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SJA Notebook: Launches, reporter receives threats and SJA hosts future journalism stars

Catch up with our regular column of sports journalists making the news …

And don’t forget, dates for your diaries … our annual SJA British Sports Awards will be going virtual on December 10th and the deadline for the British Sports Journalism Awards is January 10th – enter here.

New football app launches for Reach

National and regional publisher Reach has launched two apps to give readers exclusive access to regional football news.

The Football Yorkshire app will offer news about Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United and Huddersfield Town, and Football North East will host content on Sunderland, Newcastle United and Middlesbrough.

Readers will able to filter the content according to which club they support and content will fall under the remit of Reach’s content director for sport Jonathan Birchall.

“Our audience has been telling us they want to interact more with our unrivalled local journalism,” said Reach chief audience officer David Higgerson.

“We’ve listened and that’s why we’ve launched Yorkshire Football and North East Football.”

Regional journalists launch own website

Two former sports journalists at the Northern Echo have combined to launch a new regional sports website.

Deputy sports editor Craig Stoddart and Joe Willis, the Echo’s social media editor, are behind the venture, after leaving the Newsquest title because of coronavirus cuts.

“The feedback so far for North East Sport News has been great and really encouraging, proving that there is a desire to read about local sport,” Stoddart told Hold the Front Page.

“We want to meet that demand, which is something I spent 20 years doing at the Northern Echo.”

Threats to reporter’s children raised by Society of Editors

A regional sports journalist received death threats to his children, the Society of Editors conference was told.

The exchange was made to The Chronicle’s Newcastle United editor in response to a comment about a player’s performance.

Helen Dalby, Reach’s content director for the North East, told the panel discussion of the incident where the abuser tweeted ‘respond, or your children won’t return from school’. 

The tweet was reported to both Twitter and the police and while the abuse was removed, no further action was taken.

Advice and guidance for young journalism talent


This week the SJA held two exclusive events for aspiring sports media, supported by our members and partners.

Getty Sport’s director of photography Paul Gilham joined The Sun chief sports photographer Dickie Pelham, Getty’s Richard Heathcote and Alex Pantling and Canon’s Jakki Moores to deliver an insightful webinar to young sports photographers, hosted by the SJA’s James Green.

And more than 140 aspiring and student journalists joined us for a Q&A panel on the future of sports journalism. Advice and tips were dispensed by PA Media sports editor and SJA chair Ash Broadley, TalkSport’s Faye Carruthers, BCOMS founder and SJA vice-chair Leon Mann and The Guardian’s Sachin Nakrani, in a session chaired by Sportsbeat’s managing editor James Toney.

Read more: Network, embrace technology and write endlessly, SJA members’ advice for aspiring journalists

Also BBC F1 broadcaster Jennie Gow has used Covid as the inspiration behind a series of webinars aimed at young would-be sports journalists.

The broadcaster’s latest offering is with Rebecca Clancy of The Times, the BBC’s Andrew Benson, the inimitable Maurice Hamilton and freelances Scott Mitchell and Craig Woollard. 

Find out more here.

Read more:

SJA Notebook: Toxic culture exposed, accreditation woes and popular Vera retires

SJA Notebook: Diversity call, broadcast win and exclusive sessions for young journalists