Capturing the World Cup 2018, the Reuters way
We spoke to Ossian Shine, global head of sport, about what’s in store for Reuters coverage of the upcoming 2018 World Cup
By Ella Wilks-Harper | Apr 04, 2018
Ossian Shine, global head of sport at Reuters, started his sports journalism career covering the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Drawn to the news aspects of sport, Shine covered the Atlanta’s Centennial Olympic Park bomb, which killed one and injured more than 100.
He later joined Reuters in 1997 as a sports news sub-editor before becoming global head of sport in 2013, where he manages a team of award-winning journalists based around the world.
In this Q&A, Shine tells us what to expect from Reuters coverage of the upcoming 2018 World Cup…
Our reporting is way more intelligent now than it’s ever been. It’s trying to tell the stories that you have to be on the ground and peeking behind the red curtain to know about and to be able to interpret properly. ”
Ossian Shine, global editor, sport, lifestyle and entertainment, Reuters
What exclusives are you most proud of?
The most recent great scoop we had was the doping in Russia. It showed our strength to its best effect because Gabrielle (Tetrault-Farber), who is our correspondent in Moscow, has got great contacts within the Russian organization. So we were able to bring that news internationally and stay ahead of it with great Russian linguists.
It’s those sort of fast breaking stories that I think I’m most proud of, where we can use all of Reuters skill sets, languages and expertize in a way that nobody else really can do.
How has sports coverage changed since you started?
Well the levels of sophistication have just gone through the roof. In the early days, it was a simple job of turning up to sports, watching it, writing down what you see and sharing that with everyone. Now nobody wants that anymore, it has zero value.
So you actually have to contextualize things a bit more, you need to be more analytical. You need to look at ‘so what does this mean’ aspect of the story because by the time you fired up your laptop what you’ve just seen is history.
Our reporting is way more intelligent now than it’s ever been. It’s trying to tell the stories that you have to be on the ground and peeking behind the red curtain to know about and to be able to interpret properly.
The great thing about Reuters is wherever the news happens we’ve got fantastic correspondents and bureaus that we can leverage and use to capture sports news in multiple formats.
We have more text reporters covering, filing and shooting video than we’ve ever had. It just grows our footprint and increases our multimedia capabilities.”
Ossian Shine, global editor, sport, lifestyle and entertainment, Reuters
The 2018 World Cup is fast approaching. What are you most excited about?
We’ve got a really fantastic bureau in Moscow right at the top of their game. We’ve got a sports correspondent who’s fantastically plugged into the news scene.
It’s similar to the Brazilian World Cup in as much as the host cities are very remote from each other and the travel times can be challenging. We will be setting up teams of reporters, of TV journalists and photographers at each venue and they will be ‘owning’ that venue, the teams will be coming to them.
What I’ve always enjoy about running a team for Reuters is that we have experts coming from all over the world, with all the required wisdom, knowledge, experience and languages. So we’ve got correspondents coming from Latin America who speak Portuguese.
What access has Reuters got for the games? Can you tell me about the multimedia coverage that clients can expect?
We will be covering every game and we will cover pretty much every news conference before and after. But again this is where our correspondents often turn up the goods. I mean we’re spending time now trying to build those relationships, so that when we get to Russia we will know some of the players.
We have more text reporters covering, filing and shooting video than we’ve ever had. It just grows our footprint and increases our multimedia capabilities.
With Reuters coverage of this year’s World Cup, your audience will be the first to know when the biggest stories break…”
How are we going to top our coverage since the last World Cup?
We’re evolving with the news landscape and so are our reporters across the ground are sophisticated in the way we cover events, we’re using different tools.
Already in day-to-day life we are shooting more and more video than we certainly did in the Brazil World Cup, so it will be a more multimedia product.
Who do you think is going to win?
I tend not to support anyone as it saves disappointment! But I’d like the Russians to do well because it always improves the atmosphere of the World Cup when the host nation goes on a really good run. But I think Germany will win.
What to expect from Reuters World Cup package?
We have all the content you need to cover the entire tournament with no long-term commitment.
Our two-month subscription entitles you to articles, video packages and pictures ready-to-publish on your website and social media.
This includes:
- Match reports, stats & analysis
- Live transmissions on the days of the opening and final matches in Moscow
- Live breaking news
- Live coverage from the official fan zones
- Exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes video footage
- In-game pictures
- Player & team profiles
Find out more & get in touch with us about Reuters World Cup package.