Journalism

Sport journalism is a specialist strand of journalism that brings the skills of news-gathering, reporting, writing, and broadcasting to the world of sport. It is a field that demands both journalistic craft and genuine sporting knowledge, because the best sport journalists are not just proficient communicators but authoritative voices who understand the games, the athletes, the business of sport, and the stories behind the headlines. Sport is one of the largest and most consistently consumed areas of media, and the demand for skilled sport journalists across broadcast, print, digital, and social platforms remains strong.

At the University of St Mark and St John in Plymouth, this three-year, full-time degree is taught in an unusually rich professional context. Students work on the BBC campus, fast-tracking their media careers through production experience alongside professional broadcasters. The sports media team produces real content for Plymouth Argyle FC, Plymouth Albion, and Plymouth Patriots, giving you live professional experience of sport journalism in action rather than simulated exercises.

That combination of BBC partnership and professional club relationships makes this one of the more distinctive sport journalism programmes available in the UK.

Graduates from sport journalism programmes work as reporters, correspondents, editors, broadcasters, and content producers across the sports media industry. Television, radio, digital platforms, newspapers, magazines, and club and governing body communications departments all employ sport journalists. The skills you develop, including research, interviewing, writing under deadline, and multi-platform production, are transferable across journalism more broadly.

Many graduates also go on to postgraduate study in journalism, media, or sport business, developing specialist expertise for senior roles in the industry.