July 2 is the World Sports Journalists’ Day. Young Journalists of the Gazprom International Children’s Social Programme Football for Friendship decided to find out the secrets of the trade from their adult colleagues through a series of online interviews. Several representatives of large sports media answered the questions of Young Correspondents: Euronews sports editor Andy Robini, Mundo Deportivo correspondent Jose Gil-Vernet, Liverpool FC Correspondent for Goal Neil Jones, RT Sport and Okko Sport journalist Alexey Yaroshevsky, and others.

These interviews became a part of the Good News Editorial Office special, which will be available on the programme’s YouTube channel. Good News is a weekly programme initiated by the Young Journalists of the Football for Friendship programme. During the pandemic, the children decided to support the world with good news. Over 50 girls and boys from different countries took part in the initiative and shared good news from their regions. In addition to covering news, Young Journalists also conducted several online interviews with professional footballers, and went live with a special discussion episode ‘Spo(r)tlight’.

“Being able to interview the known sports journalists, Alexey and Neil, was so exciting for me! I got to know about their lives, work, and inspiration and share it with other people. The whole experience taught me to be more responsible because of the research and preparation I had to do. I also learned to be more confident. Sports journalism is a lot of hard work, but it is fun!” shared his thoughts Matteo De Venecia, the Young Correspondent from the Philippines.

The children were eager to bring the idea of a special episode with their adult colleagues to life. Young Journalists understood that professional solidarity unites all regardless of age. The journalists were happy to participate in the special, attentive in their answers, and, of course, managed to ask and give advice to future professionals. Andy Robini, the Euronews TV Channel Sports Editor, talked about the importance of content:

“I think sports journalism has evolved, mainly due to social media which is an extremely powerful tool. So, to our viewers watching it is important to choose the content wisely, choose the sources wisely, don’t go to clickbait articles, just go for the good content.”

Young Journalists of the Football for Friendship programme asked their adult counterparts about the most memorable sports events they attended, and about funny stories that happened during their careers.

“Clearly, I’m most proud of the way we as part of the RT network masterminded the coverage of the 2018 World Cup. It wasn’t a one-day thing, it took almost a whole year of filming, preparation, producing, actually being on there. But the feedback and the way people reacted to our project… It was just astonishing,” shared his story Alexey Yaroshevsky, RT Sport and Okko Sport journalist.

Sports journalism is the basis of football’s popularity as a sport. Thanks to correspondents, millions of people can follow games, learn the latest news about their idols, and broaden the knowledge of their favourite game. That is why Young Journalists are the key participants of Football for Friendship. Every year they improve their skills participating and covering the events of the programme all around the world.

Information about the programme: The International Children’s Social Programme Football for Friendship is implemented by Gazprom since 2013. The key values promoted by the programme’s participants are friendship, equality, fairness, health, peace, devotion, victory, traditions, and honour. Football for Friendship is supported by FIFA, UEFA, International Olympic Committee, football federations of different countries, children’s charitable foundations, famous athletes, and the world’s leading football clubs. Over the previous seven seasons, the programme has united over 6 000 participants and over 5 000 000 supporters, including famous athletes, artists, and politicians. The programme has 47 national and international awards, including the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS® title for the Most nationalities in a football training session in history. Programme’s official online resources:

Photo and video materials for the media: http://media.footballforfriendship.com
Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/FootballForFriendship/
Official YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/FOOTBALL4FRIENDSHIP
Official Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Football_for_Friendship
Official Twitter account: https://twitter.com/f4fprogramme
Official website: https://www.gazprom-football.com/en/football-for-friendship/about/