UK students gathered in the Academic Science Building Thursday night to learn how reporters covered the 2016 Summer Olympics.

The panelist included many shining sports reporters such as 13-time Olympic veteran reporter Tom Hammond, producer and director at Carr-Hughes Productions Jim Carr, nine-time Sports Emmy recipient Jack Felling, gymnastics producer at the Rio Olympics Billy Matthews, and 1998 Kentucky Broadcaster of the Year Kenny Rice.

UK School of Journalism and Media presented the 2016 Gidel/Lombardo Lecture in Sports Communication. 

The panel discussed their experiences in Rio De Janeiro Olympics held this past August. The men explained that reporting on the events is only a fraction of their job. Reporting starts two years before Olympics, when reporters start to learn information about the next athletes that will be participating in the games. Not many follow Olympic sports during the off-season, so this information creates character development for viewers.

“It is so important to give people a reason to care,” Felling said.

Students were able to see the effects of this preparation when the panelist showed Felling’s feature about Wayde Van Niekerk, a South African track gold medalist in the 2016 Olympics.  The feature highlighted his trainer, 74-year-old Anna Botha and his mother and former athlete Odessa Swarts.

Swart’s mother, also a track and field athlete who was prohibited from participating in the Olympics because of her ethnicity.  This story allowed viewers to connect to an athlete they did not know, so they could be more engaged in the games.

The panel also discussed how viewership of the Olympics is changing with new technology. This year prime time numbers were somewhat lower in past years.  There was however a great deal of streaming of the Olympics via smart phones, tablets, and laptops. Total engagement of the Olympics was actually up this year, which shows how sports reporting it changing. The journalists were certain that the world of sports broadcasting is safe.

The reporters gave advice to UK journalism students about how to succeed in the world of journalism. All five panelists agreed that experience and internships are crucial to professional success. Hammond challenged the students to not only learn how to write, but learn how to write efficiently.  The men also advised the students to take chances and dream big. “Don’t be afraid to create your own breaks along the way, but you got to be prepared to do so,” Rice said.