Indicative topics are:
• Writing match reports, analysis and commentary for print and online to tight deadlines
• Using online tools, including social media, to produce minute-by-minute coverage of live events and increase audience
• Understand the impact of new media on sports journalism
• The social, historical and cultural context of sports journalism.
• Running too close to the circus – "fans with typewriters" and sports journalism's relationship with the PR industry
• The impact of commercialisation of sport on sports journalism
• Holding sports bodies to account – the structure of governing bodies and government departments
Total Contact Hours: 24
Private Study Hours: 126
Total Study Hours: 150
BA (Hons) Journalism
Main assessment methods
Match Report (1,000 words) (30%)
Feature (3,000 words) (40%)
Examination, 2 hour (30%)
Reassessment methods
Like for Like
Sports Journalism by Phil Andrews (Sage, 2005)
Sports Journalism: Context and Issues by Raymond Boyle (Sage, 2006)
The Pits: The Real World of Formula One by Beverley Turner (Atlantic Books, 2004)
The Great Reporters by David Randall (Pluto Press, 2005)
Journalism: Principles and Practice by Tony Harcup (Sage, 2009)
See the library reading list for this module (Medway)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
8.1 Understand the cultural, historical and social context within which sports journalism has developed since the beginning of the Twentieth
Century.
8.2 Apply key reporting processes, principles and skills learned in Reporting and Writing I and Reporting and Writing II in previous years to the
particular demands of sports journalism in print and online.
8.3 Understand the regulatory framework of sports in the UK and the extent to which sports journalists hold regulatory and funding bodies to
account.
8.4 Understand the impact that increasing commercialisation has had on major sports and on the way sports are reported.
8.5 Use online tools to produce instant minute-by-minute updates of live sporting events, followed by detailed match reports within minutes of
the final whistle.
8.6 Read widely within the genre of sports journalism and understand the difference between news, commentary, analysis and features in that
context.
8.7 Learn the practical skills necessary to pass the National Council for the Training of Journalists' exam in sports journalism, as part of the
professionally recognised NCTJ diploma.
The intended generic learning outcomes.
On successfully completing the module students will be able to:
9.1 Gather, organise and deploy information to make arguments coherently and communicate them to a professional standard.
9.2 Work to deadlines in flexible and innovative ways showing self-direction and self-discipline
9.3 Make use of appropriate terminology when writing or speaking about sports.
9.4 Consider and evaluate their work with reference to professional standards.
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