Written by Ashley Baldwin |
Photos by Melanie Coretti and Ashley Baldwin |

On May 18th, 2018, Rachel Bachman, senior sports reporter for The Wall Street Journal,  visited Morgan’s journalism class. The Morgan PawPrint had the opportunity to ask questions, getting to know more about what she does as a journalist.

Rachel Bachman has been passionate about sports since her middle school years, eventually becoming a sports journalist. Rachel graduated from University of Michigan. She worked for The Oregonian Newspaper for sixteen years, reporting on the NBA and the Olympics. She covered college basketball and eventually moved to writing about exercise and fitness. Today, she reports mainly on the Olympics and college sports.

Rachel shared with The Morgan PawPrint some of the top stories she covered. Some of these include how her gender affects her role as a journalist, such as conducting interviews with basketball players in the men’s locker room. She shared that it is normal to get criticism when writing articles.

One of her articles she wrote was about a girl’s college basketball coach who sexually assaulted the players on the team. She wrote about how he had gotten a girl pregnant at sixteen years old and paid for her abortion at seventeen. She included how he continued coaching after he had been accused, which made her article stand out even more and appealed to the public.

Rachel also gave The Morgan PawPrint advice that journalists should follow. She highly suggested interviewing people in person rather than on the phone. She explained that meeting with people makes them open to her and makes it more likely that they will share personal stories or experiences.

While she was in Florida meeting with a sports administrator about a football program, the man she interviewed shared a prank he and his friends played on random athletes when he was younger. This man explained how he and his friends came up with a fake sporting organization. They made up different awards and letters to give players. Athletes treasured the “fake” awards. Rachel said this was one of the most fascinating stories she has ever heard.

Rachel’s visit was informative,  interesting and ultimately benefited The Morgan PawPrint!