Tony Massarotti P'23 Shares Decades of Journalism Experience

 

Mr. Massarotti began by introducing himself and his journey from summers as a freelancer for his hometown newspaper to one of the most prominent voices in sports radio. He frequently returned to the value of campus and local newspapers as a means to developing important skills like writing and interviewing.

 

“It allows you to get the routine down – you get accustomed to working on a deadline, you get accustomed to interviewing people and asking them questions,” Mr. Massarotti said. “It doesn’t sound like much, but the value in starting on campus or in your town is incredible.”

 

After graduation from Tufts University, the Waltham native took a job as a paid intern at the Boston Herald, which progressed to a part-time job and eventually a full-time job. His first major beat was with the University of Massachusetts men’s basketball team, until one day mid-way through the season when he was asked if he would be interested in covering his favorite team: the Boston Red Sox.

 

The Red Sox were Massarotti’s territory for 15 years, first at the Herald and then at the Boston Globe. In his last few years at the Globe, his position became a “hybrid” writing position where he was writing for both the printed daily newspaper and the internet, with pieces appearing in both media as the industry began to take advantage of the internet’s ability to reach a wider audience.

 

When he shifted from the role of a beat writer, covering the daily machinations of the Red Sox, to a columnist, he was able to inject more of his viewpoint and personality into his writing. In discussing this shift in approach, Massarotti taught the students the most important rule of journalism: Tell the truth.

 

“They are very different jobs – beat writing and doing sports radio. There is an entertainment aspect to doing radio that requires us to provide actual opinions, but allows us to play up certain aspects of it,” Massarotti said. “As a beat reporter your job is not to give your opinion, it’s to report the facts. You have an obligation to be fair, and fairness requires you to examine something from all sides and make sure you cover the full issue and understand where both sides are coming from.”

 

Massarotti took questions from students for 45 minutes and has made himself available to the staff of The Edge who might have questions about the industry, an industry that Massarotti calls “a great business, if you really love it.”

 

“In my case, with baseball, the job was nights, weekends, and holidays; but I never felt ‘oh man, I don’t want to go.’”