On The Other Side with Katie Strang
We’re back with another edition of On the Other Side! This week, we interviewed a long-time fave of the newsletter, Katie Strang!
Katie is the Senior Enterprise and Investigative Reporter for the Athletic (and also winner of the 2022 THWL Journalist of the Year Award). Since her breakthrough coverage of the Larry Nassar case in 2017, Katie has covered stories highlighting abuse, violence, and exploitation across professional and amateur sports.
We spoke with her about the day-to-day of her job and the personal impact of covering sports.
N.B.: Some questions and answers have been edited for length and clarity.
Can you tell us the day–to–day of an investigative reporter? (I.e. Are you out here like Carmen Sandiego, meeting people secretly?)
Oh, I'll tell you a funny story! So, I work from home, and my husband also works from home. Usually, I have my air pods in, but I was charging them then. Someone was literally mother fucking me on the phone, and my husband comes over, and he's like, "Does that happen often?" and I'm like, "Yeah, I think you just don't hear it much."
But yes, I work from my basement and generally do a lot of cold calls.
I make cold calls and get in touch with people I know in hockey if I'm working on a particular story. I spend time trying to figure out who to call. 80% of my work is cold calls and just being on the phone all day to gain information and some traction on various stories. I'm working on between 2 and 6 investigative projects at any given time. Some are lighter lifts that take a couple of weeks; some are longer lifts, taking multiple months and longer. It depends on the flow of the life cycle of investigative reporting.
You do a lot of investigative work across different sports, but a lot of it has been mainly in hockey recently. Has that been a natural progression, or have there been other factors involved?
Most of my investigative work has typically been anchored in hockey for several reasons. When you show up with a willingness to write critically about a sport or an institution, people notice that. Then, people become more emboldened to reach out to you or more comfortable contacting you if they have a story that they want you to consider. I've also covered hockey for the past 15 years or so; it's just the sport that I probably have the best sourcing, in the sense if I get a tip about something, I'm going to have probably the best idea right off the bat of like who to try calling, and you know, generally know people that can point me in directions or connect me with people that will be helpful.
In 2020, you spoke candidly about your work being driven by the emotional connection to the Larry Nassar case (as a new mother, going to Michigan State, etc.). Since then, you've gone on to cover some of the most difficult cases we've seen in hockey in recent years. Have you found that the impetus that drives your stories has changed as you have progressed in your career?
I'm not sure if the drive for the reporting has changed much. The Larry Nassar case was a real turning point in my career trajectory regarding things that I focused on. It was this perfect storm of many different factors that made my experience with that case so impactful and what drove and motivated me.
Covering that story hit home really hard for me. It still does. It's still one that I'm tremendously proud of because it felt important, but it did snag some emotional tripwires in my brain. It had an impact and was meaningful to me. And so, you know, I think that's really what started me down the road of, like, I report a lot on sexual abuse and sexual misconduct, which is, you know, I think, an issue to me that's really, really like close to my heart, and something that's, you know, remarkably motivating to me as a journalist, and as a mother. It's much more insidious and pervasive in youth sports and all sports than people realize, so it becomes almost like this self-fulfilling prophecy. I've tried to branch out and widen my investigative focus, but it is tremendous work.
The need to go to therapy has been a recurring topic with some of our colleagues dealing with the pressure that comes with working in sports. In your personal experience, have you found that it helps find some of that elusive work-life balance?
Yeah, my therapist is wonderful. This woman is a godsend and has helped me so much personally and professionally. This poor soul knows more about the sort of bad actors in sports than she should ever have known. She hears me talking about it all the time. She did help me with work, life, balance, and in terms of trying to, I wouldn't say, compartmentalize, but, like, try to keep certain healthy boundaries. More than anything, she's like an objective sounding board.
Sometimes, the subject matter I'm reporting on is super heavy and emotionally draining, so I don't want to just trauma dump on people, even though they understand my job and its realities. So, talking about it with a licensed mental health professional who understands trauma, sex abuse in intimate partner violence, misconduct, and stuff like that is helpful, and not just in a personal way. It's shocking how sometimes, even just talking about it with her will help crystallize avenues of inquiry with my reporting, how I need to reframe or even how I'm thinking about something.
As we enter the second year of our mentorship program, what are some tips for our mentees who have an interest in doing investigative work?
It's a hard thing to break into, so here's a great lesson I would tell people: You have to become really comfortable with failure.
Whenever people ask, "What would surprise me about your job," I always say it's how often I fail. For every ten stories I look into, I may get one or two across the finish line, which can be a heavy burden. Sometimes, the stories I don't get across the finish line are because they don't check out or there's insufficient substance. Before publishing a story, you must have a very exhaustive, rigorous, journalistic or legal bar.
Understanding and embracing that you will fail a lot is a natural part of investigative work. I would also encourage curiosity and not be afraid to ask dumb questions and challenging questions. It's a key part of investigative journalism. Often, you will be in a reporting situation where you don't know anyone. You don't understand the landscape. You don't understand the interpersonal dynamics and must quickly get up to speed. Being willing to make awkward phone calls to ask people uncomfortable things, you have to be able to sit with that discomfort. That's pretty critical, but honest to God, the most important thing about investigative journalism is having compassion and empathy for others. I feel a significant line of my work, and my reporting is listening to people who, for a long time, did not feel like their voice was heard right, or that they had an experience that they felt was discounted or disbelieved, or that they did not feel like it was taken seriously. Approaching any assignment or story with humanity is the best thing you can do as a reporter.
What is your go-to girl dinner?
Traders Joe’s cassava chips, mini cucumbers, Traders Joe’s Everything bagel dip and wine
What is one rule you would change in the league?
Embellishment and diving
Fave Beyonce Song?
Fave self-care activity? (No fishing, no golfing per THWL rules)
Red wine and/or a long walk with a friend
Fave sports movie or TV show?
Friday Night Lights & shout-out to The Bear (because of the Cubs connection).
Fave sports book?
Beartown by Fredrick Backman
Fave THWL article?
The WAGs ranking (The Panthers’ jackets were fave!)
Thank you so much to Katie for taking the time to talk to us! Let us know who you want us to interview next in the comments!
With Love,
Perrye & Gaby
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