A Master of His Trade

While browsing the internet, sports journalist Steve Jackson's web page was discovered. Steve is considered one of the best sports journalists in the United Kingdom, with his freelance journalism based in the South Midlands. He is knowledgeable in most sports, but particularly in soccer, golf, cricket, tennis and rugby union. Steve has worked for a number of the biggest magazines, radio, television, and internet companies. These companies include Sky Sports TV, Sportiva, Reuters and TheFA.com. Steve was contacted for an interview via email in order to learn more about his experiences as a journalist.

Steve Jackson knows that there is no easy way of getting into sports journalism. He said, "Although there isn't a perfect way of going about it, there are right and wrong ways of trying. My advice would be to start at the bottom, helping out at a radio station or local newspaper. You might only be answering the telephone or shadowing someone, but you'll get an idea about what you need to do." Steve also offered a very unique suggestion of getting involved with a hospital radio station. The beauty of this is that in most cases hardly anyone listens to the station, meaning you can make plenty of mistakes without ruining your reputation. After mastering these smaller, yet important tasks, aspiring sports journalists will eventually improve to a point of moving on to other sports journalism jobs.

Although Steve does not have any journalist qualifications, he is a master of his trade. He said, "Everything I know, I've learnt on the job." He feels that although taking journalistic courses would not harm, there is no reason why it should hold you back if you do not take any. "It's obviously useful to have a good grasp of English, but I only got two C's at GCSE level. So, once again, you don't have to be a bookworm!"

In Steve's experience, obtaining journalist coverage has been a case of putting himself in the right places at the right times. He has found it most useful to try to get to know other reporters. Steve stated, "It's a very old truism but 'it's not what you know, it's who you know'. By getting your face known you will get recommended by other journalists."

Steve describes the only skills needed to be a sports journalist as enthusiasm, a good background knowledge of sports, a desire to learn, plenty of flair, decent English (and possibly a second language), foresight, good organizational skills, and lastly, stubbornness and perseverance.

Steve is very simple in his love for sports journalism and the best qualities of his job. Of all the statements that could have been made regarding why he enjoys his career, Steve loves the freebees and clout associated with the lifestyle most. "You don't have to pay to watch soccer matches… in fact you get paid for going! Also, occasionally, getting your friends/family into matches free of cost can make you very popular. Just imagine meeting someone for the first time and saying... 'I met David Beckham and Sven Goran Eriksson the other day. There're such nice men'. I've done that." Steve's sarcastic sense of humor about his lifestyle was quite amusing.

Being a native to the UK, Steve has found that covering stories there differs in many respects to US coverage. Many times the emphasis in US stories is placed differently than what he is used to.

Steve's phenomenal success is both commendable and well deserved. Steve left one final piece of advice. "It's a rubbish cliché but it's true, 'Success only comes before Work in the Dictionary'."

By: Darrielle