Our Mission » National Sports Journalism Center

Indiana University

Based at IUPUI with programs at IU Bloomington SPORTSJOURNALISM.org

Our Mission

iupui pool

Photo by John R. Gentry

Located on the IUPUI campus in Indianapolis, the National Sports Journalism Center is near collegiate sports as well as the headquarters of several national sports organizations.

The Indiana University National Sports Journalism Center is the most comprehensive institute for the study of sports journalism in America.

Through its academic courses and other programs, the center provides top quality and cutting-edge instruction on sports media for everyone from high school students to veteran professionals.

Goals:

The center will provide a forum for discussion of the major sports media issues of the day through this Web site and a speaker series that includes nationally known professional journalists, athletes, academics and administrators.
The center will engage in research projects that illuminate trends and issues in the sports media world.

Learn more:

Contact National Sports Journalism Center Director Tim Franklin by e-mail or by phone or mail:

Indiana University
School of Journalism
535 W. Michigan Street
Indianapolis, IN 46202
IUPUI phone: (317) 278-5335
IU Bloomington phone: (812) 855-2949

about us

Pulitzer Winner Buzz Bissinger To Host Workshop

Center News

Investigating the Business of College Athletics

Mar 9, 2010 | 12:46 p.m.

On Wednesday, March 10, Pulitzer winner Buzz Bissinger is headlining a free workshop investigating the business of college athletics at Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis. The [...]

Larry Bird, Indianapolis Star Sports Editor address Mary Benedict Critical Issues Seminar

Feb 26, 2010 | 10:37 p.m.

Sports media as we know it is changing. For years, print media, television and radio were the only ways people interacted with sports journalism. But now more and more people are getting sports news from the Internet, blogs, and social-networking outlets such as Twitter and Facebook. On Friday, over 60 high school journalism students attended a seminar on the subject in the Conseco Field House pressroom. At the Mary Benedict Critical Issues seminar, students listened to not only key members of the Indiana sports journalism community, but also members of the Pacers’ organization, and their views on the topic.

more Center News »

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Our Voices

Eric Deggans
on Sports Broadcasting

Eric Deggans

Focus on off-field goings on places more pressure on star athletes — and on those who cover them

Mar 9, 2010

Years ago, former Meet the Press host Marvin Kalb started one of his many books confessing about the biggest story he never covered. While working as a CBS News correspondent in 1963, Kalb had the misfortune to walk into a private elevator at the same time as a shapely young lady under escort by Secret Service agents, presumably for a – ahem – private meeting with then-President of the United States, John F. Kennedy. One hammerlocked takedown and fifty years later, Kalb never discovered who the woman was – surprised only by his immediate and almost reflexive decision not to do any more reporting on the matter.

Jason Fry
on Sports New Media

Jason Fry

The Case of the Missing Scoop

Mar 8, 2010

In the digital world, sportswriters don’t have to wait for the next day’s paper to break news. They can take a half-hour to write a blog post or a story for the Web, a minute to help an editor craft a headline, or a few seconds to share the news with their Twitter followers. And sports fans learn information not just by visiting news organizations’ Web sites, but by receiving emails, tweets and status updates written by their fellow fans. News has never spread more quickly or in so many different ways. But the ability to break news so quickly has robbed that news of much of its competitive value. Scoops were once jealously guarded with an eye on tomorrow’s newsstand – the goal was a day on which you had a story your competitors didn’t, and a second day on which your competitors had to acknowledge through gritted teeth that you’d had it first. But that game is disappearing because of the Web. Web publishing reduced the life expectancy of most scoops to hours. Twitter has now reduced it to minutes.

Dave Kindred
on Sports Writing

Dave Kindred

More than an act of seduction . . . a promise of what’s to come

Mar 5, 2010

Great leads don’t let you out of the house. “Death is delivered pink.” First four words of a story written by Seth Wickersham for ESPN The Magazine. Had me at pink. Cancel my appointments, Ms. Thistlebottom. Gotta read Wickersham.

The Buzz

Mar 9, 2010Erin Andrews “won’t be there to console Tim Tebow” on draft day

"As we know, ESPN’s Erin Andrews will be part of this year’s Dancing With The Stars and, according to ESPN, her appearance on the show [...]

Mar 8, 2010Wall Street Journal beefing up sports coverage with beat writers?

"We hear that the WSJ is on a quest to beef up its sports coverage, and that will include hiring beat writers for the Mets, [...]

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