The Walter Cronkite School’s student-produced nightly newscast Cronkite NewsWatch will be reducing its sports coverage in Phoenix in an effort to develop the new sports bureau in Santa Monica, Calif.
“We’re growing the Santa Monica operation to be our preeminent sports broadcasting experience,” said Mark Lodato, Cronkite School assistant dean and NewsWatch news director. “So what I’m doing is trying to encourage as many of those students who are able to is to take advantage of that Santa Monica operation. Over time I do anticipate reducing the amount of sports we see each night on NewsWatch.”
This semester, there are six sports reporters and three minutes of NewsWatch dedicated to sports, but Lodato said it is likely there will not be as much of either in the fall. The amount of sports covered by NewsWatch, which is recognized at national and regional awards as one of the top programs in the country, will largely depend on student interest and availability to go to Santa Monica.
The Santa Monica bureau will focus on covering college-level and professional sports. It will also produce segments and programs for commercial media outlets, Lodato said. Content produced by the Santa Monica bureau may also be used by Cronkite NewsWatch and other Arizona media outlets.
“The goal there is to produce much more sports content than we’re producing in NewsWatch today,” Lodato said.
Students have expressed concerns about moving to Santa Monica and the sports broadcast opportunities that will be available in Phoenix if the Santa Monica bureau is the primary hub for broadcast sports journalism.
Junior Cuyler Meade, who is married and has two children, said covering sports in Phoenix is more convenient because of the Downtown campus’ proximity to major sports teams and students already living in the area.
“I can’t pick up and leave in the middle of the semester,” Meade said. “People have internships, people have jobs, people have leases. I don’t get what the point is of doing it somewhere else.”
Lodato said, and has expressed to students directly, that he would be willing to accommodate sports-specific reporters in Phoenix next semester if they are unable to move to Santa Monica.
Part of the reason for launching the Santa Monica bureau is the changing job market for sports broadcasting, Lodato said.
“Sports, in what I would call a traditional television newsroom, is a declining area in terms of employment,” Lodato said. “The kinds of experiences and the multimedia experiences we can offer through these other bureaus is more representative of the job market as it evolves.”
Junior Ryan Hill said that, while he would not be able to relocate to Santa Monica for part of his senior year, the development of the Santa Monica sports bureau is beneficial for younger students.
“For the younger classes below me, it definitely is an option because they have time for them to watch it develop,” Hill said. “(For me, Santa Monica) would be an option, but honestly I don’t want to uproot myself and have to worry about rent, car and classes.”
The change to NewsWatch’s sports segment follows the expansion of Cronkite’s sports program with the new Super Bowl reporting class, sports photography class, Spring Training reporting class and more.
“There will be more opportunities in these other immersion programs,” Lodato said. “The opportunities in the Santa Monica bureau will ultimately be more attractive than what we can offer here in NewsWatch.”
Contact the reporter at Pallavi.Kunthara@asu.edu
