Top sports journalists and academics will debate the threat posed by digital media to their profession at a summit at the University of Central Lancashire in Preston later this month.

The Journalism Leaders’ Forum will tackle the subject on 29 January and the event’s chairman, Charlie Lambert, veteran BBC North West sports reporter, says sports journalists are in danger of losing control of the news in the face of powerful wealthy clubs and stars.

He thinks that now big teams such as Manchester United and Chelsea now have their own media to report news (both have cable TV channels, monthly magazines and hugely popular websites), the way professional journalists deal mwith this is one of the key challenges facing them.