As an “industry of passions, in which feelings are exalted”, sports journalism can help find the answers that society seeks in these difficult times, according to Carlos Ponce de León, Editor-in-Chief of Mexican newspaper Récord.
Hence, as a panelist at the AIPS World e-Conference on July 2, he expressed the need to “adopt a different way to communicate during the pandemic” and build balanced narratives that inspire readers, show them that ‘yes you can’ go through this pandemic, while also warning them about the threats.
Below is the full speech of Carlos Ponce de León, Editor-in-Chief of Mexican newspaper Récord, delivered at the AIPS World e-Conference on July 2.
Embrace a renewed narrative to inspire
Telling the great feats of athletes and teams has been the essence of sports journalism, plus the investigative work that is carried out to lighten the dark corners that interest the fans, to understand what happens in this ecosystem. It is the industry of passions, which adapts like few others to use the new formats to tell their stories. Today we have to face a new transformation, adopt a different way to communicate during the great pandemic of our century, with all the challenges that this implies.
Content needs a change in format and narrative so that in addition to being relevant information, it would also be useful today for the reader during the contingency. We must open more space to another way of telling stories, little used in newspapers and hard news platforms, a way that builds an urgent idea in the fan: we can get out of the worst moments.
The traditional formula, which is still effective to illuminate places unknown to the citizens, which pretends to eliminate uncertainty, is a mix between news —generally critical— that reveal the dark side, with evidence that supports them. They give us an account of the reality of our world from a negative, albeit realistic, narrative.
The first answer that appears to change this narrative to a ‘positive’ is a formula that gives us first-hand delusional results: dreaming of a better future, but ignoring or underestimating the evidence that oppose to that ideal, delivers absurd, useless content.
We need a renewed formula to build more appropriate narratives during this contingency, one that falls right in the middle, taking the best of both and adding a necessary factor in this era: finding a transformative purpose, a factor that generates a change in our readers, inspiration.
Thus, identifying a reason for the change, we add a deep understanding of the obstacles plus the evidence that these obstacles can be solved, to have a narrative that improves the current one, that inspires our readers without taking their feet off the ground, facing the actual problems.
A great example, which gives us a wide area to build this type of narrative, are the resumed professional tournaments, unable to take place at the worst moment of the pandemic, but that found answers and were able to return to the fields so that the ball goes bouncing again. Telling how they did it, what needed to be done to overcome that challenge, while paying attention to the dangers that this implies, will help to produce stories that illuminate our readers. One of many examples in the wide world of sports.
Sports journalism has worked since its origin in a field that recurrently clouds the logic and the judgment of the fan, as we are in the industry of passions, in which feelings are exalted. Well, it’s time to take advantage of that showcase that has made us relevant to the citizens to show them that ‘yes you can’ go through this pandemic, that there is light at the end of the tunnel, without ceasing to warn the threats, telling how the heroes and protagonists of the sports ecosystem have made it.
It is not only necessary for those who read us; the media and the journalist will position themselves in the place that has been doubted, especially from the perspective of a fan, who feels hurt when something negative is discovered about his team, or the athlete, who believes that to uncover some hard truths may be ‘something personal’ against him. Sports journalism helps to find answers that society seeks, especially in moments as complicated as the one we are going through.
