The media sector has evolved significantly and rapidly in recent years due to the current convergence of traditional media — TV, press and radio — with digital services. Technological advances have created new types of services and user experiences, and consumer habits have changed substantially. The world of sports media is leading that revolution, and one of the most visible consequences is the enormous change in the ways of telling stories about athletes and competitions. Now the content transcends the mere broadcasting and dissemination of news, chronicles, and highlights with which we were content until a few years ago. Those aren’t enough anymore.
Today, streaming platforms are filled with sports documentaries that show us what athletes are like beyond the playing field; social network content creators are accredited to cover major sporting events as if they were traditional media; the press, radio and TV reinvent themselves daily to remain competitive, while broadcasters conceive of ever-new ways to elicit the human dimension in live sports. All these trends come together every two years to create a story with a global audience during the celebration of the summer and winter Olympic Games.
In this course, we’ll analyze the different types of sports storytelling, future trends, and the panorama of sports media. We’ll compare sports media from region to region — Europe, USA, Latin America, Asia, Middle East — and how all of these elements are integrated into the broadcast of the largest sporting event on the planet. At the same time, we’ll come to understand the enormous power of sport to transmit values, to make us aware of other cultures and different realities, and to disseminate complex or abstract ideas in a simple and powerful way. Ultimately, we will learn how to identify and apply the tools of storytelling by analyzing the examples provided by today’s sports media.
Department: Communications
Location: Madrid
Semesters: Fall, Spring
Credits: 3