- Sports Journalists from Kenya equipped with skills on how to cover world athletics events.
- This comes ahead of the Absa Kip Keino Classic continental tour set for Saturday at Ulinzi Sports Complex.
Kenyan journalists were on Thursday equiped with technical skills on how to cover world class athletics events like the forthcoming sixth edition of the Absa Kip Keino Classic Continental Gold Tour Series set for Ulinzi Sports Complex in Nairobi on Saturday.
The high profile session was conducted by
World Athletics Press Liaison Officer Antonio Carvalho.
Carvalho shared with the scribes valuable tips, highlighting on how to leverage on mixed zone flash interviews to churn out explosive and quality contents.
“From the quotes, look out for those phrases that brings out the human nature of the subjects, things that makes the athletes stands out, things that tells unique stories about the interviewee.
“Knowledge on the athletes’ background is very important in the coverage,” Carvalho explained.
“Before covering high level events like the Kip Keino Classic, journalists should do their research for more information, and one of the available sites with rich information is the World Athletics website (www.worldathletics.org). There are loads of information here; from the biographical, to start lists and the previous results that comes in handy.
“Journalists must know what to ask during the interviews so as to get great flash quotes,” Carvalho highlighted.
He further stated,” The media also needs to follow closely what happened during competitions, how results are achieved and how the conditions looked like.”
Carvalho underscored the need for flash quotes reporters to understand dynamics of the sport while covering all the athletics extravaganzas.
The seminar also handed journalists vital knowledge on Gender Based Violence (GBV) that is currently bedeviling the sporting fraternity; from the fallen Agnes Tirop of Kenya to Rebecca Cheptegei of Uganda.
During the workshop, the scribes shared their personal experiences and relationships with athletes and officials, with some turning out bitter while others resulting into blessings in disguises.
This interactive session was conducted by immediate former Sports Journalists Association of Kenya (SJAK) President Chris Mbaisi.
Current SJAK boss James Waindi thanked the organisers of the workshop for the noble seminar that also highlighted the plight of the scribes and urged organisers to stage more of those sessions to build networking and relationships with journalists.
The Kip Keino Classic Tour continues to distinguish itself as a top-ranking one-day-meet athletics championship. It’s part of the Continental Tour Gold series by World Athletics.
The action-packed event set for Ulinzi Sports Complex on Saturday has attracted top talents from Africa and other continents, giving locals a chance to compete at an international level.
The athletes will compete at the Gold level earning both the prize money and the world ranking points.
