ICM005: The Secrets of Great Enterprise Reporting With Former Chicago Sun-Times Writer Neil Hayes

 

Neil Hayes came to Chicago from the Bay Area in the mid-2000’s. A newspaperman his entire career, he had hit the big time. His new job? Enterprise reporter for the one of the two big dailies in town, the Chicago Sun-Times.

During his time with the Sun-Times, Hayes found himself in many locales researching stories; one  memorable trip took him to rural Louisiana for a feature story on Hall of Fame running back Marshall Faulk. Neil has covered Super Bowls and Daytona 500’s, but says no sporting event can simulate the adrenaline rush of chasing down a good narrative long form story.

You can listen below on iTunes. Read the notes and links below. Here are the highlights of our conversation:

• Chicago is one of the most competitive media markets in the country. How Neil was able to leverage sources from his time at a newspaper in another market to use for his CST pieces.

• Soon after Neil arrived at CST, his job changed. How his versatility as a reporter allowed him to seamlessly pivot into other roles.

• The death of the general sports columnist is not rumored, its reality. How legacy newspaper companies, as well as internet media outlets like ESPN, Yahoo and Comcast, now brand writers as “experts” in their beat to serve a more splintered audience.

• Neil wrote a book, “When the Game Stands Tall” that became a Hollywood-produced film. We talk about the process from page to screen and how Neil’s once-in-a-lifetime experience on the movie set changed his life.

• Now a self-professed, “writer for hire”, how Neil is carving out a career writing more books and with other projects.

You can learn more about Neil by visiting his website, www.neilhayeswriter.com. He is on Twitter @bynhayes.

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