What does the future look like if sports reporters were dispensable due to the increasing technological advancement in the humanity society? Well, it’s too late for a journalism major, like me, to reconsider my career choice now when my graduation date is less than a month away. All jokes aside, with the advancement of technology and the freedom that professional athletes are given to express themselves directly to the fans, where do sports reporters stand in this picture?
“We give the athletes a platform to express themselves, which means they have the liberty to discuss whatever topics they choose,” Roy Dano, founder of SportsBlog.com, said. “It’s not our job to put up the velvet ropes and decide who gets to say what. Our mission is to build the technology that empowers every fan or player to share their passions and tell their stories.” In some elements, Roy Dano’s mission for his company is to give a voice to professional athletes, but there is no difference between that and a sports reporters’ job. Sports journalism shares the same components, because a reporter acts as the non-biased personnel in any and every story they work on. They don’t decide what to tell or not to tell, but they compose a story based on the information their subjects give them. In some ways, I agree yet disagree with Dano’s statement regarding of his way of differentiating his website and a sports reporter’s job.
One of the things that sports reporters are struggling with in today’s society is their competition with the rapidly growing world of technology. “Now, because of ESPN, because of TV, because of everything from The Players’ Tribune to Twitter, players can communicate more directly than going through print media outlets, so sports journalists have a real challenge in being able to tell those stories,” Michael MacCambridge, journalist and TV commentator, said. “And I would argue that, because there are all these other bells and whistles around it now, there’s still something valuable about sportswriters who can tell the story.” Back in the days, fans would have to wait to gain any information about their players through reading newspapers, so this makes it harder for a sports reporter in today’s technological society. This is because they have to compete not only with the people in their own field, but, as well as various communication platforms who can do the job faster.
A sports journalist is like any other journalist in the field when it comes down to covering something outside of their normal coverage. It’s the ability to adapt to a certain story with different elements than they’re used to, and that’s just not with sports writing. Being a journalist means one have to step out of their comfort zone when covering any types of story. It pushes a journalist’s boundaries and dare them to try something new. In this case, if any sports writer should address this challenge the same way any regular coverage would. “There’s an overlap, but a traditionally trained, came-up-through-covering-preps sports reporter should, at the very least, work in partnership with somebody from the city desk, rather than going at it alone,” Kevin Robbins, veteran sports writer, said. “Sometimes they have no idea what they’re doing, and they’re going to (screw) it up and look stupid, and make the paper look stupid.”
Sports journalism is different from other types of journalism because it’s constantly changing while remaining the same all at once. Sports writing can be difficult at times because the reporter has an audience that they need to specifically caters to. A story, even if it’s well-told, has to be unique and contains elements that previous stories don’t have. It’s tough to do this with sports, because the number one reason why fans read sports stories is because they want to know the score and nothing more. It’s up to the sports writer to add extra spice to their story-telling in order to compel their readers to look beyond the scores. “The daily sports page is for a different audience,” Robbins said. “It’s hard to say if we’re doing it enough. Enough for me might not be enough for someone else.”
References
Feifer, J. (2014, October 10). Will The Future Of Sports Reporting Include Sports Reporters? Retrieved fromhttps://www.fastcompany.com/3036764/will-the-future-of-sports-reporting-include-sports-reporters
Soloman, D. (2018, September 25). Sports Journalism Is as Relevant, and Important, as Ever in 2018. Retrieved from https://www.texasmonthly.com/the-culture/sports-journalism-relevant-important-ever-2018/
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