Читать книгу Field Guide to Covering Sports - Joe Gisondi - Страница 10

This field guide is designed as a companion “un-text” for sports-writing classes. Teachers can use the introductory chapters to review the basics: research, observation, interviewing, and writing game stories. This new edition adds a new Section II on multimedia, with new chapters focused on social media, mobile media, visual storytelling, writing for television, and writing for radio. There is also an entirely new chapter on using advanced statistical metrics in sports journalism. In addition, you can go over chapters on specific sports before covering a local or college team as a class. Do make sure to let the college sports information director or high school athletic director know before doing this, so they can assist. These hands-on activities strengthen students’ abilities to take notes, keep score, and focus on the most significant angles.

Inviting coaches to class to speak about their specific sports gives students not just good information but a chance to practice interviewing in a relaxed environment. Students can review the appropriate chapters before listening to a speaker, then ask questions and write up the session on deadline as if it were a press conference.

Since this book is devised as a practical guide, ask students to apply what they’ve learned, assigning them to cover games or beats. You can even set up a blog to cover college or high school teams in your region.

Reading great sports stories is the best way to provide a sense of options and inspire students to write better. Readers such as the Best American Sports Writing series or The New York Times Sports Reader acquaint students with the best of the best. Local and national newspapers, on paper and online, show how professionals in markets large and small go about their jobs.

Students, teachers and advisers can also regularly check in to my sports blog at either sportsfieldguide.org—which has been favorably reviewed by Poynter’s NewsU, Cyberjournalist, American Press Institute and College Media Advisers—or follow me at @joegisondi on twitter for additional tips and insights into sports journalism issues.