Sports journalism advice for postgraduates

By Christopher Alexander

Experienced sports journalist Guy Hodgson returned to the Department of Journalism to share more than 20 years knowledge of the industry.

Guy, aged 51, spent more than 14 years working at the Independent and six years at the BBC, attending football World Cups, two Olympic Games and many major golf championships, before joining the staff at UCLan in May 2000.

He left in September to become deputy head of media at the University of Chester, and still writes football reports for the Independent on Sunday.

He began his talk by underlining the fact that all prospective journalists can gain a great deal from trying their hand at sports reporting.

Sport has permeated society and high-profile sports-men and women are now celebrities in their own right, meaning everyone should have some knowledge of the area. For example, if you work for a women’s weekly magazine you never know when you might be interviewing a WAG.

Sport is one of the few things that bring the nation together in the modern climate of thousands of television channels and the internet, Guy continued.

“A big sporting event is about the only time when the nation comes together and watches the same thing at the same time.”

Of the five broadcasts that have gained the most British television viewers, three of these were sporting events.

“It’s a social meeting which is very, very rare,” he said.

Moving the playing field

Guy explained the way in which newspapers’ sport reporting has changed because of the growth of 24-hour sports coverage from broadcasters like Sky, whose empire has been built on showing live sporting events. Now, newspapers must provide far more detail and comment, rather than simply reporting what is happening.

When describing working in the industry, Guy emphasized that it isn’t all glamour. There are a lot of people who think they know sport but forget to keep things simple and the working conditions can often be cramped and difficult.

But, as Guy said, the great thing about being a sports journalist is the excitement and unpredictability of what you are reporting. The art of great sports journalism is capturing the sense of drama and conveying it to the reader.

Practical challenge

Everyone got a taste of what it was like to experience the excitement and pressures of writing sports reports to a deadline in the afternoon workshops.

They thoroughly enjoyed the hands-on nature and challenge of writing tight copy to strict deadlines.

Even those who aren’t sports fans learnt a great deal from the two-hour exercise, in which the group watched and reported on a football match.

More info
PGDip Newspaper Journalism
MA Magazine Journalism
BA (Hons) Sports Journalism

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Extra and related information

Our print and broadcast courses are accredited by the The Broadcast Journalism Training Council and the National Council for the Training of Journalists. Our MA Magazine Journalism is accredited by the Periodicals Training Council.