How to Cover Sports-Related Stories as a Journalist

Video Transcript

"I'm Jamal Spencer for Expert Village, here at ABC 3 here in Lansing. And we're going to talk about how to be a successful sports broadcaster. This clip is about covering stories that aren't necessarily sports but might have a sports twist to it. If you want to be a sports journalist, a lot of times, you are going to come across someone who says I want you do this story, but it might not be a highlight. It might not be an interview with a famous player. But it still might be a story that has a little sport in it, but it's not entirely about sports. I will give you an example. We ran a story about a young high school athlete that had Down syndrome. The story was not about him playing basketball. The story was about his life and his accomplishments. He is one of the top Special Olympics golfers in the state and he's a varsity basketball player for 3 years, made his first point his senior year. It was a great story, but the story wasn't about him playing sports. The story was about him as a person and all he's had to go through to accomplish his goals. So, it's very important that, a lot of times you get stories that get sports stories, like I said, they're not highlights. They're not game footage, but they have a lot to do with the player. They have a lot to do with a person. And that's what we want to show you. This isn't an athlete. This is a person, just like you and me. Only difference is, they play a sport. So, sometimes you will end up doing stories that aren't necessarily sports related, but they're great stories none the less because like I said, they let a person tell their own story and it can be just as great as you doing a highlight."