A valuable lesson I learnt while on placement in Media Wales was the importance of SEO (Sports Engine Optimization) articles. By seeing the amount of views SEO articles get it surprised me how many people look for basic information about big sporting events. In this article I published, I included all the games from the Autumn Nations Series that weekend. I pointed out all the basic information about the matches, for example, kick off times, previous history, team’s form and tv channels. These are all very basic but are important and are always top of the search engines when people want to know about matches.
I also learnt and was taught the importance of headlines in this industry from Jon Doel. One standout example of this was a piece I did on Wales international centre Nick Tompkins. Rugby pundit David Flatman made comments saying that a number of Tompkins opponents this season had said that he was a nightmare to play against. However, in this comment there were expletive words, therefore, in my headline I didn’t include any quotes. However, I learnt that headlines are that vital to whether readers click on an article or not. Therefore, the headline I used in the end was “Wales star Nick Tompkins takes delight in opponent’s ‘f***ing Tompkins’ verdict”. This headline entices the reader to click on the article and see what exactly the comments were about Tompkins.
Another skill that I developed while on placement was my time management, especially when it came down to transcribing press conferences. I was tasked with transcribing the press conference with Australia head coach Dave Rennie, which was a 30-minute-long presser. I then had to produce an article from Rennie’s comments, highlighting Wales’s main threat, Aaron Wainwright. I had to ensure that the transcribe was thorough so that I could analyse it and pick the best points and quotes to include in the article I wrote.
I was also tasked with creating a feature piece using my own contacts, I learnt a lot while developing this piece for publishing, as it’s completely different to the usual news or story pieces. In this piece I concentrated on the rebrand of the famous ground, Pontypool Park. However, I researched into previous feature articles that Wales Online have published before and the way wrote them, I tried to structure my piece in a similar way. I looked back on some of the famous history of Pontypool, from hosting Australia and New Zealand at the park to having the famous ‘Viet Gwent’ Pontypool front row at their disposal. I decided to interview club CEO, Ben Jeffreys, who’s family injected large amounts of money into the club to help their turnaround.
Throughout my time in the Media Wales office, I gained a great amount of experience through seeing how the professional environment works. It also helped me develop my journalistic traits, working in a vibrant newsroom with other journalists who can share ideas and bounce off each other with you. I’ve learnt the importance of headlines, which something that I have always given special attention too since, and I’ve learnt how to be a journalist and how to conduct yourself in the correct manner in this industry. Additionally, the use of time management and contacts are both vital parts of the job that I development over my week in the office.
Date: 19th November 2021
Tobias' Sports Journalism Blog 