Institute of Commercial Management | Qualification Subject

Sports Journalism

ICM Professional Diploma Unit

Introduction to Sports Journalism

  • Organisation of sports departments and sports journalists
  • The sports editor
  • Forward planning
  • Media markets

History of Sports Journalism and its Social Impact

  • Media influence on sport
  • Sport’s influence on the media
  • The first sports page
  • Great sport writers
  • Sport in radio
  • Sport on television
  • Globalisation
  • Digitisation
  • Tabloidisation
  • Great sports writers

Journalism Ethics and Sport

  • Media ownership and control
  • Conflicts of interest
  • Local bias or boosterism
  • Product placement
  • Perks and benefits
  • Privacy
  • Manipulation
  • Gender and race
  • Favouritism and neutrality
  • Sports rights
  • Access to sports event

Sports Coverage in Print

  • Writing the intro
  • The five W’s
  • News story structure
  • Writing style
  • Headlines, crossheads and body copy
  • NIBs – sports news in brief

Broadcast Sport

  • Back to square one – a history of sport on radio
  • They think it’s all over – great sports broadcasts and broadcasters
  • Special demands of broadcast journalism
  • The broadcast sport department
  • The language of broadcast sport
  • Research and preparation
  • The reporter’s notebook for broadcast
  • Story and structure
  • Writing and performing scripts
  • The “improvised” two way
  • Interviews
  • Outside broadcasts
  • Commentary
  • Sports news and sports bulletins

Sport in Vision

  • Role of stills photography
  • The role of the stills photographer
  • Use of graphics
  • Copyright
  • Image rights

Online Sport

  • Specialist sport websites – official
  • Sports websites – unofficial and fan based
  • Website design
  • Adapting content for use on the web
  • Running reports on the web
  • Online writing styles
  • News
  • Features
  • Role of blogs
  • Stills, graphics audio and video for the web
  • The web as a research tool

International Sports Institutions – Major

  • IOC – International Olympic Committee
  • NOC – National Olympic Committee
  • FIFA – Federation Internationale de Football Association
  • UEFA – Union of European Football Associations
  • OCOG – Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games

International Sports Institutions – Minor

  • FIG (Federation Internationale de Gymnastique)
  • IIHF (International Ice Hockey Federation)
  • ISU (International Skating Union)
  • UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale)
  • International Sport and Culture Assocation
  • FIA – International Automobile Federation

Sports Regulation

  • CAS – Court of Arbitration for Sport
  • WADA – World Anti-Doping Agency
  • ICAS – International Council of Arbitration for Sport
  • Racism and sport
  • Human rights in sport

Sports Reporting – in the office

  • Sources
  • Contacts and contacts books
  • Official information – press releases and press conferences
  • Sponsors
  • Wire and news agencies
  • Other media
  • Sports and other websites

Sports Reporting – in the field

  • Why send a reporter – the purpose of sports reporting
  • The reporter’s notebook
  • Previews
  • Running reports
  • Considered reports
  • Delayed reports
  • Inquest pieces

Sports Features

  • What is a sports feature?
  • Finding the peg or angle
  • Profiles
  • Opinions
  • Columns
  • Editorial
  • Participation features

Sports reporting and the public

  • The role of the audience
  • Traditional approaches – role of vox pops
  • Modern approaches blogs, UGC and texts

Example Candidate Response Booklet

Example Candidate Response (ECR) Booklets are a source of crucial information for Centres and Candidates as they use real candidate responses. We ask Senior Examiners to comment on five or more responses in terms of why the mark was awarded with commentary about how to improve the answer (if necessary).

Recommended Reading

Main Text:

Andrews, Phil Sports Journalism – A Practical Introduction Sage London (1st edition 2005)

Indicative Text:

Alternative Text and Further Reading:

Schultz, Bradley Sports Media Reporting, Producing and Planning. Focal Press ( 2nd Revised edition March 2006)

Boyle, Raymond Sports Journalism Context and Issues. Sage London (1st edition 2006)

Recommended Websites:

CAS – Court of Arbitration for Sportwww.tas-cas.org

FIFA – Federation Internationale de Football Associationwww.fifa.com

FIA – International Federation of Motorsportwww.fia.com

IOC – International Olympic Committeewww.olympic.org

WADA – World Anti-Doping Agencywww.wada-ama.org

ICC – International Cricket Councilwww.icc-cricket.com