The University of Salford has linked up with world-renowned footballing giant Manchester United to provide journalism students with first-hand experience of sports reporting.
As part of this partnership, four final-year journalism students are being given an invaluable opportunity to develop their sports writing skills as part of one of the biggest media operations in world football. With sports journalism being an extremely competitive industry for media professionals to break in to, especially for recent graduates, this experience will help enhance the students’ employability ahead of their graduation.
During their time at the club, students will assist Manchester United’s journalists and social media editors with a variety of roles on matchdays. This will include; managing the club’s live image feed service and writing news stories, short features, and player reaction reports on the back of each home fixture. The content created is published on Manchester United’s official website, ManUtd.com.
In addition to this, the students are able to experience working inside a live press box, an area where journalists report live from matches, and are also given the chance to interview some of the club’s first-team stars in the ‘mixed zone’, all of which looks fantastic for their CVs.
Speaking about the partnership with the University of Salford, James Tuck, Manchester United’s International Websites Editor, said: “The link-up has been a great success.
“The students are gaining valuable experience working at one of the world’s biggest sporting organisations and they are an asset to our editorial team on matchdays. So it has been mutually beneficial and we look forward to it continuing.”
Martin Hamer, who lecturers in Journalism at the University of Salford, added: “Imagine being a student with the chance to produce content for the official website of one of the biggest clubs in world football, knowing it will be read by millions of fans all over the globe.
“It’s wonderful to see so many University of Salford journalism students doing this, working directly as professionals with Manchester United. The experience is invaluable for their employability but is also an unforgettable one during their time at the University. United and Salford have a long and happy history and this is another example of the two working together in the local community.”
Third-year Journalism undergraduate, Jordan Eyre reflects: “Having the opportunity to be involved with a club like Manchester United is fantastic for me.
“I’ve really benefitted from learning different skills in a live environment; ones which I believe can serve me well in later life. The people at Manchester United have been extremely affable with us, as volunteers, and I am grateful for their guidance and expertise. It has been a real joy to be involved.”
The University’s partnership with Manchester United will develop further in the coming weeks, with a selection of postgraduate Journalism students also set to work at the club, as part of the University’s MA Community Project. MA students will spend two days a week at Old Trafford sourcing and writing; news stories, quotes-led articles, and match previews for ManUtd.com.
