Story and photo by Fatima Hassan. 

Sana Hamouche, senior presenter and producer at Al Jazeera English, spoke about her experience in sports journalism to a crowd of approximately 30 people at Northwestern University in Qatar last Thursday afternoon.

After completing a master’s degree in broadcast journalism from Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom, Hamouche was hired at Al Jazeera English as a runner. Her duties included taking scripts to anchors, tapes to editors and completing general tasks.

She said she was disappointed to be assigned such a basic role, but eventually she was able to work her way up. During this time, an opportunity opened up for becoming a weather presenter.

“I overlooked it,” she said. “And that was a mistake. I could have taken that job and then worked my way higher.”

Eventually her hard work paid off. She was hired as an assistant producer for a show called “The Press.”  She then went on to became a sports presenter and co-producer. Currently she hosts the show “Sports World” on Al Jazeera English.

However, Hamouche said that while rising to the rank of  presenter is a common aspiration among television reporters, a budding journalist can only gain experience and improve their skill set if they go out into the field, talk to people and make new contacts.

“You only improve when you go out there and find the story,” she said.

She added that being multilingual is another skill that is an asset for a reporter.  She speaks Arabic, French and English fluently, which she said has helped her to advance her career.

“Sometimes people will express themselves better in their own language,” she said.

“For example, the European Championship will happen in France [UEFA Euro 2016], and most people will prefer speaking in French to the reporters, so that is important,” she added.

Hamouche also gave an example of a friend, a sports presenter, who helped translate breaking news.

“I had a friend in Al Jazeera who spoke Polish and English fluently. One day, we got to know that a plane fell in Poland with, I think, the brother of the president or the candidate or someone,” she recounted to the audience. “It was breaking news because the person had died in the plane crash. So they had the news from the Polish network but it wasn’t translated since the translator wasn’t there yet. My friend was a sports presenter, but then someone called her and asked her to translate the news. So she was interpreting it live on-air, even though she was a sports journalist.”

The lesson learned, she explained: “Don’t make it only sports. Have a wide skill set.”

Hamouche also addressed a common misconception people have about sports journalism:

“Sports journalism is not only about who won or who scored. You need to find a good story.”

Stories covering the personal lives and struggles of players attract people to read the sports section just as much as game coverage does, she said.

“For example, there was a Syrian football team practicing in Oman. These are people who don’t have anything left. But they still represent their country. Then there is the Iraqi football team and the Palestinian football team. There is so much conflict but these teams cross borders to play football,” she explained.

“These are good stories, or what we call fairytale stories. Sometimes, they will take a good story like this and put it in the news, not only in the sports section. That is why you need to expand more and have a greater skill set.”

For students aspiring to be sports journalists, Hamouche encouraged gaining experience through internships and part-time jobs.

“Degree, internships, work experience and contacts are what set CVs apart,” she said. “Stay in contact with people you’ve worked with and that could become a big step for you.”

She also advised students to have a passion and an interest in sports and to develop a personality that stands out.

Mouhyemen Ahmed Khan, a graduate from Texas A&M University at Qatar, attended the public event.

“It is clear that she is passionate about her work,” he said. “One of the interesting things I learned today was that the best time to apply to internships is when there are big sports events, because that is when they need the most coverage.”

Jesse Manley, administrative assistant in NU-Q’s Information Technology department, was also in the audience.

“I was a disappointed with the turnout since I was hoping there would be a lot more journalism students there. This was worthy for them to attend since there is a professional journalist coming to address them,” he said. “However, I really enjoyed the event. I was happy that she was able to come and share her insights, thoughts and experiences with us.”