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| John Clayton visited my high school, Eastside Catholic, where I got to interview him. |
On May 26, NFL Hall of Fame writer John Clayton visited the Eastside Catholic campus to talk to the journalism students. Speaking on the topic of journalism as well as sports, Clayton entertained an audience of about 40 students from the two journalism classes, as well as others who just wanted to drop in. He gave pointers to all of the students, as well as many stories of his time as an upcoming journalist.
Clayton, a writer, radio broadcaster, and NFL analyst for ESPN, grew up in Pennsylvania near Pittsburgh. He attended Duquesne University, where he held as many as 25 paying jobs throughout his college career, working on and off for many sports media companies. Before he had even graduated from Duquesne, he had experience at companies such as The Associated Press, Sports Illustrated, The Sporting News, ABC, NBC, and CBS.
The session was a question and answer session in regards to journalism. Clayton spoke about himself and his extensive experience, stories which were entertaining and filled with helpful advice to becoming a successful journalist. All of them included valuable information for all of the students listening.
In regards to journalism and the print industry, Clayton believes that it is definitely slowing down, but there will always be a place for print in the journalism industry; there just won’t be as many jobs.
Since he does radio, television, and print journalism, Clayton was asked which one he liked the most and how they work together. He said “I never thought television would be as fun as it is, but if you go over, they are pretty much going to cut you off. That’s why writing and radio come in handy when doing television. Radio helps you write, writing helps you develop a voice for radio, and television is where it all comes together.”
Clayton didn’t come to talk about journalism alone, though. Numerous sports questions arose as the talk went on. Clayton gave his thoughts on the NFL lockout and who is at fault:
“Initially it goes to the owners for having a strategy to try and string this out as long as possible and negatively affect the players. But now it’s now shifted to the players since March 11th since they haven’t made a counter offer, and because they aren’t acknowledging themselves as a union. It’s probably 55/45 owners.”
When asked about the main cause of the lockout, the response was one that has been repeated for the past 3 months. “Money. It’s about how much money goes to which side over the other.”
Right now, Clayton says the players have been very accommodating in this process accepting a lower percentage. “Theoretically the players should get 57 and a half percent, but they have been willing to go down to 48.5 percent. Some of the owners are trying to get it down to 38%, and that’s a little ridiculous”.
He also dispelled a myth that many sports fans had been wondering about: Does he do his broadcasts out of his own home? The answer: Yes. He has two bedrooms dedicated for radio and television. Clayton told the group he just throws on a shirt and tie, then a coat, and he is ready to go for his television broadcasts, right out of his bedroom with a high quality Sony HD Video camera. He does radio in a separate room too. “I’ll just throw on a bathrobe and I’m ready to go for radio”. While this may seem a bit extravagant, Clayton sees it as a major advantage: He gets to do everything out of his house, so he doesn’t have to travel and waste time on planes, going from place to place.
Having such a high profile journalist as John Clayton come to speak was the highlight of the year for Eastside Catholic’s journalism department. Those who came to see Mr. Clayton got a lot of information and advice, as he was willing to answer just about anything you could think up. He gave good advice to those pursuing careers in journalism, letting them know they need to be as active as possible in regards to exposure.
And of course, if you had a sports question, “The Professor” knew the answer.
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