EOTO #2 Sports Journalism

Sports Journalism

                       Sports Journalism

What is Sports Journalism?

Sports journalism is a form of writing that reports on matters pertaining to sporting topics and competitions. 

Timeline

Sports journalism began during the early 1820s and continuing through the1830s with specialized sports magazines covering primarily horse racing and boxing. At this time a first full length story was put into the New York Evening post about boxing.  

Sports began to grow at a quicker pace during 1850 because of the introduction of baseball and the new interest in team sports in general. Also at this time more publications started recording sports events in their papers. 

In 1870 Joesph Pulitzer bought the New York World and was the first to hire a sports editor in 1883, and now there were separate departments set up for sports in newspapers.

Joesph Pulitzer

1890 was the big turning point for sports journalism due to the introduction of more sports and the rise of basketball.  

Many publications copied Joesph Pulitzer and by 1892 every large publication had a sports editor. 

In 1914 sports was written and spread in circulation and the job of a sports editor was now considered an actual job. 

In 1930 was the first time newspapers hired executive sports editors to oversee all content produced by the newspaper. 

Sports cartoons became a big part of the sports page in 1940 with Willard Mulin of the New York World telegram.

In 1945 the creation of the Associated Press sports wire which helped put sports into the national scope and at this time sports became worthy of being front page news. 

Front page sports news

    The biggest effect on sports journalism was the         invention of the television in 1950. Baseball and  football saw a large increase in sports coverage in the television industry and sports writers were faced to adapt.

In 1970 radio shows and TV stations such as ESPN changed the landscape of sports media from weekly to daily newspaper reports to 24-hour news cycles. 

The first Super bowl broadcast happened in 2000 where it was the first ever Super bowl to be broadcasted in the United States by two separate networks CBS and NBC. 

Famous Sports Journalists

 Grantland Rice was an early inventor for sports journalism best known for his work covering college football teams starting in 1925. He covered exceptional athletes like Babe Ruth and Bobby Jones, helping make them into American icons. He has a scholarship given in his name by Vanderbilt University for freshman intending to become sports writers. 

Grantland Rice

 Harry Chadwick was known as the father of baseball. He was one of the first promotes of sports journalism and helped start the National Baseball Club. 

Harry Chadwick

Leonard Koppett was an established and influential sports writer who wrote for the Sporting News, New York Times and the New York Post. His best work was in baseball. He received the Curt Gowdy media award by the basketball Hall of Fame in 1994.

 

Leonard Koppett