Live blogging

Abstract

and a laptop. You take notes on paper and then, early in the second half, you start writing your polished report which you aim to file “on the whistle” – or at match point or stumps. Today reporters are expected to file as the event unfolds. The notes that used to be written in a notepad are now published immediately as a “live blog” or “minute-byminute” account, either on a blog or on Twitter. For football or rugby matches, some media companies will expect the same reporter to write both a live blog and a considered report. However, in this book, we are treating them as distinct skills as they require different approaches. Live blogs may be the work of one person or of a team. A local paper is unlikely to devote more than one reporter to a lower league football match on a Tuesday evening. But the BBC or Telegraph may have a team of three or four people working on a big match with one person responsible for the main blog, one for images, one for video etc. In the case of a test match, writers will probably work shifts as it isn’t really possible to blog solidly seven hours a day for five days. In fact, even one-day cricket matches are normally covered by more than one person. Athletics events where several contests are taking place simultaneously are also hard to cover without several people. Sometimes, there is a clear handover when a new writer takes over. The technique has proved so effective that it has been extended to cover sports news that breaks over the course of a day. Several organisations produce day-long live blogs on the last day of European football’s transfer windows, the day of the NBA or NFL drafts or during the Olympic or Commonwealth Games. There is a wide audience for live blogs, from people glancing at their phone during a wedding to those who are watching on television and seeking someone else’s perspective on the game. It might even include people in the stadium. Perhaps it’s the last day of the football season and goals are going in elsewhere that could keep your team up or send it down. Some guides to writing blogs say that the key skill is to come across like a mate who’s at the game or down the pub with the reader. This is only half true – the secret is to be a well-informed friend. Phil Harlow (see top tips, below) believes that the “old media” format which live blogging most closely resembles is radio commentary. There are certainly similarities: the absence of moving pictures means they are very dependent on the personality of the commentator. They also both depend on the ability to suddenly change gear, C H A P T E R 4