Canzano speaks to college journalists

John Canzano, sports columnist for The Oregonian, was the keynote speaker at the Oregon Newspaper Foundation's annual Collegiate Day, held at Linn-Benton Community College on Friday, May 11 in the school's commons area. Canzano was introduced by Ryan Frank, the publisher of the Oregon Daily Emerald.
Canzano's goal for the day was to share something he learned about journalism at each of his stops before landing at The Oregonian.
"You are never as good or as bad as you think you are," he told the nearly 100 collegiate journalists and their instructors. He said the newspaper business is not dying but "has changed and reinvented itself." Canzano observed that he never expected that, in addition to the newspaper, he was also doing television and radio shows.
Probably his best piece of advice in his hour long talk was to "stay flexible but stay true to the content." He said that journalists who are flexible and open-minded are the ones who thrive.
Canzano described how he had, at age 17, gone to his local newspaper, asking to write editorials. His pitch was that he could bring a new voice to the paper. The editor decided to give him a chance and Canzano wrote a commentary on the lack of respect from people during the National Anthem during a high school football game. From there, he wrote one commentary a month before going off to college.
Following his graduation, he taught English and Spanish at a public high school but decided that was not what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. His first newspaper job was for that same small community newspaper where he found himself as the lone sports writer. He had found his niche. "You have to love this if you are going to excel," he told the collegiate journalists. "It didn't feel like work to me," he said of his sports writing job.
He moved up to the Santa Cruz Sentinel where suddenly, he became recognized as "a sports guy." With the title came reporting on sports he really didn't know a lot about. "I learned how to write about them." His goal was to connect with the people so he could get something that was compelling to write about.
Next, Canzano found himself at the Fort Wayne News Sentinel where he covered Indiana basketball during Bobby Knight's heyday and Notre Dame football. "This is where I learned how to cover a beat." In order to get good stories on a consistent basis, "I never turned my tape recorder off." He also learned how to work for a bad boss until he decided to quit.
He drove from Ft. Wayne to Tallahassee, Florida, "for no reason," deciding he was done with the news business. He got a job at Barnes & Noble and applied for grad school at Florida State University. As the sports season drifted further away, he realized he missed writing.
Unbeknownst to Canzano, the Fresno Bee was searching for him to offer him a job. He went through a number of interviews before meeting up with the man who would become his mentor, Charley Waters. "I was 28 years old and the youngest sports columnist in that size paper in the country." He was thrilled and he heeded Waters' advise. "There's no more influential person than Charley." He said he always paid attention to what Waters said. "It's like having a grandpa who knows the business." He encouraged everyone to find their mentor.
He was a finalist for a job at the Chicago Tribune but didn't get it. Canzano's dream job was to work for the San Jose newspaper but when he got it, he realized the news business had shifted. He knew he needed to find an angle to be happy.
That was when the Oregonian discovered him. He went to Portland for an informal interview, thinking that he could stay in San Jose as the number five sports reporter in a large market or move to a smaller market but as the number one columnist. He called the move a no brainer.
He writes about people- not just the Blazers or Ducks. He finds an angle. A great example was a story he mentioned written the end of April. He wrote about a young girl with Downs Syndrome who not only gained Canzano's respect but also that of the other athletes and parents at a local youth track meet.
"Don't let anyone tell you this industry is dying." He said it is changing but that journalists are still important to people. As to the collegiate journalists, his advice is to get that dream job and "make it your own."