Tailored training courses on the media coverage of sports events
As the headlining project for 2024, Paris Médias 2024 was an opportunity for some 50 journalists from Africa and the Arab World to receive training on the media coverage of top sports events, then to cover the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, at two pop-up newsrooms in Paris.
African journalists get to cover the Olympic Games
Throughout the entire Olympic Games, from 26 July to 11 August, 15 French-speaking journalists from Sub-Saharan Africa provided all-African coverage of the Olympics, an event that Africans can usually only follow on the mainstream international media outlets. These journalists worked in a shared newsroom set up at the “Africa Station” in Île Saint-Denis.
All the content produced — 504 reports in all — was published by their media outlets, for an audience of over 650,000 people. The reports were also reprinted and republished 926 times by other African media outlets, as identified via daily monitoring. All content produced was published daily on an online platform, to be used free of charge by the 307 African media outlets having signed up.
Thanks to the synergy between CFI and RFI, portraits of journalists in the newsroom were produced and broadcast across the entire RFI network and during prime time in Africa.
“This was an amazing experience, providing support for our colleagues, drawing on our many years’ expertise in journalism, and especially covering the Olympic Games. We were also proud to show them how important it is to harness technology to produce their best work. This innovative project proved to be truly educational and a great mentoring programme for our colleagues.” Noël Tadegnon, Togolese expert on the supervisory team
Journalists from the Arab World get to cover the Paralympic Games
Paralympic sport has never had much coverage in media outlets in the Middle East and North Africa, so Paris Médias 2024 also gave eight journalists from Lebanon, Morocco and Tunisia, including four women, an opportunity to cover the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, providing support as they raised their level of professionalism in their productions, to reach a wider, younger audience.
Before the Games took place, five of the eight project beneficiaries attended the Agora for Journalism in Tours, in central France, in late March 2024, to prepare “mirror” subjects with French colleagues, and reports on the athletes training in their home countries.
In May and July 2024, the eight journalists selected followed a series of webinars focussing on preparations to cover an international sports event, various issues relative to sports journalism and the Paralympic Games, inspiring sports formats, and women and sport. They also benefitted from editorial support and mentoring for digital marketing and the use of social networks both before and during the Games.
With the setup of a pop-up newsroom during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, from 28 August to 8 September, the journalists were offered support for the production of fresh content on the various events and helped to raise inclusion of people with disabilities. Among those receiving this support was one journalist from the media outlet Taja Sport which focusses on women and sport and two journalists from the radio station ML, created to give a voice to people affected by disability.
“I think the best video I’ve ever produced is the portrait of Meriem Sabi: when your disability doesn’t prevent you playing with the men’s team. The video tells the story of a mature woman basketball player with a disability who continues with various sports regardless.” Soulaimane Bakbach, Moroccan free-lance reporter working with Taja Sport
In all, the journalists produced over 180 reports in the pop-up newsroom, garnering over a million views sur social networks in the run-up to the Paralympic Games and five million during the event.
“There were many inspiring stories, it is a tough call to choose just one, because I learned from each and every one. For example, the story of paralympic runner Arz, who lost a leg at the age of three and Shaimaa, an Egyptian woman paralysed due to a medical error, who now plays badminton (…) These athletes are a source of inspiration in our lives and a source of strength for us.” Faten Abi Faraj, free-lance reporter working with Asharq Al Awsat.com
