module specification

 This module introduces students to the basics of sports journalism, to the roles it has played and continues to play in society, and to the main theories used to understand how it works. It offers an option to those wishing to develop specialised knowledge in journalism and related fields.

Working together, individually and in small groups, students will explore different facets of sports reporting, including match reporting, interviewing and investigative sports journalism. They will develop professional skills of commentating, interviewing and reporting sports events. They will reflect on live ethical issues in sports and sports journalism.

There will be a multi-platform element to the course in an effort to recreate real-life situations and increase employability, including liveblogging events, tweeting and broadcast skills, posting to class blog and course website.

The module will be assessed by one portfolio of five written/multimedia pieces, a 2000-word article of investigative journalism and a journal moderated by tutors at the end of the semester.

 Students will begin by identifying how sports journalism is both similar to and different from regular news reporting.

They will learn about beat reporting, following a local team or club and plugging into their world. Thus, students will be required to do a great deal of work outside the classroom as well as in. Going to matches, talking to “their” team and plugging into the world of local sport. Much of this will need to be self-motivated and self-reflective. LO1

In class, students will learn how to write up match reports, news items for various outlets, feature articles and in-depth profiles of individuals and events as well as how to put together and online packages, including podcasts. Images will be important. LO2, LO3, LO4

Participation in newsdays will help them gain experience in writing to commission and deadline. LO3

Regular reading of sports media and a keen interest in at least one sport are essential. Through site visits and guest speakers, students will gain personal experience to deepen their understandings of the journalistic field and its agents and develop investigations. LO1, LO4

Finally, they will sharpen writing and presentation skills through feedback from staff and other students, developing both professional and transferable communication skills and building up a portfolio. LO5

 If students read all the required texts, perform the required homework outside of class, participate in all the class activities and complete the required assessments and assignments, they should be able to:
1. Report on various sports in various styles, appropriate to industry standards;
2. Plan and develop original sports features for professional outlets;
3. Use critical, problem-solving and information-handling skills to draft, revise and rework ideas for different platforms, including radio;
4. Prepare work with understanding of the contexts within which sporting performances and sporting businesses operate;
5. Create a portfolio of work to show employers.

 Formative assessment will include short weekly written exercises both creative and critical on which oral feedback, from tutors and peers, will be given in seminars and workshops and newsdays. Drafts of summative work will also be formatively assessed.
Summative assessment will comprise: multimedia portfolio, long-form piece of journalism and moderation of online journal discussing engagement in class.
Written feedback will be provided electronically for all summative assessments, reinforced by tutorial coaching. Summative assessments will take place at three intervals during the module, timed to be effective alongside other subject-specific modules.
The first summative assessment feedback will be given to the student within a week; the other two within a two-week period.
All work will be assessed individually.

 Banks, David and Hanna, Mark.  2017.  McNae’s Essential Law For Journalists. Oxford: Oxford [CORE]
Aizlewood John: Playing At Home. London: Orion, 1999 [CORE]
Andrews, P.  2005. Sports Journalism, a practical introduction. London: Sage
Astill, Jame. 2013. The Great Tamasha: Cricket, Corruption And The Turbulent Rise Of Modern India. London: Wisden
Boyle, Raymond: Sports Journalism: Context & Issues. 20016 London: Sage.
Brearley, Mike. 2015. The Art Of Captaincy. What Sport Teaches Us About Leadership. London, Pan
Berry, Scyld. 2016. Cricket: The Game Of Life. London, Hodder & Stoughton
Calvin, Michael, 2012. Family, Life, Death & Football: A Year On The Frontline With A Proper Club. London: Corinthian,
Halberstam, David & Stout, Glenn (eds). 1999.The Best American Sports Writing Of The Century, Houghton Mifflin
Hicks, Wynford. 1998. English For Journalists. London: Routledge. 1998.
Hill, J. Sport. 2002. Leisure And Culture In Twentieth Century Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave
Jennings, Andre. 2015. The Dirty Game: Uncovering The Scandal At FIFA, Arrow
Lewis, Michael. 2004. Moneyball: The Art Of Winning An Unfair Game. New York: WW Norton & Company
Smith, E. 2008. What Sport Tells Us About Life. London: Viking
Steen, Rob. 2007. Sports Journalism: A Multimedia Primer. London: Routledge
Syed, Matthew. 2010. Bounce: The Myth Of Talent And The Power Of Practice. London: Harper, 2010
Truss, Lynne. 2010. Get Her Off The Pitch! London: Fourth Estate
Walsh, David. 2015.  Seven Deadly Sins: My Pursuit Of Lance Armstrong: Simon & Schuster, NY [CORE]

Websites:
Transparency In Sport
Broadsheet and tabloid newspaper sports sections
BBC Sport Online

www.nctj.com
www.football.co.uk
www.sportsjournalists.co.uk
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/hlst/documents/resource_guides/sports_history.pdf