In terms of being a sports journalist my affinity must always lie with the locale in which I am currently working. At present that community is Grahamstown, and I tailor what I generate in order to accommodate them. In the sports world such an assertion means only this- that I will always report from the perspective of the generally favoured/local team when they compete and uncovering stories about them will be my primary objective, something which takes precedent over reporting on non-local teams. Barring obvious omission of the facts (not reporting on misdemeanours by teams/ players) a strong focus shall always be placed on enhancing the reputation of local competitors and trying to encourage support for said competitors. In light of this, every community within which a journalist works, in this instance specifically a sports journalist, requires them to share the common view about what is important to the media consumers. Different sectors of Grahamstown may all be experiencing different problems or have different concerns, for some it may be water and for others possibly crime, however if a PE based rugby team comes to face a Grahamstowm side they will have a united concern. In Grahamstown the plight of local teams is important regardless of what discipline it is. Only when local teams competing in the same sport clash must the journalist adopt a more recognised objective stance than if a visiting team is taking on a Grahamstown side.
Objectivity, or at least an attempt to be so, is important in order for journalism as a whole to remain credible. However within sports reporting the rules of how to employ objectivity are more loosely applicable. It isn’t uncommon to cast a certain team as the villain especially if they are the opposition to the local team. Reporting at a national level obviously falls within different parameters because consumers will all have different allegiances, other than of course, for the most part, the national team in any given sport. Such a scenario does translate into a Grahamstown context if you consider the above mentioned point about reporting on competitors both situated within the bounds of the town, both of whom have a following within that area. Here, more discretion is required when relaying the content for potential consumers may be affiliated with either side.
The stories told in this town should always be weighed heavily in favour of local happenings. People are able to get information on international events through a variety of different avenues yet are not able to get Grahamstown-specific news from those same sources. Therefore it is part of my responsibility as a communicator in Grahamstown to supply news which pertains to my location. Reporting on other events further afield is not then rendered void as a different take on things is always healthy and certain people may only be relying on one specific medium to get all aspects of sporting news. A useful undertaking when reporting on non-local stories is to try and establish connections between those stories and Grahamstown stories. Tantamount in importance to all the above mentioned endeavours is the need to incite interest in those reading the stories. Doing so in turn translates not only into bigger audiences for future stories but perhaps also actual participation.
