Such is the clamour for sports journalism roles these days, that any opportunity is seen as a good one for trainees – whether it be paid or unpaid.
The unpaid issue reared its head on Twitter this week, when basketball journalist Mark Woods took exception to an advert from website UK American Sports, looking for (unpaid) beat writers, after they had tweeted the Sports Journalists Association UK twitter account asking for a plug.
@uk_sportsfans @SportSJA surely, what you mean is you're recruiting people willing to write for no fee whatsoever in their spare time.
— Mark Woods (@markbritball) June 13, 2013
.@uk_sportsfans Are these paid positions? If not, we'd suggest caution to anyone considering responding @markbritball
— Sports Journalists (@SportSJA) June 13, 2013
@markbritball Applicants know what they are applying for. You are not party to any conversations so please stop questioning our integrity.
— UKAmericanSportsFans (@uk_sportsfans) June 13, 2013
The discussion prompted a statement on the UK American Sports Fans website this morning, clarifying their position.
I have no doubt that the intentions of the UK American Sports Fans are positive. Their site has established itself in a niche market, and has provided opportunities for writers to get their work out to a wider audience.
But is writing unpaid, off your own back for another website really experience?
With all due respect, a 10-year-old can go to a game and produce a match report. I know, because I did it. I have scores of reports I did on live professional and amateur sport from when I was at school and college, as I pursued a dream of becoming a sports journalist. Attending games off your own back to write for free is more practice, than experience.
Experience comes from working within a team of actual journalists, people who are living and breathing the field day in day out. Watching and working with them to conduct interviews, write copy and produce pages for publications or setting up articles on websites.
The advent of digital strategies and teams, mean that gaining experience isn’t just restricted to the newsroom – digital agencies and the like also provide experience of online content writing and beyond.
I have been in the same position as those behind UK American Sports Fans. Back in 2005, I set up Love Rugby League (then known as Last Tackle), simply as a hobby while studying at college and university. It was by and large run by myself, but there were a handful of sporadic contributors, who were keen to help out with the site and would contribute at their own leisure to no strict stipulation, and of course give themselves a platform on which to write.
The site was run at a considerable cost to myself, and steadily grew over time. In 2010, I realised that if I was ever to make a living out of the website, I had to transform it in to a professional outfit. That meant running the site virtually in its entireity by myself, with no outside contributions, save for the occasional blog post.
What that has meant is that in the past three years, visits to the site have increased by more than 800%, it now generates a small yet steady level of income, and there are now freelance journalists that get paid to write for the site – as well as a full-time member of staff within my media company (which was basically created on the back of the Love Rugby League site) who is responsible for content on the site as part of his role.
The fact is, if there are always people putting their hands up to write for free, why would any publication ever go out and pay for writers?
That’s not say that people shouldn’t seek to get their work published (unpaid) as a way to get their name out there. But websites and publications must begin to differentiate.
If it’s to be a community of volunteer writers, then that’s how it should be set out and marketed as. Every writer should either be paid a share of any revenue generated, or the ownership of the website should be shared.
If the aim is for the website to become a paid interest of the owner, then it should be run that way, where the owner(s) take responsibility for the generation of content, and not rely on free contributions. Sure, accept sporadic content submissions, but don’t dictate to volunteers that they must cover every instance of news related to their stipulated club. What happens when the website starts generating revenue? It’s unfeasible, and not worthwhile, to then work out which of the 30+ writers are entitled to what share.
Being realistic about what the site can achieve is important too. A niche website is never going to have a huge team of writers, and there is ever only likely to be maybe one, two or three people who will ever generate a decent amount of income from the website. I’ve worked on a leading Premier League football website that could only muster enough revenue for two full-time journalists.
Take the scenario where a local newspaper is considering what to do for its basketball coverage – it sees that a student is producing content for free on another site. Don’t think that they won’t use an existing journalist in their team to lift the quotes and content from that website – I know, because it’s happened to me. Last year, while writing for a site of my own, I had an article on Drew Sullivan, with quotes sourced by myself through an interview, lifted in almost its whole form and published by the Leicester Mercury. That’s another area to be cautious about.
It’s relatively simple for anyone to set up their own blog or even a website, so if you’re keen on producing regular content on a chosen topic, do it by yourself. After all, that’s all the person running the site you are contributing to has done. It may turn in to an opportunity to generate (albeit small) revenue, but it may end up spiralling in to something that you can expand. If not, your own blog is just as impressive when it comes to applying for a job, as writing for another volunteer-run website.
Given the competitive nature of the industry, students should be encourage to try and forge something of their own. When you finish university, if a job isn’t forthcoming immediately, placing yourself as a strong freelancer will present opportunities, if you conduct yourself in the right way. But that’s another blog for another day!
