being a fair and responsible reporter, and I have no intention of changing my approach.
Look for my reports and blog entries on VirginiaSports.com. I’ll be posting on Facebook and Twitter, too. Your feedback is welcome, and you can reach me at jeffwhite@virginia.edu.
My first assignment comes this weekend at the ACC’s summer football gathering in Greensboro, N.C. Other schools have hired former newspaper reporters for positions similar to mine, but this is untraveled ground for UVa, and we’ll have to figure out what works and what doesn’t. We’ll get it right, though. Hope you’ll come along for the ride.