Sports Media Austria president Michael Schuen highlights networking as key objective of SMA Congress
Sports Media Austria president Michael Schuen (Photo by FOTObyHOFER/Christian Hofer)
TYROL, April 24, 2023 – Sports Media Austria president Michael Schuen is satisfied with how the opening day of the SMA Congress went. From the panel discussion on sport and climate in the morning to the AIPS presentation and the SMA general assembly in the afternoon it was an interesting six hours on the Stubai Glacier, surrounded by breathtaking snow-filled mountains.
SPORT AND CLIMATE “I am quite satisfied with the first discussion we had because we were not sure in which direction it would go but it went out quite well as far as I think. The aim was to have a topic that should be discussed also in sports because in the end especially with sports, we need to think of the times when maybe there will be no snow left and we need to think about measures that we ourselves could take. The panellists gave a lot of different insights and possibilities.
TYROL TOURISM “When we were invited to come here, we knew that there would be one day up on the mountain because for Stubai tourism, it is also important for them to show us what they have got and then we thought about which topic would be fine also for them… if they don’t have any snow anymore, they won’t have the basis for tourism which is quite important here. So as we learned Tyrol tourism has been thinking quite a lot about the future and plans to get more legacy and to find other ways to get people here.”
AIPS PRESENTATION After lunch, AIPS president Gianni Merlo gave a presentation on the mission of the global body of sports journalists and its core projects like the AIPS Sport Media Awards, AIPS Young Reporters Programme and Journalists on the Podium. Then Hannes Aigelsreiter, the new sports chief of ORF also spoke for 30 minutes.
ORF SPORT + “The second part, the general assembly, was an easy one this year because we had no election and for us it was quite interesting to have the boss of the Austrian Television. They have a new head of sports department. In Austria, there have been quite a lot of discussions in the last weeks and months after the Austrian public-service broadcaster ORF announced like eight weeks ago that they were closing down ORF Sport + linear television for cost reasons… but the new boss told us today that it won’t be closed down at least for a few years and that was quite interesting for us in sports.”
ORF Sport + was launched in May 2006 with the remit of creating a home for fringe sports on Austrian television.
CHALLENGES Media outlets shutting down and workers being laid off are part of the major challenges sports journalists in particular are facing all over the world, especially post covid. “After covid and with digital revolution, or however you may call it, there is the problem that we are loosing jobs in sports journalism,” Schuen stated. But, there is no easy solution.
Schuen is, however, very interested in investing in the younger generation of sports journalists. “Actually, to be honest, I am of the opinion that the AIPS is doing quite a good job with the Young Reporters Programme for example and I guess it will be key for older journalists to look after the younger ones and to try to teach them.
NETWORKING As usual the SMA invited young reporters to be a part of the Congress in Tyrol. “We are here for better networking among the sports journalists and for the younger ones to see that they can gain something in attending the congress, that they can meet people who can help them or who they could need afterwards. I guess that should be the biggest aim - just realising that the best thing we could do is help one other.”
SPORT AND CLIMATE “I am quite satisfied with the first discussion we had because we were not sure in which direction it would go but it went out quite well as far as I think. The aim was to have a topic that should be discussed also in sports because in the end especially with sports, we need to think of the times when maybe there will be no snow left and we need to think about measures that we ourselves could take. The panellists gave a lot of different insights and possibilities.
TYROL TOURISM “When we were invited to come here, we knew that there would be one day up on the mountain because for Stubai tourism, it is also important for them to show us what they have got and then we thought about which topic would be fine also for them… if they don’t have any snow anymore, they won’t have the basis for tourism which is quite important here. So as we learned Tyrol tourism has been thinking quite a lot about the future and plans to get more legacy and to find other ways to get people here.”
AIPS PRESENTATION After lunch, AIPS president Gianni Merlo gave a presentation on the mission of the global body of sports journalists and its core projects like the AIPS Sport Media Awards, AIPS Young Reporters Programme and Journalists on the Podium. Then Hannes Aigelsreiter, the new sports chief of ORF also spoke for 30 minutes.
ORF SPORT + “The second part, the general assembly, was an easy one this year because we had no election and for us it was quite interesting to have the boss of the Austrian Television. They have a new head of sports department. In Austria, there have been quite a lot of discussions in the last weeks and months after the Austrian public-service broadcaster ORF announced like eight weeks ago that they were closing down ORF Sport + linear television for cost reasons… but the new boss told us today that it won’t be closed down at least for a few years and that was quite interesting for us in sports.”
ORF Sport + was launched in May 2006 with the remit of creating a home for fringe sports on Austrian television.
CHALLENGES Media outlets shutting down and workers being laid off are part of the major challenges sports journalists in particular are facing all over the world, especially post covid. “After covid and with digital revolution, or however you may call it, there is the problem that we are loosing jobs in sports journalism,” Schuen stated. But, there is no easy solution.
Schuen is, however, very interested in investing in the younger generation of sports journalists. “Actually, to be honest, I am of the opinion that the AIPS is doing quite a good job with the Young Reporters Programme for example and I guess it will be key for older journalists to look after the younger ones and to try to teach them.
NETWORKING As usual the SMA invited young reporters to be a part of the Congress in Tyrol. “We are here for better networking among the sports journalists and for the younger ones to see that they can gain something in attending the congress, that they can meet people who can help them or who they could need afterwards. I guess that should be the biggest aim - just realising that the best thing we could do is help one other.”
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