English Research Paper

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Rontavious Johnson
Professor Whitten
English 102
7 March 2017
The History of Sports Journalism
There is a lot of background information on the history of sports journalism.
Sports journalism is an essential element of any news media organization. Sports journalism
traces all the way back to 850 B.C.E. in Greece. The reasons that sports journalism could be
beneficial for a person is because it builds a network and helps people learn new things. Sports
journalism always reports on sports topics and events.
Sports journalists’ role in the media is to talk about sports- related topics. They
always feature articles and documentaries on their sport shows. Sport journalists have to get a
degree or have experience in journalism. Journalists are always writing the news for sports
because they want to add something new to the conversation. They also do no copy what
everyone is doing meaning that they think of new ideas that nobody else is doing. Sports editors
see sports journalists as possessing traits of both “hard” and “soft” news writers (Salwen). Sports
journalism has grown in wealth, power, and influence. Newspapers provided sports journalism
from the first day of publishing. The coverage of the newspaper was very basic and brief. Writers
often did not know much about the sports themselves. Occasionally, a sportswriter would have a
knowledge of the game. Sport journalists meet with their editor to discuss assignments, due dates
and publishing schedules. They perform extensive research, conduct interviews, attend sporting
events they are covering, and write their life and what they do in their lifetime.

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The types of jobs that sports journalism offers depend on which media the
person will be working with, whether it is newspaper, magazine, TV, radio, or the growing realm
of online media. The first job that sports journalism offer is a sports anchor who broadcasts a
television sporting event or sports news. Being a sports producer is another great job for sports
journalists to have because their salaries can increase greatly due to the company they are in, the
location the company is in, the industry the person is under, their experience and the benefits
they can get. Sport producers can also create their own sport shows. Another type of sport
journalist is a sports editor who writes sporting news for the newspaper. Communication about
sports, some write for newspapers, magazines, or broadcast radio (Rowh 6). Another job for
journalism is being a sports reporter because experience will be gained from this profession and
strong relationships are built with coaches and players. Sports journalists offer a lot of exciting
career opportunities for aspiring college students looking for a bachelor’s degree. Sports
journalists could find a lot of work covering amateur or school sporting events for the local news
sources. They can work for national sports media publications or cover professional sporting
networks. Journalists can blog, write sports features and write sports columns for the
newspapers. Broadcast sports journalists can provide real-time commentary of a sporting event
for radio or television broadcasts. Journalists can take photographs of the sporting events to
capture the game experience in a single picture which can be found in Sports Illustrated.
Sports journalists have to do their own reporting for sporting events to hone their
writing skills by reading and writing for a school newspaper. They verify facts in their reporting
to see if the facts they are using in their broadcasting are correct. Journalists do not rely on
information by the sports team. The aspect of journalism is the relationship between the sports
journalist and the subject of their reporting. The story that a sports journalist is looking for in

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their reports are immediate and instant reactions from the athletes they are interviewing (Fuller
39). Sport journalists edit stories of their reporting to be original. Sport journalists do not read
from scripts. Aspiring journalists have to major in a writing intensive subject to do their jobs. In
order to write about sports, journalists have to be an expert on all sport related events. They can
apply for a sports writing internship to help them on the job. Journalists can find a niche by
talking about sports they are passionate about. Journalists can create writing portfolios to
brainstorm ideas. Sport journalists come up with facts by being objective or telling the truth.
Traditions of sports reporting attracting some of the best writers in
journalism can be traced to the coverage of sports in England, where several sports such as
football, cricket, and rugby were organized and turned into something resembling what we
would recognize in the present. Cricket has attracted the most elegant of writers due to its
esteemed place in society. The Manchester Guardian employed Neville Cardus as its cricket
correspondent and music critic in the twentieth century. Cardus was later knighted for his
journalism services. His successor John Arlott, who became a worldwide favorite due to his
radio commentaries on the BBC was known for his poetry. The first Olympic Games in London
attracted such widespread attention in the 1900s that many newspapers assigned their best
writers to the event. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle went to the White City Stadium to cover the finish
of the first ever 26- mile marathon.
ESPN launched in 1979 as a sports channel that covered low- awareness
sports. Its signature show, SportsCenter, originated to show a large package of sports highlights
than local news programs. Thanks to sports journalism, ESPN has grown into one of the largest
players in the sports media industry. They currently offer sports television channels of ESPN,
ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPNClassic, ESPNU, ESPN Deportes, ESPN International, ESPN Brazil,

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and ESPN360.com. Sports Illustrated is another form of journalism that has been covering sports
since its inception back in 1954. It started out as a magazine that has grown into a news source
for all kinds of sports. Sports journalists Dan Jenkins, Tex Maule, and Robert Creamer anchored
Sports Illustrated in its early times. Recently, the great work of writer Rick Reilly helped keep
Sports Illustrated as a popular source for sports news.
Fox broadcasting entered the world of sports journalism in 1993 to become
the NFC conference television carrier for the NFL. Since then, FOX Sports has been a large part
of sports journalism with its regional television networks for the United States. FOX Sports
carried the right to the Bowl Championship Series for college football, and broadcasts the NBA,
NFL, NASCAR, and other major sports leagues. These three leaders in programming helped
sports journalism become more popular and get fans to become interested in watching the game
action and the players and the journalists reporting the events of the game. Sports journalism
became a big part of America.
The growing importance of sports, its impact as a global business and the
amounts of money involved from sponsors and the staging of the Olympic Games and football
World Cups attracted popular investigative journalists. The declining budgets experienced by
Fleet Street newspapers meant that long- term projects have emanated from television
documentary makers. The writing of exposes requires the view of an outsider who is not
compromised by the need of day-to-day dealings with sportsmen and officials. The stakes can be
high when upsetting sport’s powers when in 2007, the English FA switched it multi-million-
pound contract for the United Kingdom coverage rights of the FA Cup to rival broadcasters ITV,
one of the reasons why the BBC was critical of the performances of the performances of the
England football team.

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Sports journalism always reports on sports topics and events. Sport
journalist’s role in the media, the types of jobs for sports journalists, and how sport journalists do
their own reporting made the major more prominent in today’s society. Journalists give athletes a
chance to talk without hounding them (Deford). Chawansky presented a narrative of teaching
sport sociology and coming up with activities to help children (Chawansky 76). Sports
journalism is an excellent career choice because it helps people get experience to become sports
broadcasters and offers a lot of opportunities for success. People can win a lot of awards for
sports journalism. People can also join a sports journalism camp to broaden their skills as a
journalist. There are a lot of schools that offer journalism as a course. Journalism majors have to
take a lot of writing classes and earn a Bachelor’s degree to pursue a job of being a sportswriter.

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Works Cited
Chawansky, Megan. “An Active Learning Approach To Understanding Gender, Sexuality, and
Sports Journalism”. 2012. p.3
Deford, Frank. “Athletes Want To Talk To Fans Without Meddlesome Sports Journalists”. 6
May. 2015. Newspaper.
Fuller, Linda K. Reporters’ Rights To The Locker Room, Spring 92, p. 39-45.
Rowh, Mark. “Sports Careers Not Just For Athletes”. Career World, a Weekly Reader, Jan.
2001, p.6
Salwen, Michael B. Professional Orientations of Sports Journalists: The Role In Journalism.
1989.