Telegraph’s Sport: going six days
The Daily Telegraph is to keep ahead in the game of sporting one-upmanship being played by national newspapers by becoming the first broadsheet to have a six-day-a-week, standalone sports supplement.
In 1990, the Telegraph was the first UK national to introduce a separate sports supplement on Mondays. That was followed in 1998 by a Saturday version.
From Tuesday, 15 May, an eight-page supplement will be added on the other four days – confirming, claims the Telegraph, its position as the UK’s leader in sportswriting.
Editor Charles Moore had a lunch with his sportswriters on Monday to spell out the new plans, which give increased space for a new structure of the main paper, and they were reported to have left the table "beaming".
Deputy editor Sarah Sands said the new section had been in the planning for months and insisted the move was not provoked by last week’s challenge from The Guardian – now producing two sports supplements a week: "Even we would not have had time to move that fast – we were thrilled about the timing."
The Telegraph is likely to take on more production journalists, initially in sport. "What writers always want is more space," said Sands.
The paper will now be able, it says, to showcase its writers on a daily basis, with more opportunities for visuals and photography. Its top sportswriters, contributors and columnists include Paul Hayward, Henry Winter, Michael Henderson, Mihir Bose, Tony McCoy, Colin Montgomerie, Michael Parkinson, Sebastian Coe, Rory Bremner, Alistair McGowan, Stuart Barnes and Mark Nicholas.
Sands said that all the nationals were now experimenting with sport and although The Guardian’s idea of an extended weekend was interesting, the sports calendar had changed and there were so many events midweek that they could not just be located at the weekend.
Business news will go to the back of the main paper and there will be more education, two pages of TV and radio coverage and more weather, which is moving to page two.
The sports supplement will be edited by sports editor David Welch. Moore said: "This is the most exciting development in our sports coverage since I became editor in 1995. A separate sports section every day will reassert the paper’s pre-eminence in sport and give a unique benefit to our readers."
by Jean Morgan
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