The Sports News

7/31/2019 The Sports News

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Managing the Sports News 1. Contribute to good sportsmanship.

2. Encourage feature treatment to giveknown facts the readers’ interest

3. Have a variety of material besides thesports story. Include interviews, features, acolumn, items about graduates who areinvolved in athletics in college or largergroups.

4. Play up advance news



5. Use cartoons, illustrations, photographs.

6. If it is important, pull a sports story fromthe sports page and play it up on the front

page

7. While playing up the major sports likebasketball, football, don’t overlook

minor sports story, such as tennis,

swimming, bowling, ping-pong,badminton etc.



The Nature of Sports News 1. Basically, the same as general news and also requires

accuracy, organization, brevity, good writing. The 5 Ws and the H of a news lead may also be found in a

sports lead2. Primarily describes action. It is usually centered around

the conflict.3. Uses a special vocabulary which the reader ( presumably

a sports fan) is expected to know. However, the sportsreporter should avoid both slang and too technicallanguage.

4. Use a more colorful and vigorous style.



Kinds of Sports Article 1. The advance story helps to create interest, to develop

unity, and to generate enthusiasm through the inside facts.

The advance story furnishes the reader with plenty of

data, the line-ups , the strong and weak points of thecontenders, the performance records of the teams or of individuals, the competitors, the betting odds, traditionsand history, systems of play, other feature angles.

The advance story may have several treatments. Itmay involve more than one game; it may combine futureand past games or it may report on a game after deadlinebut before publication. The last type uses expressions like“was to play” or it may be in a feature style with a timelessnature.



2. The report of the event (see writing the news)

3. The analytical story accompanies the straightreport and carries a review of the game – thestrategies, the key player, the outstandingperformer.

4. The “off the court” story involves conflictsamong sportsmen, particularly the officials, as wellas other side-lights.

5. The follow-up sports story is a summary of the activities of a team during a week or season. Itsometimes gives an opportunity to preview publicreaction if the sport is very important.



6. The sports article does not report a definite newsevent. It is general in character and expository in

form. It may summarize past records andperformances of a team, explain new rules, publicizeathletic tradition, sketch the career of a prominentplayer.

7. The sports feature is more of a personality sketchof an athlete or coach , his superstitions, hobbies,experiences off the athletic field, or it may deal withevents in the gymnasium.

8. The sports column consists of miscellaneous factsabout prominent athletes written in an informal easy-to-read style. It is a pleasing blend for facts andpersonal opinions Care must be taken not to hurt thefeelings of any individual player.



The sports “gossip” is written and signed by the sports editor or a staff member who is well acquainted with the athletes.

9. The advance-coverage story includesinformation of the coming event as the first

part of the story and information of the pastevent as the last part. It devotes more spaceto the future and condenses the highlightsof the past. The advance-coverage does notinclude a running or chronological account.



Structure of a Sports Story 1. The lead may be summarized or analyzed, it may give the

significance, the winner, the hero, the score. The score isusually played up in the first sentence or set in bold above thestory proper.

2. The body plays up other elements not in the lead and givesdetails of those already mentioned.

a. Key play and outstanding performer

b. Quotations from players, trainers, coachesc. Play-by-play account (seldom found in the school paper for lack

of space)

d. Personalitiese. Background on players

f. Importance of the event

g. Summaries of results and statistics (these may be

compiled for future reference)



Qualities of a Good Sports Writer 1. Sportsmanship. He should write up the

game without partiality and permit the

better team to win in the story as well as inthe game.

2. Ability to report accurately a fast contest.

3. A style of writing that includes familiarity with sports terms. Sports terms addliveliness and vividness to the account.

4. A basic knowledge of sports rules and



However, it should not include overly technical terrms.

4. A basic knowledge of sports rules andregulations. He does not have to be anathlete, but mere interested in the game.

5. A specialized use of summary and featureleads.



Gathering Information

1. Before the game2. During the game

3. After the game

Gathering information before the game.

A reporter constantly gathers materials, buildingcontacts with people and picking up backgroundthat may help him later.

1. Read the rules.

2. Know key people – the athletic director,

coaches, the team’s business manager, players



student managers, and others who figure in

sports. Some student sports reporters also play onathletic teams. This affords them insideinformation and many contacts.

3. Get the names in full and check the spelling.Don’t depend on memory. Get a game program or list of names before the event starts. Thisinformation should include players’ numbers,

classes and heights if possible.4. Attend sports events and practice sessions. Evenif you aren’t covering and writing news about the game, attend if you can.



Learn more about the game from the coach’s

instructions. Observe what happened and how others reported it.

5. Make notes on things that count. Jot

down a fact, a quote, an anecdote, or an ideathat may help you someday in writing astory.

6. Read various newspapers and comparehow sports writers cover a particular game.



Gathering information during the

gameDuring the game the reporter observes and records

accurately…

1. Organize your materials2. Be there well ahead of the event

3. Secure a good working place. Work close to the

action4. Note interesting events before the game

5. Develop a system of note-taking. Learn to use

abbreviations and other short cuts.



6. Make notes as complete as possible7. Observe:

a. important plays

b. the unexpected or unusualc. personal standouts on things other than point

scoring

d. touches of humor or the light things

8. Collaborate with the reporter from the rivalschool.

9. Don’t get too involved as a cheering spectator



Gathering information after the

game:Post-game information usually gives an inside story…

1. Seek out the coach, outstanding players as well as a

less important participant.2. Get quotes

3. Check facts, especially scores, with the scorebooks.

4. Gather more information from:a. special stories

b. newspaper stories



c. game movies

d. box scorese. standings

Writing the Sports Story

The sports writer combines the skills of thegeneral reporter, the features writer, and the

headline writer. In addition he should strive to:

1.Be accurate. Not only in the score but in all theother highlights



2. Avoid cliches like, “splicing the hoop,”

“walloped the pill” (made a hit inbaseball), “turned the tables on,” “lowered,”“sank a twinnie,” etc.

3. Include human interest. The personalbackground of the performer can lendcolor and depth to a story.

4. Keep your sense of humor

5. Exercise discipline. When you cover agame, a multitude of detail crowds in on you.



Be selective and pick out for your story only

the ones that count or which would givepoint to your story.

6. Follow the inverted pyramid order – the big

facts first, the lesser next.7. Write the headlines along with the story.

8. Write the story immediately after the event.



Writing the Sports Lead Just like any straight news story, the sports

story may use the conventional summary lead.However, the presence of striking material may

lend itself to a feature lead. Besides “who won”and “ what’s the score”, a number of conditions inathletic contest make good material for featurelead:

1. special significance of the game2. cause of victory or defeat also called analyticallead



3. names of outstanding players or player

4. names of competing teams

5. name of the coach

6. description of the crowd, such as the size,unusual behavior

7. a moment of intense interest

Documents

The Sports News