Literature review (500 words)
In this literature review i will look at how football has taken over the English media and how it dominates todays headlines. I will look at several sources including books and online articles to see if my theory is accurate.
The first source I looked at was a book called “the inside track” written by someone called James Toney.
Toney is the current the editor at national press agency Sportsbeat and is mainly responsible for the agency’s award-winning NCTJ-accredited sports journalism training. The fact that he currently works in the sport journalism industry and also has a connection with NCTJ suggest that this source is reliable and is probably going to be reliable.
In the book Toney writes “In the past, fans may have got their first news of a sports result from their morning newspapers – not any more. There is more live sport on television or online than ever before” (Toney
This source was helpful as it was entirely about sports journalism so it gave you a chance to see how it has changed over the past few years as social media has become a massive thing, which is one of the reasons football is now a at the forefront of the media. In the book he says:
“People love sport because its’ a constant battle with your wits and the clock. people love sport because it’s unscripted drama, with ever changing plot lines.”
This is a good quote it’s a big reason why football is so big within the english media. The adrenaline you get from watching it and interacting with it is a big draw for people and its probably why it’s so popular.
I would have liked the the book to go into more detail about football and why it tops the charts in terms of popularity. I couldn’t really get a quote for my specific theory.
Another source i looked at was a book called Sports journalism, a practical introduction written by Phil Andrews. This source was quite similar to the previous one however it was still helpful.
In the book he says: “Much of the recent growth of interest in sport has been driven by the media, in particular satellite television, which has bought the rights to major sporting events and promoted them vigorously as one of the most of selling subscriptions to its services.”
The reason football is the leading topic in the sporting media is largely down to social media. Fans now get their news instantly and it so easy to engage with.
One source that wasn’t helpful was Hudson,d., & Rowlands, s. (2014). The broadcast journalism handbook. This source didn’t go into any detail that was relevant to the theory thats trying to be proved. the majority of this book was about how journalism works and not about why and how football is the leading topic in the english sporting media. The previous sources that were looked at they were more specific to why and what is more popular in the media today which was helpful.which is trying to be proved. It does touch on how massive thing within the media industry however this
Specialist study (1000 words)
sentence starters
the essay
the study
the report
the assignment
Intro
say what essay is going to talk about
offer defs of key terms – English media, dominates,
Main body
it does dominate media
back it up – why does it – research, quotes
expand – offer more of an explanation
This essay will be discussing how football has taken over the English media and how it dominates todays headlines. It will begin by defining some of the key terms in the title including English media and dominates.
It will first look if football has actually taken over coverage in the English media before moving on to debate how it has happened. The essay will talk about how social media has increased the popularity of football and the demand for it in modern day media.
Research has also been carried out including books, online articles and an interview from a local sports journalists.
English media can be defined as both written news and social media. One of the main changes in the media over the last decade is the use of social media, which is the main way people get their news now. People still recieve their news from news papers or the news on tv however the main reason for Football being the main talking point Is social media.
The dictionary definition of dominates is to be the largest, most important, or most noticeable part of something (Cambridge Dictionary, 2020). This is relevant as it’s what football does the the English media these days. The words largest and most important describe exactly what Football is now and without it a large part of the money made in the media would not be made.
Bearing in mind the definitions above, football does dominate media coverage in England.
Back-pages from today 10th February show that football is the main talking point of the nations media. A number of different newspapers main headline it related to football wether its fixture issues in the premier league or Lionel Messi leaving Barcelona, the main image is football related. It is also the same story for social media, on platforms such as twitter where a lot of the trending page is taken up by what’s happening in the footballing world.
But Dom Howson (2020) Sheffield star journalist said: “I wouldn’t say it has taken over the English media. If you take the past two months as a case in point, news coverage has been dominated by Brexit and the fall-out from Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s split from the Royal Family.
But sport is a great release for people. It gives people joy, hope and excitement.”
It is easy to see why Howson (2020) sees it like this as sometimes there are bigger stories to be reported on as he says such as the royal family or political affairs however if you were to pick up a news paper or to flick through social media one of the first things you’d see would be a story about football.
He also added: “it gives people joy, hope and excitement” and it’s probably a reason as to why it is such a popular subject within the media. People are contacts wanting to keep up to date with it because of the adrenaline you get from it.
Toney (2013) hints at why he feels football is so popular in the modern media when he says: “People love sport because its’ a constant battle with your wits and the clock. People love sport because it’s unscripted drama, with ever changing plot lines.”
This suggests that people like the unpredictability about watching and keeping up to date with football. This could be the reason that sports, specifically football has such a large following due to it unpredictable nature.
Toney (2013) also says that “In the past, fans may have got their first news of a sports result from their morning newspapers – not any more. There is more live sport on television or online than ever before” (Toney)
The growth in the use of social media is a huge part of the change in media and what is now the main talking points. Fans are now able to see what’s happening at any time and any place they want just by going on their phone. They can interact with players and comment on how they feel about what’s currently happening which means fan engagement has never been so high.
As well as the way sports news is reporting has changed, so has the Job as a journalist as Howson says “The Star was a morning newspaper when I joined them as a sports writer in October 2009. My job was to focus on the print output and produce content for various publications ranging from the Sheffield Telegraph to our Grassroots supplement.
But now I spend less time working on the newspaper and instead concentrate on fulfilling the company’s digital requirements. My remit is to populate the website on a daily basis with as much Sheffield Wednesday content as possible.”
This quote from an actual journalist gives an insight to how much a sports reporters Job has changed, the main part of reporting is now to be constantly active on social media and making sure stories are posted on time.
In conclusion this essay has shown that football does indeed dominate the English media as a result of a few different factors. One being the rise of the use of social media and most news being published on platforms such as twitter and facebook before its in the papers. Fans can now keep up to date with scores, news, press conferences and a lot of other things all in one place. A topic related to football is usually in the top ten pf the trending page on twitter which suggest that thousands if not millions of people are talking about it.
Although on some days a story not about football can take the headlines, it won’t take long for it to take back the front and back pages and dominate the English media again. As this has been shown by the research such as the interview with Dom Howson football won’t always be the main headline however the majority of the time it is.
People like the adrenaline rush you get from football and how unpredictable it is, you never now what’s going to come next which is why following football is attractive.
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