More women must become sports writers 0 The fact that I still find myself as the only female around men at sport press conferences and stadia especially from the print media might seem as an honour but in actual sense the status quo aches my heart.I am still praying and hoping that one day, there will be five female sports journalists at a boxing press conference and only one man.
Now, as I sit here and hope that this happens, I am pondering how my desire can be attained.
I just want to reflect on the lack and what I think is the reason why we are not doing well to attract female sports journalists in both print and broadcasting.
Firstly, I would like to recap on what I shared with you about how my career as a sports journalist started last year. Let me repeat it again. It started from just being a sport intern at a press agency with little knowledge about sport but a huge interest in football, and mountains of willpower to learn so much about sports.
Now, looking back at how it started for me, it is important to point out that maybe tertiary institutions are not doing much to generate interest in the newsroom for female journalists to take up the sport beat.
Students are taught broadly at university and there are no specialisations in the various beats reporters get assigned to after college and that for me, is root of the problem. The colleges must include specialisations in the curriculum so that students who have an interest in sports journalism can take it up.
With the current situation in the country you now hardly find a full– time female sports journalist or commentator and this is a sad scenario. As we preach about gender representation, maybe this area of lack needs to be addressed too.
If it would mean having an awareness campaign to attract the upcoming journalists to report on sport, then I think we should do so yesterday.
Tertiary institutions need to encourage more females to consider taking up the sport beat especially when students go for internships.
The goal will not only be scored by tertiary institutions but requires the participation of news organisations. When students approach them for internships, the media establishments must promote sport reporting by telling the interns that they will assign them the sport beat. This is one of the ways this deficiency of female sport writers in the country can be addressed. Interns have an obligation to perform and learn during this crucial cycle of their career path and therefore media houses are a very good sport journos deficit solution and interest stirrers.
Most female journalists might not mind covering sport in broadcasting but they are equally needed in print media and their presence is my main focus and dream.
The support I get from my male colleagues is so amazing that you really feel how they appreciate having a female reporter in this male – dominated field and in their midst. This is a privilege considering that in other countries female sports journalists are treated harshly and that is not the case here and is the reason why upcoming female journalist should not fear taking up sports journalism.
One thing I have learned about sport reporting and journalism in general is to stick to the basics and refrain from trying to impress your readers with fancy words because at the end of the day you fail to communicate unless your reader is able to grasp the message you are communicating in your writing.
So in sports, stick to what you understand and for starters, don’t be too elaborate if you don’t know much about that sport code.
I learned from my subeditor during my internship to just focus on what I understand and pay attention to the results and comments in order to write a good sport article. That is a lesson I have embraced to date. It is basically that simple and not as complicated as most women perceive it to be. The beat requires you to be on top of the game and that is the requirement in every news beat.
The thirst of wanting to learn more should however be the driving force of every woman that is taking up sport journalism as a beat, and reading what other people are writing and their style of writing is beneficial.
So, dear women let’s grab the opportunity and take up sport reporting, let us dilute the male dominance in this field.
kaino@namibiansun.com