The sports journalism career path has changed and teaching must follow suit

When I graduated from Sheffield University 12 years ago, the path into sports journalism was clear: cut your teeth in local news, build your portfolio, and work your way up to the national outlets. Today, that pathway has fundamentally changed. As educators, we need to catch up.

I have been researching this trend and recently published a paper on it. The reality is that traditional sports desk roles are drying up. Instead, our graduates are increasingly heading straight into communications or social media roles with sports organisations - a career pivot that previously might have come after years of reporting experience.

The recent controversy over Crystal Palace FC's £26,000 social media executive role highlights both the appeal and the challenges of these positions. These roles may seem glamorous, but the realities of pay, workload, and expectations often tell a different story.

At the University of the West of Scotland, where we run Scotland's only dedicated sports journalism course, we are witnessing this shift firsthand. Our students are securing internships with sports teams during their third and fourth years, then transitioning directly into graduate roles at these organisations. This is not necessarily a negative development, but it requires a fundamental rethink of how we prepare the next generation of sports media professionals.

The changing landscape has pushed us to redesign our curriculum. While we are incorporating more sports communications elements, we are adamant about not losing sight of core journalistic principles. Why? Because even if you are working for a sporting body, you are still dealing with journalists - understanding their needs, pressures, and expectations is crucial. As media educators, we must think of both sides of this equation.

The definition of what constitutes a "journalism role" has also expanded dramatically. We now see in-house journalists, content creators, digital specialists aligned to specific beats, and roles that do not cover traditional news at all. Some of our recent graduates are covering highly focused areas for private organisations - a far cry from the traditional news environment I entered.

Perhaps most tellingly, if you had told me at graduation that YouTubers and social media stars would be given priority over qualified broadcast journalists, I would not have believed you. Yet here we are. One of our BA students, Blair McNally, exemplifies this evolution - a YouTuber (with some 40k subscribers on the platform) who recognised that his bedroom productions could be enhanced by understanding media theory, practical skills, and creative storytelling.

The solution is not to resist this change but to adapt our teaching methods while maintaining our standards. We need closer collaboration between universities and sports organisations to ensure our graduates understand the realities of these roles. Our curriculum must become more focused and less generic, acknowledging emerging fields like esports and streaming while ensuring students graduate with a comprehensive "swiss army knife" of digital media skills.

However, some principles remain constant. Whether you are working for a traditional outlet or a sports organisation's media team, the fundamentals of helping people tell stories, understanding audiences, and maintaining professional integrity are crucial. The challenge for educators is to teach these enduring values while preparing students for an industry that looks very different from the one I entered.

The employment landscape has shifted massively, and we must shift with it. But in doing so, we cannot lose sight of what makes sports journalism valuable in the first place - the ability to tell stories fairly, accurately, and compellingly, regardless of the platform or employer.

James Mahon is an award-winning broadcast journalist and TV anchor who freelances with ITV Border and ITN Business in Scotland. He is also a lecturer at the University of the West of Scotland.

This article was written with the help of generative AI platform ClaudeAI and then edited by a human.

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