Alison Kervin: Sports Writing, the Mail and the female pioneer

Sports Content Strategy with MrRichardClarke: Exploring sports content, journalism, digital and social media

Alison Kervin is a pioneer in women's sports journalism. She was the first female editor of Rugby World and the first female sports editor of a UK national newspaper. Kervin's eight-year spell at the Mail on Sunday has just come to a close so he has started up a media agency for athletes. Oh, and she is a successful novelist too.

If she was editing this piece, undoubtedly 'the line' would centre on her gender-based breakthroughs. After all, that is why she was awarded an OBE. But Kervin's spell at the Mail has coincided with huge disruption in the newspaper industry, sparked by digital transformation. She reveals the skills and knowledge she has had to acquire for the 'new' media age and the core abilities every storyteller still requires.

TOPICS

Writing a sports reporting book back in the 1990s

What has changed and not changed in sport reporting

The skill of a sports writer. Does it garner respect?

The feature writer's evolution. What worked and what did not for her.

Coping with the management of athletes in modern sport

What qualities meant it was she who made the key breakthroughs as a female sports journalist

Did the door slam behind her?

Is the lack of female sports journalists down to confidence?

The growth of digital in newspapers since she took over at the Mail on Sunday sports editor in 2013

Concerns of speed being much more important than quality in the digital age

The problem of SEO-based 'churnalism' driven by clicks

The shortening of feedback loops

The difficulty of shareability

How does Alison measure the success of female sports journalism these days?

Writing novels under the pen name of Bernice Bloom - mimicking the box-set mentality

Starting a media agency - knowing what a journalist would want

* This episode of Sports Content Strategy is brought to you by the Digital Marketing & Analytics for Sports Professionals - Your road to digital excellence in sports. Online course starts August 31