Sport journalism

1. Chapter 7
Following the Style

2. Following the Style
• The Associated Press is committed to accuracy,
clarity and conciseness
• in sports writing. The AP made guidelines that
strive to be fair and not to offend any individual
or group of people, according to Dr. Mike
Sweeney, head of the journalism graduate
program at Ohio University.
• The AP Stylebook also contains many entries
intended to keep writers from making errors in
fact, grammar and punctuation.

3. Ctd…
• Most publications have in-house stylebooks in
addition.
• Scores, times, distances, measurements—
anything that recurs in news stories—are easier to
read and understand if they appear in the same
format every time.
• The date an event takes place, for example,
• might be written as a day of the week or as a date
depending upon the writer’s habit, whim or mood.
It could be written:

4. Ctd…
• to the AP guidelines
Sunday, January 17, 2048
Sunday, Jan. 17, 2048
Sunday, Jan. 17
• The AP Stylebook has a separate sports style section.
• This section indicates how scores, times and distances
should be written, defines sports terms and offers help with
spelling and punctuating sports terms.
• Whether it’s an editor, a sports reporter or the sports
information or media relations director, anyone who writes
for print or online media should know and use AP style.

5. Headlines
• Headlines are ads that sell stories to potential readers
by promising a benefit for reading the story. Action
verbs are the lifeblood of sports headlines
Writing Headlines
• Names appear to be the secret to writing sports
headlines. Names of teams. Names of mascots. Names
of players and coaches.
• An informal survey of sports stories in newspapers and
on sports Web sites showed more than 90 percent of the
headlines begin with the name of a team, a mascot, a
player or a coach.

6. Ctd…
• Headline writers have the task of reducing each
story to a few words that will fit in the space left
above the text when the page is designed.
• A one-column story will accommodate one or at
most two very small words per line—and present
one very big challenge for the headline writer.
• Tips for Writing Headlines
• Represent the story accurately
• Use specific, concise words
• Use conversational language

7. Secondary Headlines
• Secondary headlines add layers of information
between the headline and the text.
• They serve two quite opposite purposes: to
encourage readers to read the rest of the story, and
to give readers enough information to know some
facts about the story if they decide not to read
more.
• Secondary headlines are set in type smaller than
the headline and larger than the text.
• They may be longer phrases or complete
sentences that convey additional facts and details.
• More than one may be used with a story.

8. Blurbs and Links
• Blurbs (also called intro headlines or talk heads) are the
online equivalent of secondary headlines.
• Like secondary headlines in print, blurbs tell online
readers what’s in the news and help them decide what
stories to read. More than one blurb may appear with a
story or brief.
caption
• The significance of the event would be lost if the
caption did not provide the information.
• Caption and cutline are interchangeable terms meaning
the words that describe what’s happening in a photo.

9. Libel and Other Legalities
• Sports writers are subject to the same laws as all journalists when it
comes to saying or writing words that are untrue or harmful to
others.
• Writers are responsible for knowing and abiding by federal and state
laws and the codes of ethics of their profession.
• A commitment to accuracy is the best protection a journalist can
have. Failure to check facts, or the inability to support those facts, is
the cause of most libel suits.
• At the very least, publishing an incorrectly spelled player’s name or
the wrong score damages the credibility of the reporter and the
publication.
• At most, reporters lose jobs and courts order millions of dollars paid
to persons who have been libeled or whose privacy has been
invaded.

10. Libel
• Libel is printed defamation of character, an
untruth that damages a person’s reputation or
hinders that person’s possibility of getting or
holding a job.
• The statement must be untrue and be about an
identifiable person to be grounds for libel.