DS Year 12 interested in sports journalism...

[BaconAndAvocado]

...any ideas how he might pursue this career route and which degrees and universities are the ones to aim for?

He is doing A levels in Maths, Physics and Film Studies.

A friends DD is doing a journalism degree. When she was looking at uni's she dismissed Southampton as their journalism course was too focussed on sports (with good connections IIRC). Obviously you'd need to look into it properly, as this is just a vague remembering!

My DS is doing a history degree whilst building a portfolio. He writes for the uni paper and has done work experience for a local news service. Plans to do an MA.

Pretty sure Southampton doesn't do a journalism undergraduate degree...

Yes it does a Sports Journalism BA. Just had a gander.
There are a lot of Sports Journalism degrees out there, I’m quite surprised.

By the way, with those A levels he'd be set up for Surrey's degree in sound engineering for film and TV.

Thanks piggywaspushed You have suggested this before, I remember your brilliant tag name!!

I have!

Isn't the Sports Journalism at Solent?

I don't know which degrees to go for, and it is possible to do more or less any degree and then a masters in journalism. Subjects that might be useful (as well as anything sports related) are things like politics, history, economics - things that fit with news journalism (if other fields would be the fallback should sports not come off)

The other things that could be important are

• broadcast experience - volunteer at a local radio station, and do every job they let him at
• enter young writer competitions
• write the parkrun weekly report (would also count as a volunteering credit if he's doing DofE awards) and make it interesting
• start a blog commenting on the sports he's most passionate about
• comment insightfully on other people's blogs
• if you still have a local newspaper, get work experience there, or submit unsolicited match reports in the hope they'll pick up on it
• write match reports for school magazine/newsletter

It's all about building a portfolio of work, and learning how the industry works, and learning how to network within it

So sorry! I thought Solent was the same as Southampton 🙄

Have you looked at the University of Football based in Manchester and Wembley? A friend's son is enjoying his course there.
A relative of mine had a very positive experience doing sports journalism at Chester.. pastorally they were fantastic. Not sure it's every young man's dream to be at uni in bognor regus though!

Thank you Ethelswith 💐

defineme the University of Football ?!!!?

And yes to getting experience, the only actual young sports journalist I know is doing history at uni and his rugby podcasts on the side.

And Chester is nowhere near Bognor Regis??
Have I stepped into a parallel universe?.....

Yes, the Manchester campus is based between The Eithiad stadium, a very snazzy building in the centre and Salford media city.

Oops sorry University of Chichester!

Chichester?

Oh whoops! Cross Post!

Ds is looking into this and we are lucky enough to have a sports journalist friend who advised as follows.

• don’t do a journalism undergrad degree. Most journalists did something else for their first degree, and doing this will stand you in better stead in all sorts of ways.
• Consider a journalism MA though.
• Most importantly, write. Have a blog and promote it. Offer to cover local lower league games (or equivalent) for the local paper, free sheet or parish mag. Write in the school magazine. Write when you get to uni and ideally also edit- all unis have student papers. Have a website where your work is displayed along with some background and spend time making it look professional.
• Podcasts. These days you need to be multimedia. It’s harder to get this started than a blog but definitely worth it. Find other people starting out in podcasting and invite them in your show and go on theirs in return.
• It’s hard to get started in papers these days- opportunities are scarce (although great if you can get them) and people are now so used to free content that making a living (unless employed) is hard. A lot of freelancers supplement with copy writing etc.
• Don’t rule out broadcast journalism. Channels like Sky Sports occasionally run work experience programmes so research everything and make sure you apply. Far more likely to succeed if you can show a body of work as above.

What sports does he like? It's not a bad idea to choose a uni accordingly... eg my DS likes football and cricket and is ideally placed to report on those in Birmingham ( he's interviewed Rooney!).

I got a journalism degree a million years ago and only a fraction of my cohort is still in it. Most went into regional or local news (one is killing it in farm media) lots went to PR and drifted into other comms roles.

Journalism is cut throat and there have been mass layoffs, another announced last week at the largest chain of UK local media.

I wouldn't discourage your DS and he could be one of the lucky ones- but I'd highly highly recommend he do a double major/ dual degree in something useful just in case.

www.poynter.org/business-work/2023/how-layoffs-closures-affect-young-journalists/

pressgazette.co.uk/media_business/2023-journalism-news-job-cuts-redundancies/

pressgazette.co.uk/news/reach-450-redundancies/

Sadly, I personally know several of those redundancies. It's tough.

I work in sports journalism. I’d probably not advise a child of mine to follow me for lots of reasons (terrible contracts/pay, race to the bottom in digital churn content, etc etc) though if you are passionate about it the work is endlessly interesting.
I would strongly advise a degree in something with wider career applications, then do as much student journalism/work experience as they can and consider a journalism training course or apprenticeship after.
feel fee to dm me

Presumably he will need to offer at least one proper essay-writing subject, and ideally English, at A level for a journalism degree. Writing clearly, concisely & accurately under time pressure is obviously a fundamental skill. Not sure if film studies would suffice.