Esports: Leveling Up Teach-Out

Journalism plays a significant role in the esports landscape. The next piece is a written interview with Ty Galiz-Rowe, the founder and editor-in-chief of Uppercut, a games & media site devoted to punching up while focusing on highlighting marginalized voices, as well as a freelance writer. In this interview, they give advice to those who may be interested in journalism.

How did you come to work in esports journalism?

I stumbled into it. I had a friend hit me up about a job opening at a new esports site, and they told me to apply even though I wasn't really an esports person. My boss prioritized my editing experience and I've been learning esports stuff since.

You are a founder and editor-in-chief of Uppercut, editor at Upcomer, and freelance writer. What are some of the topics you cover?

I cover pretty much everything, honestly. I do more general news and guides a lot in my freelance work, I do more critical work at Uppercut, and I do features across the board. My main subjects of interest tend to be around how games depict masculinity, cooking in games, and indie titles.

Can you please give a little insight into the relationships you maintain with publishers, esports organizations, and players?

I mostly maintain all of these relationships through PR people, being honest, especially in my esports work. I reach out to a lot of PR folks for anyone from teams to Twitch itself. It's the same for codes when I'm reviewing or otherwise covering games. Beyond that, I make and maintain a lot of my relationships via Twitter.

What advice would you give to learners who were interested in becoming an esports journalist?

Make sure that your writing is just as strong as your passion for the esport you want to cover. It's well and good to love something, but you need to also have the skill to convey what about it is special, interesting, or worth talking about.