Adam Taylor McKillop Hired as Sports Reporter for Lee Enterprises, Inc. 

by Justin Conn, Sports Editor

Lee Enterprises, Inc. announced on Wednesday the hiring of Adam Taylor McKillop as the new sports reporter. McKillop will help report on daily sports coverage surrounding University of Illinois athletics, both on and off the field. He’s scheduled to relocate to the Champaign-Urbana, Ill., area, from his hometown in New York and begin this new role in March. 

McKillop joins the Lee Enterprises, Inc. staff after transitioning his career from sports communications and public relations to journalism. He currently works as an NBA associate editor for Last Word on Sports and an MLB staff writer for FanSided. 

As associate editor, he oversees the overall production and agenda of the Last Word on Sports digital publication while managing a team of 10 staff writers. McKillop guides his staff in everything from finding unique hooks in every story to deadlines, SEO management, and style formatting.

His work with FanSided has been equally as impressive as McKillop reports and writes daily on MLB news, collaborating with a team of writers and editors to ensure balanced and accurate reporting. Collectively, the FanSided publication averages 750,000 web views per month while his written work constitutes at least 10 percent of these views. In addition to his work at these digital publications, McKillop launched his own sports blog (ATM Sports Bank) and 10 episodes of a New York Yankees podcast (N.Y. Bankees Podcast), which can be heard on Apple Podcasts.      

Before McKillop opted for a career in sports journalism, he worked intimately with the press and media as a public relations professional for reputable brands including Bleacher Report, Major League Baseball, St. John’s University Athletics, and the University of Miami Athletics. With these roles, he perfected the art of the written press release, social media, and communications strategies. Some of his biggest accomplishments include securing press opportunities with outlets such as CNN, Teen Vogue, and others. The Lee Enterprises, Inc. staff is confident that McKillop’s unique skillset and writing talent will help engage readers across a variety of platforms including digital, print, social media, and photography. McKillop will create compelling, unexpected, and memorable journalism for this beat.

“While I don’t possess any traditional print journalism experience, I have the passion, drive, and curiosity to make a difference in this role. This sets me apart,” said McKillop. “I know that I’m a great fit for this role because of my well-versed knowledge in digital journalism and my ability to create engaging written, social, audio, video, or photography content. At my core, I’m driven by a desire to find unique or human-interest angles in every story I tell, paying close attention to deadlines and details.”