How Boardsports will defeat the mainstream media/meet Halley O’Brien

THE PROBLEM

This past season was, as you all remember, an Olympic season and when its Olympic time there is a huge increase in the awareness of snowboarding by the mainstream media. Since January there have been various examples of mainstream media missing the point ranging from the inane and ill-conceived to the down right infuriating.  Of course the problem is that mainstream media doesnt understand Snowboarding, Skateboarding, and other  such sports because these sports are LIFESTYLE sports not just weekend warrior sports which most people can more easily identify with. However over the last decade or so due to the rise of the X-Games, Dew Tour, and Olympics acceptance from the mainstream media has come whether we as snowboarders like it or not. Of course this has put mainstream media outlets like ABC, NBC, CBS, and even ESPN in a bit of an odd situation. Suddenly they have to address the rise in popularity of an entire new genre of sports. A genre in which most media members have little to no experience with and this is why they have continued to struggle with their coverage.

Note: To date in my opinion the only mainstream outlet that has managed to adequately cover “action sports” has been Fox Corp with its 2003 launch of FuelTV. Although it struggled initially Fuel really has some how been able to bridge a vast majority of the gaps between the Communications and the Action Sports world. The other networks should really take note.

THE FIX

So how does the media bridge the gap? Well for now they have used veteran participants  of the sports such as Keir Dillon, Todd Richards, and Tina Dixon as commentators. These  folks have a good camera presence and obviously have the knowledge needed to speak about the sport but they lack one thing, professional training. Thats not to say that its a circus on camera. In fact most of the time your average person wouldnt know that these commentators are actually former competitive athletes. The lack of formal training is mostly  a negative in the eyes of those in charge not those that are viewing. Allow me to explain…

THE PROBLEM WITH THE FIX

The problem doesnt lie in the abilities of  Todd, Keir, Tina etc  the problem actually lies with the powers that be within the media and how they view these athletes. The mainstream media doesnt seem to view their opinions as relevant outside the broadcast booth and in my opinion its because they do not have the “professional” training. Basically it boils down to this. Media execs view these athletes turned commentators  merely as talking heads just there to do the “play by play” and not worthy or capable of forming a comprehensive and practical opinion or analysis of the sport outside of saying ” whoa dude that was huuuge!”  Need an example?  When the whole Christine Brennan thing went down Todd Richards ranted on twitter saying….

“it really pisses me off that these fools at abc call someone with no ties to what is actually happening in the sport to report facts.”

“call me, ill tell you whats up abc. shit, disney owns espn and abc , i work for espn, call someone that will give a real opinion. uuugh !”

This is just a single example but Im sure its pretty indicative of the mindset of those in control of these media outlets as well as the frustrations of athletes/commentators that they employ.

THE SECOND PROBLEM

The second problem with mainstream medias coverage of “our” sports is that they have no idea who to market them to. For some odd reason they market our sport to our parents and not us the participants. Heres what I mean, when you watch ANY  other sport on television the commentary is geared towards the followers and participants of said sport. Heres an example, I dont know WTF a toe-loop is but I know each ice-skater in the Olympics tosses them like theres no tomorrow. I have only a basic understanding of Curling but I can still enjoy watching it without having handholding, menial, idiot level commentating.  Im not sure why mainstream media thinks its not prudent to use advanced terminology when covering our sports. I dont need to be told a tail grab is called a tail grab because you grab the tail. Duh I get that I snowboard. I really hope there will be a day when you can tune in to Snowboarding or Skateboarding on the television and be immersed in stories of the sport like video parts, historical events, or even knowledgeable banter by the commentators like you see in the coverage every other sport. Again I see this problem as the fault of the powers that be not of the commentators themselves. Im sure some fat cat in a big office has the opinion that theres not enough “core participants” of these sports to garner high ratings so they gear the telecasts towards those that dont actually participate and therefore understand the sport and thus end up with a pretty weak product.

THE FIX OF THE SECOND PROBLEM

There is no fix by the mainstream media for this issue because they dont view this as a problem.  How will all of these issues be addressed and ultimately corrected? To be honest I wasnt sure how it could be fixed if indeed it ever  got fixed at all until I saw this…..

Halley is someone I came in contact with via Twitter.  When I saw her Demo Reel above I thought to myself that THIS  is how it will happen. It suddenly hit me that we would solve these issues the same way Snowboarders Skateboarders and all the other “action sports” participants always solved things, on our own. See Halley is the new breed of Media. For Halley riding, skating etc have always been there and thus her knowledge of these sports will naturally come through in her work not because its just her job but because its also her lifes passion. We are starting to see the new wave of professional media that knows how to deal with our sports because they are also their sports.  Formally educated in Marketing/Communications  and stacked with a lifetime of experience within the culture this new breed is the key to finally representing our sports the way they should be.

I asked Halley if she could take some time out of her busy schedule to answer some questions about her thoughts on the media, her education, and her aspirations in “action sports” media.

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So what came first for you the snowboarding or the interest in Mass Media, and when/how did the two eventually merge?

Definitely snowboarding – I started riding in high school. Communications and marketing came later once I started taking classes specific to that field in college. I remember thinking, “I have this Communications degree in the works… I should “communicate” about something I enjoy… like snowboarding.” Once I came to that realization, I went for it.

I would assume that when you started school in the mid 2000′s “Action Sports Host” was a fairly niche market. How has that changed since you were in school? Has it gone from niche market to viable option as a long term career?

Ha, I hope so! I became super interested in broadcasting/hosting through the videos I’ve produced for Mount Snow, Mountain Creek and my own site. I have a lot of fun storytelling through video – it seems like the next natural step to pursue.

Do you think there is/was a bias in the media hierarchy towards action sports athletes who lacked formal education but have made the crossover from athlete to commentator?

Maybe, but I don’t really understand why. These people participated in the sport they are now announcing or commentating. I think a good spokesperson needs to be both knowledgeable and passionate for what they’re speaking about. I can’t see why the viewer would care about the commentator’s college GPA, assuming they went to college in the first place.

Since you have a foot in both worlds what goes through your head when you see stories from large media outlets like CBS ABC and others where the reporter/writer obviously has no clue about the “action sports” world/mindset?

Well, any reporter or spokesperson should do their research prior to speaking on an issue. However, there’s something to be said for living the lifestyle versus just reading about it, and I think it’s easier to spot in action sports for some reason. For example, I have friends that say they know about snowboarding, but unless they ride, they’ll never understand why I get so excited when it starts to get cold out. They see a driveway to shovel; I see a powder day. If those friends had to report on a snowboard-related story, it would be missing that authenticity.

Do you think your participation in snowboarding combined with your formal education gives you an edge in situations like in the previous question and ultimately in finding a career?

Let’s call a spade a spade – I’m never going pro. I don’t have that pro-turns-commentator thing going for me, haha. I’m hoping my education and love for snowboarding will take me in the right direction.

So what has the process been as you have begun your career? Who have you worked with and in what capacity and where do you hope to go from here?

It’s been a pretty awesome post-grad experience so far. After networking up a storm, I took a job as Snow Reporter at Mount Snow right out of college. Super fun experience. The more videos I made, the more I realized I loved hosting.

After all of this talk about formal education, I feel like I should confess – I never went to school to edit video. (I’m sure the trained eyes out there can tell that rather easily, haha.) I taught myself how to use Final Cut Pro on YouTube about a year ago – I’m an internet junkie. I’ve got plenty more to learn, but I know enough to piece a story together and get a few laughs.

I’m currently in marketing for Mountain Creek in NJ. Among many things, I handle the resort’s PR and video production. I’ve been here for about a year now – the 09-10 winter season was awesome. I’m going to be learning to wakeboard and downhill mountain bike this summer. Can’t wait! Hopefully this will give me something to pass the time until winter comes!

You have a huge array of talents. Not only do you have a traditional education but also a ton of experience in many aspects of newer social media, video/web editing, blogging etc. Obviously it is an advantage but do you think it’s actually becoming a necessity to have such knowledge as we enter the social media age?

For sure! The game is always changing. New social sites are popping up all the time, multimedia trends are always shifting – I try to stay as relevant as possible. Luckily, I love learning new internet-related things so it doesn’t seem like a chore, especially when I think my career will benefit from it as well.

Do you think your experience is fairly typical career wise… meaning is it what others that have the same aspirations should expect career path-wise?

To be honest, I have no idea. Everything is what you make it. My goals and aspirations are probably similar to many, but there are so many variables that come into play – it’s nearly impossible to generalize it.

I can say though, that this experience thus far has been wicked fun and it certainly wouldn’t be a bad path to go down for someone else. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Any people or organizations you’d like to say thanks to?

To everyone that’s given me their time, support, advice, insight, and confidence – thank you. It’s invaluable and I truly appreciate it.

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I think Halley really hits the nail on the head when she says that authenticity is the key for reporting especially in the action sports world. We as participants embrace the “outside the mainstream” nature of our sports. Its one of the reasons why there is always backlash against those that achieve wide spread fame outside of our world like Sheckler or Shaun White.  Some how some one at Fox convinced the higher ups of this and thats why their foray into the market with FuelTV is accepted where others fall short. They have effectively given control over to “us” and for that reason have become successful.  Its a catch 22 for the other networks and their belief system. They dont want to give up control because they dont think there is a large enough market of core participants to get the ratings (and ad revenue that comes with it) but they cant get the  core market because they wont give up control.

As the large media outlets struggle with these problems there is a growing number of people like Halley who are combining their love of action sports with their passion for Media. We are starting to see the dawn of a new age of coverage of “our” sports. One where we take control and we decide how its represented. If the mainstream media outlets resist or embrace these changes is yet to be seen but one thing is clear. Snowboarders,Skateboarders, Bmx-er’s  etc. are  poised to take back their sports from mainstream media and its futile efforts  of coverage, and when we decide to do something we get it done.  Mainstream media is welcome to come along for the ride it just has to realize this time we are the ones driving.

Help spread the word, see more of Halley at..

halleyobrien.com