As many of you will know, the Olympics has just finished and the Paralympics is almost upon us. Being the two biggest sporting events in the world today, it is no wonder that the year in which the Games occur, is a very busy and important time at the Western Australian Institute of Sport.
I recently began my internship at the Western Australian Institute of Sport in the Corporate Communications department. The Institute, or WAIS as it is most commonly referred to, is the home of all Western Australian elite athletes. It exists in order to provide athletes with opportunities to achieve excellence on both the National and International stage, providing exceptional coaching and support services.
In knowing this, you can understand why the Olympics and Paralympics is so important at WAIS. It is one of the most important competitions in world sport, drawing the attention of media outlets worldwide. Since I began my internship, after the conclusion of the Olympic Games, the Paralympics has been a key focus of the work that I have been completing.
On Tuesday the 26th of September I had the opportunity to attend a Paralympic focused media event where The Sunday Times were interviewing and photographing three Western Australian, Australian Rollers players ahead of there departure to Rio. The Australian Rollers are the men’s Wheelchair Basketball team and are currently ranked number one in the world, meaning there are high expectations of them heading into Rio.
Following The Sunday Times interview a conversation arose surrounding the media and the most effective times to approach them with media releases and news angles. As I’ve previously stated, during the Olympics this topic is not so much of an issue for WAIS, as the media is constantly in contact wanting to cover the latest Olympic and Paralympic news. Where media coverage is more of a challenge is outside of these times and hence this is when WAIS must be more strategic in their approach.
A number of different sports are encompassed within the Western Australian Institute of Sport, including netball, hockey, water polo, athletics and swimming, however it is no secret that these sports are no competition for news coverage during the cricket or AFL seasons. The Corporate Communications Coordinator at WAIS fully understands this and therefore has developed strategies to strike whilst he has the chance, at gaps and breaks in seasons.
Obviously if a story of high interest arises, or a story surrounding a well known WAIS athlete comes around anytime during the year, media releases will be sent with high hopes that the story will be snapped up by journalists. As WAIS sports generally don't pull the interest of the community as much as cricket or AFL, there is little point in writing media releases and trying to get general stories published during their seasons. With this in mind, WAIS gathers and prepares information for media releases during the AFL and cricket seasons and then sends them in between seasons. These times are when sports news is more scarce. The releases which are saved and sent specifically within these times are general interest stories, including athletes who has overcome illness in their childhood which may have previously effected their ability to participate in sport.
I found this insight from my supervisor to be interesting as it was something which I hadn’t thought of before. It makes me consider how organisations in other industries may be faced with similar issues and how they may choose to disperse their information in the case of such occurrences. Having this knowledge will benefit me moving forward into the industry after I graduate and I’m looking forward to other insights which I’ll gather through my internship, along with further developing the information we have learnt through our PR studies at uni.
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