How do we determine what is newsworthy as sports journalists?

In this week’s blog I want to talk about three areas that can make something newsworthy. These will be conflict, impact, and unusualness. While I will only touch on these three, it is important to understand there are many other ways a story can be newsworthy.

1. Conflict

In this week’s lecture, it was mentioned that sport and conflict coincide perfectly together. Sports = competition and competition = conflict. This means just the nature of the competition seen in sports gives us a conflict. With this said, I think its important that sports journalists look for the conflicts that may not be so obvious. For example, let’s say a game has players from each team who are related. They may not have “conflict” with there family member, but just by having two players go against each other who are related is a conflict that will be intriguing to the audience. Another example may be a feud from a few years back between players who will be competing against one another. This is where research is crucial. Making connections and having reliable resources is also a great way to find these little “conflict” gems. Down below are some basic tips I have come up with to find good conflicts for sport events.

· Research former teams, ex-teammates, ex-coach relationships.

· Develop trustworthy sources over time.

· Interview family and friends of star players to gain personal information. (know your boundaries though!)

2. Impact

What is the consequence of the sporting event? I think this is a basic, yet extremely important question sports journalists must ask when determining if something is newsworthy. Fans are always looking into the future and wanting to know how this impacts their favorite player/team for the future. Its in our nature to think this way, therefore as sports journalists it is a great opportunity to answer this question. Impact can range from how it will affect the next game to years down the line, although most of the time somewhere in between is probably most effective. This leads me to ask the question, do you think sports journalists should put their own positive spin on the impacts of sport? Or do you believe the impact should be similar to news, that just states impact whether it is good or bad?

3. Unusualness

This third area of determining newsworthiness is something that I think has emerged recently. As the world continues to grow in population it is safe to say that crazy things appear to be happening more frequently. This also can be shown in sports. This means that sports journalists must find unique things to separate from all the others. A great way to do this is by covering unusual things whenever you come across them. These things may not be easy to find, so some digging may need to occur, but it can have a big payoff if you can report on something that no one else has. Unusual things also are very appealing to fans. Every fan will know Lebron James usually scores 25 to 30 points a game with some bad games occasionally. Let’s say Lebron scores only 10 points and you find out that just before the game Lebron had accidentally taken a sleep aid rather than a stimulant like caffeine, leading to his poor performance. This may seem like an odd story, and that is the point. This is something unusual and can be great material for sports reporters.

To conclude

While many different types of stories can be newsworthy, it is safe to say that conflict, impact, and unusualness are safe bets for sports journalists. I want to ask you all, is there another area you feel is a safe bet for sports journalists to determine as newsworthy? If so, what is that area and why do you feel it is an important area? I look forward to seeing your opinions in the comments.