BY Victor Akhidenor
Covering a 52-game event in six locations across a country with a total area of 3,650,216 square miles for 30 days requires super-human qualities from a single reporter.
But you don’t need to be exposed to cosmic rays like the Fantastic Four and develop amazing new powers all in the name of covering a football tournament.
Indeed, you can be like the Marvel Comic heroes possessing distinct qualities which practically grants you the ability to stretch your body in any way you want to get the news; turn yourself, objects and other people invisible to eavesdrop on conversation and get the news; transform into a rocky, super-strong behemoth to force out the news; and set yourself on fire if all else fails.
If only you can follow these tips – learnt from hindsight – then you are on your way to a successful coverage of any sporting activity.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK
This sounds like a boring chore meant to keep pupils busy by their teachers in school or at home all in the name of completing the syllabus. But you can’t run away from it as a reporter.
You must gather all the necessary information about the tournament you are about to cover. The teams, players, and coaches; their strengths and weaknesses; the venue of the matches; the referees and other officials.
If your country is in the competition then you must know all you can about their group opponents and the teams they are likely to face at every stage of the competition. Even if you are a journalist from Togo – like you were in 2006 World Cup – you mustn’t fail to do this.
Work on assumption that your country will go far in the championship, even though we know that assumption like curiosity kills the cat!
You should also know a lot and a little about the host nation. You should have a passable knowledge of its geography, climate, people and society, the economy, population, languages, religions, ethnic mix, government, and currency.
GET THERE A WEEK TO THE COMPETITION
We know you don’t have a limitless budget like some Sheiks in Manchester or on a full sponsorship like the tournament organisers but it’s advisable to get to your final destination days (we recommend seven for the singular reason that there are seven days in a week) before the start of hostilities – on the pitch.
Jetlag and acclimatisation are in the dictionary, but the words are more impactful when experienced!
After over 15 hours in the air minus the hassles of connecting the flights and waiting at the different airports across three continents, your body, which has been on a rollercoaster, needs your soul, which is on a catwalk, together.
Aside the much-needed rest before chasing after news and players, the period affords you time to further your research, albeit practically.
You visit the town to test your passable knowledge of its geography, climate, people and society, the economy, population, languages, religions, ethnic mix, government, and currency.
Especially the currency!
STAY CLOSE TO THE TEAM YOU CAME TO COVER
Before making hotel reservations, especially if the host nation has a land mass as big as Canada, you must know where your country of focus will be staying and stay close to them. If you can afford it, stay in the same hotel with them.
This will make you be in their “faces” all the time and a familiar face loosens the tongue. And then the insider gist will be at your disposal even without going all out for it.
And before the familiarity breeds contempt, you would have had enough news to serve you beyond the competition.
And before the familiarity breeds contempt and loathing, your country is out of the competition!
YOU COULD BE STRANDED WITHOUT CASH
This is a moot point really so we won’t dwell on it – too much.
Aside needing money to feed, you need it for local transportation as well. To reduce your spending while on the move, patronise the buses than cabs.
With the buses, though, you need to be very attentive to hear when your bus stop is called but if you don’t mind to be seen as what Fela Anikulapo-Kuti called a JJD (Johnny Just Drop), you can keep reminding the closest person to you in the bus for your stop!
Avoid the cabs if you can because they are more expensive and some of the drivers know a JJD from afar.
Be ready to get to Adeola Odeku from Bar Beach in one hour despite no traffic! Well, it will add to your knowledge of the city.
You also need money for miscellaneous expenses – which could either be seen or unforeseen!
GO SOLO
There’s this camaraderie that exists among journalists from the same country meeting in a foreign country during the course of an event.
There’s nothing wrong with that feeling of friendship and trust when with your “personal-person” but remember you are there to work and not form a parapo club.
If situations warrant working as a team – like pooling resources to go from point A to B – please do. But do not hesitate to back out if it is at your detriment.
It will be at your detriment if you work for an online paper of news “on the go” and team up with a daily or weekly newspaper reporter. Your workload may be the same, but your turnaround time differs.
Go solo and don’t let them tell you, there’s no “I” in “Team”.
They should ask…
Or this image:
WRITE OUT OF THE BOX
People want to read pre-match and post-match reports which you mustn’t fail to write. But you know what, they also want to read reports they won’t find elsewhere.
You have to think outside the box (please pardon the cliché) and write creative stories that tickle their imagination.
Stories not only fit for the back pages of newspapers where most sports stories are consigned to but those that gives the editor a “headache” on the right place to position the story.
Mix sports with business or politics. You don’t have to stop there. Mix sports with entertainment – say a beauty pageant!
Mix and keep mixing.
IT’S THE TWENTY FIRST CENTURY. TECH UP, GEAR UP!
News waits for no one. For example, journalists in war zones now report the news in real-time while running and dodging bullets, and taking pictures. Simultaneously.
Thankfully, there are lots of gadgets to help you do this. Laptops are good but if you’re going to be covering a lot of distance, the weight could be wearisome. Thank God for tablets. Portable, light and internet ready right out of the box.
Don’t forget smartphones. In a few years, smartphones will probably be able to deliver babies and cure cancer!
Right now, their job description is still impressive – voice recording, taking selfies and pictures (to broadcast on social networks and get others jealous), make quick notes and set reminders.
If you’re a techie, your smartphone can also be a wallet, a chat room, and a language translator.
If you’re not so tech savvy – like me – maybe you should take a midget along, just in case you can’t figure out how the apps work.
GO WITH A CAMERA
Yes, we know you have a smartphone with multiple functions of calling, chatting, pinging, voice recording, photography, and browsing.
But you need a camera.
And yes, we know FIFA gave you an accreditation as a reporter only.
But you still need a camera.
Taking pictures with a camera – a “powerful” one at that – makes you look like an “international” journalist. A “serious” journalist. A journalist with class.
And we won’t talk about the quality of the pictures that comes out of that “powerful” camera your colleague from Afghanistan is using.
Don’t be cheap about it either. Get an HD one, with lots of optical zooms.
A good camera would be a solid investment in your career as a journalist.
Even if your writing is mediocre, like mine, a well-timed picture could elevate your stories above the threshold.
Make sure it has enough memory too.
EXPLORE THE CITY
All football and no play make you end up like the student who passed through school, but the school didn’t pass through him!
There are usually football free days during the tournament so don’t “waste” them on match analyses alone– explore the city.
Learning is continuous and you can never have enough of the geography, climate, people and society, the economy, population, languages, religions, ethnic mix, government, and currency of the place.
Take pictures; talk to people; do non-sports stories; visit the zoo, cemetery, prison, everywhere and anywhere.
But don’t forget the knowledge of the currency exchange rate with the ones in your bank account back home!
UPDATE YOUR FRIENDS ON SOCIAL MEDIA
You are more or less the “eye” of your friends at the venue of the matches so you must bombard them with pictures and posts on Facebook and Instagram to mention the two popular ones.
Take our advice and focus more on pictures because experience has shown that people “like”, “share”, and comment on pictures than on posts.
You can direct the articles to your website or blogs for whoever wishes to read them and send pictures with little text.
Or pictures only!
EXTRAS
Don’t rely on your phones to keep tab of the time. Get a wrist watch!
If you can get corporate sponsors for your trip the better for you. Don’t push all the costs on yourself and your company.
You could freelance for other organisations to raise extra cash. If you work for a print newspaper who says you can’t report, in the interim, for a radio or TV station without a presence at the venue.
Pack only the essential personal effects for the trip. A bag is OK!
Go with books – but not more than two. You won’t read all those five books, I bet you!
Remember your loved ones at home. Get them gifts. Nothing is too small – even plantain chips!
AFTERS
Have money to last you another month or two on your return. Don’t spend all you have on those gifts!
Take one week off work. Your body needs to catch up with your soul!
Keep in touch with friends you made during the trip. You never know what could come out of the relationship. No, I’m not talking about marriage!
Congratulations, in advance, for a successful coverage of your next assignment!
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