This module introduces theoretical and practical journalistic sports-writing concepts to the MA in Journalism programme, in line with feedback from industry and broader analysis of the development of sports media. It gives students a historical and practical grounding in the evolution of sports writing norms and culture, while also developing students' professional practice skills.

This module examines the evolution, uses and limitations of professional skills and normative values in the sports media sector as well as developing and enhancing students' capacities in various areas of print and digital sports media, with an emphasis on sports writing specifically. In doing so, it equips students to develop, pitch and deliver ideas of their own, and innovate in terms of how they represent sport via their writing across a variety of established and emerging mediums. Lectures and workshops will focus on the following areas: • Sport in the media • The art and evolution of sports-writing • Field reporting • Background and context: Researching, analysis of sporting events • The bulletin • Sports feature writing • Long-form sports journalism • The sports interview • Writing for digital • Pitching an idea • Building a profile in sports journalism • Ethics and sports journalism

On successful completion of this module, students should be able to: • Participate in collaborative writing exercises. • Display an understanding of the principles of various approaches to sports writing in convergent newsrooms. • Apply a range of skills in developing, pitching, researching, gathering, analysing, writing and editing sportswriting content. • Demonstrate an ability to switch and adapt between reportage and analysis, and between interview and comment. • Be able to organise, prepare for, conduct and properly use interviews • Demonstrate a capacity to use statistics, to measure their relevance and importance, and to understand the difference between presenting and interpreting figures. • Demonstrate an understanding of the major ethical issues faced by sports journalists. • Critically reflect on the outputs, processes, trends and the broader development of sportswriting. • Discriminate between different kinds of sports writing and recognise the organisational and narrative techniques associated with each.

• Participate in collaborative writing exercises. • Listen and respond to constructive criticism to their and other writers' work in a workshop setting and demonstrate an understanding of how critical response enhances the writing process.

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This module will be taught by lecture, workshops, self-directed and blended learning, as well as via numerous active learning assignments both inside and outside a classroom setting. Workshops will develop and improve writing skills via production and analysis of sports features, match reports, sports profiles, sports blogs and sports interviews. The most recent debates on the evolution of media writing in a digital age will be a key component of the module.