Press agency Sportsbeat has launched a dedicated women’s sports wire to meet an “increasing appetite” for coverage.
The daily “Her Sport” news feed, the first of its kind in the UK, will be free to use for all media outlets.
Sportsbeat said it set up the feed after seeing demand for women’s sports content reach an “all-time high”.
It follows England women’s football team’s World Cup success this summer, reaching the semi-final where they lost to cup winners the USA.
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Her Sport will provide five to six stories a day focusing mainly on domestic football, rugby, cricket and Olympic and Paralympic disciplines.
Output will increase output during significant sporting events, such as last weekend’s Solheim Cup golf tournament.
The feed will be edited by Sportsbeat’s women’s sports editor Ella Jerman (pictured). She tweeted: “Women’s sport belongs in the mainstream and we’re excited to provide the coverage far and wide, all- year round.”
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Sportsbeat, whose clients include national newspapers, broadcasters and specialist sports titles, said the feed cover everything from grassroots through to elite sports, “all with a British focus”.
It said it will provide content other publishers might like to carry but are unable to dedicate enough resources to cover effectively.
Sportsbeat managing director James Parsons said: “We want the story to not only be about improving the disparity in coverage of women’s sport but also about bringing greater diversity and inclusion of women in the newsroom and reporting on sport – something we have a strong track-record in, having helped launch the careers of many female sports journalists from our award-winning News Associates journalism courses.
“We have been very lucky to have the advice and counsel of some of the leading pioneers in women’s sport as we have developed the wire and we are confident that the content will not only meet the demands of our media clients but also champion female sports journalists to deliver that content.”
Several initiatives have already been launched this year to increase media coverage of women’s sports.
Earlier this month the title produced a 12-page FA Women’s Super League supplement at the start of the English domestic league, which it said was the first time it had been profiled in this way by a newspaper.
The National Council for the Training of Journalists has teamed up with PA to run a free training course this autumn which is designed to boost women’s sports journalism.
The charity Women in Sport has backed Sportsbeat’s new initiative after its research showed women’s sports coverage is inconsistent and can account for just 4 per cent of all sports reporting.
Women in Sport joint interim chief executive Wendy Hawk said: “The Her Sport wire will provide essential coverage of women’s sport all-year round and not just during major events.
“It’s great that Sportsbeat will be producing a drumbeat of women’s sport content which can be freely and easily accessed by the media every day. We look forward to seeing the great women’s sport stories that will be shared as a result of this initiative.”
Picture: Sportsbeat
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