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LAUSANNE, July 9, 2020 - A handful of questions that only time could answer, has been at the heart of Christine Brennan's speech on the World Sports Journalists Day. The US columinst whose lucid analysis have appeared on USA Today, CNN, ABC News, took the virtual stage at the 1st AIPS World e-Conference on July 2, together with Editors-in-Chief from all over the world.
Brennan spoke about the pressing topics that will continue to keep the centre stage in the next future, such as the feasibility of the Olympic Games in 2021 and the repercussions it may have on TV rights and stakeholders' behaviour. She also wondered if the increasing distance separating sporting events and the public will push sports to overcome the hybrid nature it has assumed over the years, and become a TV show more than ever before.
Then what can be said of the scale that women's engagement with sports has reached nowadays? Brennan wishes that the delicate but promising path of equality will not be hampered by the effects of the pandemic. A significant mention was then reserved to the Black Lives Matter protests and its effects on sports, with Brennan confident that this "huge story", as she called it, is enlightining more than ever the unique role that all journalists - male and female - have in the narration of our fast-changing society.
Below is the full speech of Christine Brennan delivered at the AIPS World e-Conference on July 2:
We are in extraordinary times, an era that will be studied by students 100 years from now, and sports are a big part of the conversation. The answer to the question is yes, sports journalism is being changed before our eyes, in ways big and small.
It’s obvious our world will not be the same as it was before. Travel, business, health – it all has changed. Sports are woven into the fabric of society in such a way that they will be changed too.
As journalists, the past three months have been extremely important and fascinating. For me personally, this time has been the most interesting of my entire career, because it has required ingenuity, critical thinking, longevity and calling on sources more than ever before. Uncertainty is everywhere, and that means there are important stories everywhere. With no games being played, the hard work of the journalist has been more vital than ever.
What does this mean for the future? It will be difficult to attend sporting events as they open up, so there will be more coverage from afar. That doesn’t mean we can’t break news and do investigative reporting – we just have to work harder and use our experience to get big stories. We all want to be on the scene, and hopefully we will be again soon, but for now, Zoom should not be a barrier to our work; it should be a stepping stone to great stories. Questions still need answers.
Many questions face us:
Will the 2021 Tokyo and 2022 Beijing Olympic Games happen, or not? And if they do not, what happens to the athletes, to national Olympic committees, to sponsors, to the TV rights holders? How do the Games carry on in this environment?
Will sports become little more than a TV show, with many fans deciding to stay away, at least in the short term? Will Olympic TV rights holders push for a 2021 Olympics with no fans because of their economic concerns? For most people, the Olympics are a TV show anyway.
Will spectators continue to possess considerable disposable income, and want to spend it on luxury items such as sports tickets? Will we continue to tolerate the exorbitant amounts of money being paid by cities for stadiums and arenas, and the exorbitant amounts being paid to athletes, coaches and managers? Having seen how important doctors and nurses and those on the front lines are, will we finally say enough is enough? Does this eventually affect Olympic rights fees?
What happens to our coverage of women’s sports? Women and girls are playing sports around the world in numbers that would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. We must continue to chronicle this important historical development.
How do news organizations survive in these economic times? We need to find business models to monetize online content and keep independent journalism as a vibrant and vital pillar of our society.
It’s not just the pandemic, of course. The important Black Lives Matter protests will continue into 2021 and beyond. That means we will see them at the Olympics. We are expecting most U.S. teams – pro, college and high school – to take knees this fall, if there are sports in America this fall. Sports journalists play a unique role in covering this huge story.
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