How sports writer deals with reader’s email

“I will be the next Park Tae-hwan. Can you please write an interview article on me?”

It was 2014. A middle school freshman sent me an email. He attached a bunch of records to back his claim. His records were so detailed to the point that they got me thinking, ‘Should I meet up with him?’ However, I never got around to writing the article as I was not reporting swimming at the time, and a reporter who was in charge of the sport said there are a number of next Park Tae-hwan’s these days.

The writer of the email, Lee Ho-jun, won sixth place in the men’s 200-meter freestyle final at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships, which was held on July 25. The title of the “next Park Tae-hwan” was given to Hwang Sun-woo a long time ago, and Hwang was the one in the spotlight at the championships by winning the bronze medal. However, I would like to respond publicly to Lee by saying, “I knew you would do well from the confidence in your email.”

Most emails from middle school students were about questions on the occupation of a sports writer. I particularly received emails including that during school vacations, probably because there were vacation assignments for researching their dream jobs in the future. However, once the term ‘kiraeki,’ which is a combination of the words ‘journalist’ and ‘trash’ in Korean, got popular, I rarely received such emails anymore.

Meanwhile, I am getting more emails with complaints about the articles I wrote after the comment section for the sports section was removed on internet portal sites. Recently, I wrote that the LG Twins steal bases too frequently to the point that it actually negatively affects the team’s scoring. I received an email that it was ‘criticism for criticism.’ It is true. It was indeed ‘criticism for criticism.’ Is there ‘criticism for praise’ in the world?

In fact, there is a ‘praise for criticism.’ In the past, people used to send emails with swear words in the title when they disliked my articles. These days, the title would praise my articles, and the actual content of the email is filled with harsh words, including ‘kiraeki.’ I respect their skills. I can’t release the email content because of the swear words in it, but the structure of the email I received for my article on the school violence scandal of twin volleyball players, Lee Jae-yeong and Lee Da-yeong, was pretty amazing, and I thought I could learn from it.

What’s problematic is that I often wonder whom I should try to please as every reader has different opinions. For example, a reader would criticize me by asking if I had even watched a game before writing an article, while another reader would email me, saying that I am a bum watching sports games every day. The reality of working as a sports journalist is waking up early on weekends to watch a game and telling myself that this is the result of my choice.

So, what do I want to say? I say that every email from readers is always welcome. There is no such thing as bad publicity, as people say. There is also no rule that an op-ed piece ends with a proposal for better results. There is an email address at the end of this paragraph. Please send anything if you have a story to tell. Interview requests like Lee’s that claim that you are the next biggest sports star are always most welcome.