What is Sports Journalism?
Sports journalism focuses on reporting amateur and professional sporting news and events. Sports journalists work in all media, including print, television broadcasting and the internet. If you are a sports fan and would like to pursue journalism, read on to find out what you can do as a sports journalist.
Sports Journalism Defined
Sports journalists write about and report on amateur and professional sports. As a sports journalist, you can expect a variety of job duties such as reporting game statistics, interviewing coaches and players and offering game commentary. You can work in a variety of media, including radio, television and print.
<h3 id="section---ImportantFactsAboutReportersAndCorrespondents">Important Facts About Reporters and Correspondents</h3><p></p><table border="1"><tr><td> Average Salary (2021) </td><td> $48,370*</td></tr>
<tr><td> Required Education </td><td> Bachelor's degree</td></tr>
<tr><td> Job Outlook (2021-2031)</td><td> -9%*</td></tr>
<tr><td> Work Environment</td><td> On location, constant travel, rarely in offices</td></tr>
</table><p><i>Source: *U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics</i>
</p><h3 id="section---EducationAndCareerOpportunities">Education and Career Opportunities</h3><p>To become a sports journalist, you should plan to complete a post-secondary program in the journalism field. All journalists and reporters are typically required to have at least a bachelor's degree, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. You might enroll in a bachelor's degree program in journalism and choose a sports journalism concentration or simply take sports journalism courses. Through bachelor's and master's degree programs, you can develop writing, interviewing and reporting skills in multiple media formats, and actively engage in field internships to build professional contacts and gain insight into the profession. Once you have completed the academic sports writing program, you could find work covering amateur or school sporting events for local news sources, work for national sports media publications or cover professional sporting events for sports broadcast networks. You might report for various types of mediums, which are explored more fully below.
</p><h3 id="section---PrintAndInternet">Print and Internet</h3><p>Sports journalists working in the print medium provide detailed previews of upcoming events and post-game analysis, in addition to extensive box scores, player statistics and team standings. Major national newspapers report local and national sports and provide Internet links to their content. Major sports networks, such as <i>ESPN,</i> maintain large, sophisticated online presences. As a sportswriter or reporter, you could blog, write narrative sports features and write sports columns.
</p><h3 id="section---Broadcast">Broadcast</h3><p>Broadcast sports journalists provide real-time reporting and commentary of a sporting event for television and radio broadcasts. Sideline reporters interview players before, during and after a game; production teams direct, edit and produce sports telecasts. Like its print counterpart, television has specialized sports networks, such as <i>ESPN,</i> that report sports events, news and entertainment programming.
</p><h3 id="section---Photojournalism">Photojournalism</h3><p>Sports photojournalists take photographs of sporting events to capture the game experience in a single picture. Sports photojournalists work can be found in newspapers, television, the internet and in magazines, like <i>Sports Illustrated.</i></p>