Reporting live from Paris: ASU journalism students to cover Olympic Games

To hear the word Paris is to think of picnics at the base of the Eiffel Tower, long afternoons spent in the Louvre and boat rides on the Seine. Competitive sports aren’t normally top of mind.

However, a group of Arizona State University students will get to experience all these things and more while reporting on the Summer Olympics.

And it’s safe to say they’ll be feeling the pressure to succeed almost as much as the athletes.

About two dozen young journalists and content creators plan to file approximately 100 pieces of content across a variety of platforms in an overseas operation covering 15,000 athletes in 32 sports over three weeks.

“Our students have the opportunity to do something that most veterans in this business have not done, which is remarkable,” said Brett Kurland, assistant dean and a professor of practice at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. “When they go sit in job interviews, the people who are hiring will be asking them about it because they haven’t done it. … Every one of them will asking students, ‘Tell me about that experience? What was that like?’”

Kurland, along with Cronkite News Phoenix Sports Bureau Director Paola Boivin and Rian Bosse, a PhD candidate and faculty associate, will travel with 25 students to Paris. Upon arrival, they’ll provide Olympic coverage for approximately 170 clients, hone their skills, earn academic credit and learn about a new culture in an immersive study-abroad program.

The trip is part of an established and robust journalism program at the Cronkite School that features a range of sports journalism classes and reporting bureaus in Phoenix and Los Angeles. Recently, Cronkite students have covered the Super Bowl, the NBA playoffs, Major League Baseball spring training and the 2024 men’s Final Four in Glendale, Arizona.

The Paris 2024 Games will officially kick off July 26 and run through Aug. 11. For the first time in its history, the Olympic opening ceremony will not take place in a stadium but in a body of water. It’s set to be held on the Seine, the river that serves as the city’s main artery.

Bosse said he expects the students to thrive in this setting even though they’ll be traveling abroad, which presents certain challenges.

“There are language and cultural barriers, as well as finding local sources to talk to and navigating a big metropolitan city in a foreign land,” said Bosse, who has traveled to Chile, Hungary and Mexico for study abroad and research programs. “We’ll help guide students and overcome the challenges of reporting in a large international city. But I’m just as excited as they are because they’re ready and they work hard.”

Students will be expected to turn in several stories while in Paris, producing digital text and broadcast packages for media, including The Arizona Republic/azcentral, Arizona PBS, 12 News KPNX-TV and nearly 170 other news outlets. They’ll also take planned excursions to landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre and Disneyland Paris.

“Paris is one of the world’s greatest tourist destinations, and we’ll be there for one of the world’s greatest events,” said Kurland, an Emmy-winning producer. “Our students will become residents of this city in the three weeks we’ll be there. They’ll be equipped with a map and either walk or take trains to cover stories. It’s going to be an immersive learning and education experience like no other.”

Students will receive credentials from the Paris Media Centre at the iconic Carreau du Temple, along with approximately 1,300 other reporters from around the world. The access will allow them to report from various Olympic sites in and around the city and to attend press conferences.

They’ll also be required to turn in a preview story before they depart for France on July 21.

Doyal D'angelo recently completed his assignment: how Paris plans to make this the most sustainable Olympic Games in history, aligning with the Paris Agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. D'angelo said the Olympic committee wanted to send a message to the world.

“They want to cut carbon emissions by 50% compared to the London (2012) and Rio (2016) Olympics by using 95% of its existing venues,” said D'angelo, a master’s student in sports journalism. “The goal is to make this the greenest Olympics ever. I think it’s admirable.”

D'angelo said one of his personal goals will be to entrench himself in French culture — explore the city, observe how it is laid out, meet and talk with locals, and eat their traditional cuisine.

“There’s a lot for me to learn having never been outside of the United States,” D'angelo said. “It’s an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the world at large.”

Second-year sports journalism major Grace Johnson said covering the Olympics for Cronkite was what initially sold her on attending ASU.

“In the fall of my senior year of high school, I remembered walking with my mom and a tour guide on the second level of the Cronkite building and we stopped in front of the Sports Bureau,” said Johnson, who is from Orange County, California. “The tour guide said, ‘We send people to the Olympics, and we’re planning on going to Paris.' Right then and there my eyes lit up, and I just looked at my mom. My parents later said, ‘Don’t worry about the money. We’re gonna make this happen.’”

Johnson will be covering golf and is working on a preview story about Sun Devil Men's Golf Head Coach Matt Thurmond, who will have several of his players appear in the Olympic Games. But when she gets to Paris, Johnson is excited to cover stories about the French culture.

“I want to do a deep dive and find the best croissant in Paris, something more from a lighthearted and funny journalism aspect,” Johnson said. “Dave Portnoy (from Barstool Sports) often goes around the country and rates pizzas. Mine will be the same approach. I also want to write about street painters in Paris because we don’t see that too often in the United States.”

As a narrative and emerging media master's degree student, Melanie Hogue plans to give an extra dimension to her stories by using the latest advancements in technology to create immersive experiences.

“Part of my major is learning how to use technology to tell stories in new ways,” said HogueHogue is enrolled in a master’s program that is a collaborative effort between the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts and the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication., who is working on her second master’s degree. “So, when I heard about this program, I was excited to have the opportunity to put everything I’ve learned in my classes on a global stage. The Olympics is one of the largest stories in the world right now, and there’s no better place to put my new skills to the test.”

And Hogue is not short on ideas. She plans on using photogrammetry, which leverages photographs to develop 3D models.

“Let’s say the Olympics unveils a new statue that commemorates a historical figure,” Hogue said. “I can go and capture that statue in 3D and allow readers to interact with it right there in the story.” 

Hogue said she’ll most likely use augmented reality to develop a historical piece on female athletes in the Olympics.

“Paris is truly a historical place for milestones concerning women,” Hogue said. “In 1900, Paris was the first Olympics where women could compete. Now over a hundred years later, we have an equal number of women and men athletes competing. This is the first year that’s ever happened, and something worth celebrating.

Hogue said she also plans on using 360-degree video that allows for readers to get a panoramic view of something in front and behind the lens as well as a Snapchat Lens where people visiting the Seine can take a true/false quiz on the river.

“Creating these stories and experiences in a unique way is going to be a bit more challenging than usual, but that’s what this trip is all about — having a once-in-a-lifetime experience and overcoming one of the biggest challenges I could give myself.”