Sports Journalism: A Year Ago vs Now
The environment of sports journalism and the media is constantly evolving and the industry is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. How has everything changed within a year and a pandemic?
Almost a year ago 73,000 fans poured into Old Trafford to watch their team cruise past a sinking Norwich City in a 4–0 home victory. A year on, games with no fans are being postponed, entire teams are being infected and the short-term future of sports are in jeopardy.
But what differences are there in terms of journalistic practices and how is reporting conducted during a pandemic?
A year (or more) ago
Working for BT Sport gave me ample opportunity to understand what it takes to be a match-day reporter and to see what actually goes on behind the scenes at a club like Aldershot Town FC and BT Sport.
Here’s a thread I posted on my Twitter which runs through a typical match-day at Aldershot Town, to understand my role a bit more.
Match-day used to be a flurry of action and a treasure chest of content that big commercial companies like BT Sport wanted to crack into. There would be thousands of fans and families pouring into the stadium to see their team every weekend and it was the responsibility of the media crew to capture the atmosphere of lower-league football.
With the developments of a pandemic hitting the UK hard, these weekly outings to support your team and to socialise has taken a hit and it’s been difficult for TV companies to replicate the feel and atmosphere of sport in the same way. Working from home as a result of match-day restrictions has caused a stifled production that doesn’t fully reproduce the feeling that so many sports fans around the world love.
Challenges to overcome
The journalism and entertainment industry are well equipped with means to combat the challenges faced by a pandemic, and have used solutions such as socially distanced production and broadcast tents, remote and home production studios and even remote commentators. Perhaps one of the most recognised adaptation in sports during the pandemic is the use of fake crowds, which have been largely applauded for replicating the atmosphere of real sports.
This practice prepares an entire workforce for online and remote journalism, which is an incredibly challenging prospect.
I do, however, worry for young students and young practicing journalists as they’d be the first to miss out on opportunities to report coverage at live sports. This is an invaluable experience and quite often a gateway into an incredibly commercial and ever-growing industry.
What lies for the future of sports journalism?
Although still uncertain on the long-term future of sports journalism , we will most likely see a rise in the use of online and remote practices. With companies like The Athletic emerging and coming to fruition during a pandemic, this sets the precedent for a new wave of sports journalism. Will future journalism look like this and be predominately online and remote? Only time will tell…
Is sports journalism that important?
Sports journalism is perceived to be ‘soft’ journalism which does not hold the same level of credibility that ‘hard’ journalism like business and politics has, as discussed by Reuters Institute. But does this mean that it’s not as valuable?
As Raymond Boyle argues, “sports journalism was often one of the most commercially important parts of the newspaper industry” which contributes largely to the economic success of newspapers.
He further supports this point by saying “it was sports journalism’s ability to deliver readers, particularly young male readers, that made it such a crucial and integral part of the commercial success of many newspapers.”
I hope you enjoyed reading about my thoughts on a new wave of online and remote journalism and I would love to hear your thoughts on what you think will happen to the industry post-pandemic.
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