Storyteller at heart

As printing presses are replaced by WordPress, above-the-fold becomes a breaking news banner and second editions become email newsletters, one true thread remains at the heart of journalism that matters: Storytelling. 

It's not the stories we tell that have changed. It's how we tell them. What used to be a 400-word sidebar might now be a short YouTube video crossposted to Instagram and Facebook. A Sunday baseball notes column now becomes breaking news tweets throughout the week. 

The key elements of sports journalism are unwavering, even as the delivery vessel for it updates at breakneck speed. Can you unearth an interesting story that hasn't been told? Or a new angle on a story that felt threadbare? Do you have or can you make the connections to tell that story properly? And can you deliver a polished finished product, whether it be a longform magazine piece, a Twitter thread or an Instagram Story.

Throughout my decade-plus sports journalism career, I've had the exciting opportunity to be on the forefront of multiple technological waves that have disrupted the industry, and almost always for the better. Whether it was starting the first Facebook and Twitter accounts for a couple of small weeklies in Wyoming in the late 2000s, or being an early adopter of Vine and Meerkat (... and then Periscope ... and then Facebook Live ... and then Instagram Live) to building a podcast network from the ground up and learning how to reach new audiences on Snapchat and TikTok, I've prided myself on expanding my storytelling toolkit. 

Of course, there's also been plenty of reporting, writing, opining, editing, photography, videography, podcasting and on-camera work in between, and there's still nothing quite like the thrill of breaking news or filing a touching feature story.

I'm ready to embark on my next great adventure in sports journalism, in whatever form that takes. 

Please stay for a moment, take a peek around, then please contact me at b.burnettkurie@gmail.com