Stark Contrast in Show Jumping Media in Places Where it is Sport
Posted by Jayne Huddleston on March 28, 2009
I posted a short time ago about the difference between specialty media and mass-market media. In North America, where show jumping is a niche-market sport, infinitely more coverage of it appears in specialty publications. The stark differences in approaches to journalism between specialty and mass-market media can make it more difficult for athletes, event management, equestrian federations and their specialty publicists to understand the needs of the mass-market media. Therefore, under the North American model, no real education or experience in dealing with the media is in place until an opportunity in the mass-market media come along. Then, the sport develops a reputation for lacking media-savvy.
A recent post on a UK journalism website illustrates how vastly different show jumping journalism is seen in a country where show jumping is seen a sport with mass-market appeal.
Online Journalism News felt it was newsworthy to announce a new show jumping editor at the popular horse magazine Horse and Hound. This news appears on the site along with news from major British newspapers and wire services. The new show jumping editor comes to Horse and Hound from the BBC. What is even more interesting are her own comments about her new position. “Just enjoying the sport and loving horses is not enough”, the new editor, Jennifer Donald, said. “It is quite a specialized role”, she says, but adds “I think it helps to have experience writing on all sorts of subjects”.
In North America “just enjoying the sport and loving horses” often trumps all other requirements. Not only in journalism, but in publicity management and marketing the sport as well. If the sport is to grow and its fan-base to increase, the management of the sport has to recognize the need for education and experience in any business role connected to the sport. Stronger journalistic practices in the specialty media would give all os the sport’s stakeholders exposure to professional journalism to deal more professionally with mass-market media.
