News

Sports Journalists win gold

Published 19 September 2012

Sports journalists from the University of Brighton have won “gold” for their coverage of the Olympics and Paralympics.

Four students who graduated with BA(Hons) in sports journalism this year worked on Olympic and Paralympic coverage and all earned rave notices from editors.

Tim Barnett, editor-in-chief at the Olympic and Paralympic News Service, wrote to senior lecturer Rob Steen “to express my gratitude for the four young journalists you recommended to work with us”, namely Tommy Curran, Chad Nugent, Sunni Upal and Jon Vale. The students all missed graduation in July because it coincided with the Games and their LOCOG duties.

Sports Journalism students at the Olympics

Left to right are Sunni Upal, Chad Nugent, Tommy Curran and Jon Vale

Neil Robinson, head of sport at The Independent, The Independent on Sunday and the London Evening Standard, praised Giuseppe Muro, who was offered a job as a sportswriter at the Standard. He said: “Giuseppe is proving an outstanding success. He is enterprising, diligent, willing and highly intelligent – in short, exactly the sort of youngster we need. I predict a bright future for him. He does you all credit at the University of Brighton.”

The course provided Giuseppe with near seamless transition into the working world. He said: “The course provided me with a wonderful grounding. The advice offered by the lecturers throughout my time at university cannot be overstated and allowed me to develop as a journalist and, more importantly, as an individual.
“Since joining the Standard it has become apparent that the same skills I honed in the classroom are now the skills I use on a daily basis. The surroundings are different, the scenario is very much the same.”

The graduates were part of a 600-strong Olympic and Paralympic News Service team which filed more than 14,200 stories over the 30 days that the information system was live during the Games. The material was used in newspapers worldwide, from the China Daily and the Chicago Tribune to the Sydney Morning Herald and the Salford Gazette.

Tommy Curran, who was based at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff as a football reporter, interviewing Lord Coe and Ryan Giggs among other luminaries, said the Sport Journalism course equipped him to take on everything thrown at him.
He said: “My time studying media law was put to good use. When a player was sent home for posting an allegedly racist tweet, it was important that I knew what I could and couldn’t report.

“And even when interviewing the likes of Lord Coe and Ryan Giggs on a one-to-one basis, any nerves I had were settled by the knowledge that the education I had received would allow me to complete my work in a proficient and professional manner.”

Tim Barnett said: “Tommy, Chad, Sunni and Jon will have learned a huge amount from working alongside some of the biggest names in the business, but it is important to note that at no stage were they outshone or overawed.

“The skills that they have picked up on your degree course stood them in good stead – as well as giving them a ‘can do’ attitude.

“I am sure that all four of these young men have the talent and personality to make a successful career in journalism.”