Student internships in sports broadcasting must be more diverse By Heather McLean, Editor
Monday, March 11, 2019 - 16:27
Print This Story
Sports broadcasters need to increase the diversity of students taken on for internships, according to a lecturer at the University of Lincoln.
Students from the University of Lincoln have built up considerable experience in sports broadcasting by the time they are looking for internships, said John Cafferkey, senior lecturer and programme leader in the School of English and Journalism at the University of Lincoln which is based in Brayford Pool.
However, he believes that more can be done to help students from diverse backgrounds access internships.
University of Lincoln students hard at work [copyright University of Lincoln]
My main issue with internships in the broadcast industry is one of diversity, said Cafferkey.
We know it is an industry that lacks diversity; there are not enough women, low representation of black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) broadcasters and reporters and fewer opportunities for students from poorer backgrounds. Many internships involve students travelling to London or Manchester for an extended period, with no financial support to help students pay for travel, accommodation or food whilst they are on their placement.
For many students, who have to work while they are at university to support themselves, a week, two weeks or more on an internship is just not financially feasible. However, the University of Lincoln has helped students financially in the past and I would be happy to work with any broadcaster to ensure that our students had the best opportunity of a career in the industry, Cafferkey added.
Cafferkey commented that while the area of sports broadcast can be hard to get into, the University of Lincoln has made great inroads into developing relationships with broadcasters: Sports broadcasting is a very competitive industry to break into but, as a school, we pride ourselves in having industry experience, great contacts in the industry and of course our alumni who are working in the industry.
[copyright University of Lincoln]
I have personally spent time with Sky Sports News and BBC Sport in order to forge working relationships and to gain industry recognition for Sports Journalism at Lincoln. Those efforts are reaping benefits with graduates from Lincoln working at Sky Sports, BBC Sport and ITV Sport, he noted.
Journalism and Sports Journalism at Lincoln are built on three pillars of production, Cafferkey noted: writing, audio and video. He added: All of our students are required to produce work using audio and video production, as well as building their presenting skills. Students in our newsrooms take part in news days where they produce their own news and sport content, delivered on an outward facing web platform.
Sports Journalism students also work closely with Lincoln City Football Club and BBC Radio Lincolnshire to produce sports content and take part in live programmes, said Cafferkey. In terms of the skills they possess, our students are proficient in video and audio editing, writing sports copy and scripts, conducting interviews with sports people and presenting their own sports content on the school website.
While some in sports broadcast have said that university students lack real hands-on experience when they leave their courses, Cafferkey said: I disagree with that statement entirely. Students doing sports journalism at Lincoln are producing work every week, be it during work experience or at several football clubs including Lincoln City, Scunthorpe United and Huddersfield Town. Students are also producing practical work for their own platforms at the university and for their coursework. In fact, just last week, a student from the School of English and Journalism at Lincoln won the RTS Midlands Award for his documentary on women in horseracing, whilst another student was shortlisted in the same category for a film on artificial pitches.
Audio production student at the University of Lincoln practices his skills [copyright University of Lincoln]
The University of Lincoln is keen to engage and work with industry partners in the world of broadcasting, media, film, journalism, design and production. Students are based in the university's Media, Film and Broadcast Centre, a specialist production environment with two multi-camera television studios, three radio studios, audio editing suites, a writers' room and a green screen room. Elsewhere, there are four video editing suites with a range of editing software including, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere. The Parlour Suite offers students the opportunity to learn how to use post-production software including Autodesk Flame and DaVinci Resolve. It provides facilities for colour correction, creative compositing and image repair in an inviting and creative space.
Many academic staff in the University of Lincoln School of Film and Media are current media practitioners who are engaged with professional bodies, such as the Royal Television Society, the British Society of Cinematographers and the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies, ensuring that course content is informed by the latest industry developments. BAFTA-winning television dramatist Neil McKay and documentary-maker Nick Gray are visiting professors in the School.
The University of Lincoln also houses the Media Archive for Central England (MACE) the specialist and regional public film archive for the East and West Midlands, caring for a historically significant collection of over 70,000 moving image records of the region.
If you would like to engage with students, offer internships or develop an internship programme, or create any other opportunity for student participation, the University of Lincoln would like to hear from you.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
When Canada qualified for the FIFA World Cup 2026, OneSoccer knew this wasn'...
04/07/2026
Celebrates company's 80th anniversary
Rhodes have recently revealed that they will be producing a limited run of electric pianos in celebration of their...
04/07/2026
Blackmagic Design Cameras Empower Youth Broadcasting Program
Brie Clayton July 3, 2026
0 Comments
Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 6K Pro and Blackmagi...
04/07/2026
iZotope Joins Boris FX
Boris Yamnitsky July 3, 2026
0 Comments
iZotope, the team behind RX and Ozone, is joining Boris FX. A letter from founder Boris...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
03/07/2026
New bundle & three Single Packs
Continuing to expand their already sizeable orchestral collection, VSL's latest release introduces three new Single Pack...
03/07/2026
Venue installs new ATC-equipped control room
LSO St Luke's, a unique music venue that also serves as the home of the London Symphony Orchestra, have rec...
03/07/2026
Caden Pearson appointed new Commissioning Editor for NITV
3 July, 2026
Media releases
National Indigenous Television (NITV) has strengthened its commitment...
03/07/2026
1 February 2023
SHARE Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email
Munich, Germany, 1st February 2023: Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software technology for digit...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
03/07/2026
Death Star
Andy Marken July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Look, I can't get involved. I've got work to do. It's not that I like the Empire; I hate i...
03/07/2026
Berklee's New Visual Identity: Honoring Our History, Building for What's...
03/07/2026
Scripps Research scientists awarded $2M to advance global disease surveillance Two Gates Foundation grants will expand wastewater surveillance and AI-driven dis...
03/07/2026
Joan Pulupa joins Scripps Research faculty to study the organization of DNA in brain cells and its links to neurodegeneration Using smell-sensing neurons and ad...
02/07/2026
Entering her senior year, this hometown girl is paving a career in live sports production gaining experience in replay and audio and as a TD
In the live-sports...
02/07/2026
In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...
02/07/2026
BLAST, a competitive entertainment company focused on esports, has announced more than $133 million in revenue for 2025, representing more than 40% year-over-ye...
02/07/2026
Riedel Communications has announced official SKAARHOJ panel support for SimplyLive production workflows, enabled through the SimplyLive 2.1 release. The integra...
02/07/2026
The Fire Rescue Service of the Czech Republic has deployed LiveU video-over-bond...
02/07/2026
Gravity Media USA has announced the appointment of Brittney Boston as Head of Business Development, effective July 1, 2026. Based in Nashville, Tennessee, Bosto...
02/07/2026
TwelveLabs, a video intelligence company, has announced $100 million in Series B funding co-led by NEA and NAVER Ventures, with participation from Amazon, Radic...
02/07/2026
The Pro Padel League (PPL) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports that will air five PPL championship matches on CNBC during the 2026 season, the...
02/07/2026
LiveLike, a digital fan engagement platform, has announced eight confirmed FIFA ...
02/07/2026
Cobalt Digital has received Future's Best of Show Award, presented by AV Technology at InfoComm 2026, for its blueCORE family of standalone signal processor...
02/07/2026
Synamedia has announced the appointment of Dr. Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transition...
02/07/2026
The Esports Foundation (EF) and Sony Group Corporation have announced an expanded collaboration for the Esports World Cup 2026 (EWC), taking place in Paris, Fra...
02/07/2026
Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. ( Z') has announced exclusive broadcast and digital rights for the Bundesliga in India for five years, beginning with the...
02/07/2026
An effort uniting News, Sports, Local, and Telemundo, the 50+-camera live produc...
02/07/2026
Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, Ken Marino, Miles Gutierrez-Riley, and Ben Wang appe...
02/07/2026
Stammering, stuttering, strangulated tones
The Crow Hill Company's latest creation promises to be the most original sound set they've produced to d...
02/07/2026
A new era in unmixing and spectral editing
The latest version of Steinberg's spectral audio-editing software has just arrived, building on the strength...
02/07/2026
Aims to simplify additive synthesis
Sine Machine is the debut launch from Melatonin, a Vienna-based developer who have spent the past six years creating wha...
02/07/2026
Products to remain fully active & supported
Following the news of Native Instruments joining the inMusic brand line-up, Academy and Emmy Award-winning visua...
02/07/2026
What you missed!
Last weekend, Saturday 27 June 2026, saw the debut of Sound On Sounds new GearExpo UK event, the largest dedicated pro-audio event to take ...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Following the successful launch of its inaugural APAC Mentoring Programme last month, the Rise AV APAC Regional Council will bring the conversation around mento...
02/07/2026
Blackmagic PYXIS 6K Used to Shoot Director Takahisa Zeze's Cry Out
Brie Clayton July 2, 2026
0 Comments
Highly mobile camera supports tense and de...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions acquires BFE, expanding its lead in European broadcast, medi...
02/07/2026
Berklee Alum and Faculty Perform at Boston Public Library's 250th Anniversar...
02/07/2026
Broadcast Solutions GmbH, a leading systems integrator and provider of innovative solutions for the broadcast media industry, is acquiring BFE Studio und Medien...
02/07/2026
Cinegy GmbH, the premier provider of software-defined television technology, has extended the ingest facility at leading Brazilian sports company LiveMode, work...
02/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
02/07/2026
Standalone processors acknowledged for the innovation and value they bring to Pro AV
Cobalt Digital, a leading designer and manufacturer of signal processing ...
02/07/2026
Synamedia announced today the appointment of Dr Tzvi Gerstl as Chief Executive Officer. Paul Segre, who has served as CEO for the past six years, will transitio...
Student internships in sports broadcasting must be more diverse By Heather McLean, Editor 
