SAHIL Jaidka is a freelance junior producer who works on the Sky News sports bulletins desk. He has recently moved to London from Clyde and Forth Media in Glasgow, where he ran the sports desk of a number of various regional newspapers, including the Clydebank Post.
He submitted this on Sunday, March 2.
What exactly is it that you do?
Good question! The great thing about my job is… I don’t actually have a set answer to that.
My work varies from day-to-day. Be it producing our sports bulletins which run on Sky News, or our online bulletins that can be accessed via our website, www.skysports.com, there is always something going on.
I monitor stories throughout the day, ensuring that we are keeping across everything that appeals to our audience. Be it watching press conferences as they come in to make sure we break the best stories or covering matches/events to provide the latest action, from the various sports Sky cover. For example, football, cricket, rugby, darts, Formula One and tennis, to name just a few.
It’s all about ensuring our on-air and online bulletins are delivering high-quality output for our viewers and always breaking news first.
As you can imagine, there is always something going on in the world of sport – which adds to the thrill of a day in the newsroom here at Sky.
What did your working day today or yesterday comprise?
So the first weekend of March was a prime example of highlighting the various work we do.
Saturday started off with me keeping an eye on football matches from Scotland, which made me feel just at home! From East Fife versus Rangers, I moved onto the English Premiership matches, including Southampton versus Liverpool.
As well as other matches to keep an eye on, there were different sports on the go too.
Sky Sports have exclusive rights to rugby Super League matches, so I covered some of them, cutting the best action, and then it was time for some Formula One as testing – ahead of the new season, which Sky Sports will show all the races from, live.
That gives you a flavour of the action we cover, and then there are sports news stories too, as you can imagine, and the main one of the day involved Newcastle manager, Alan Pardew’s altercation with a Hull City player.
Moving onto Sunday, it was Capital One Cup final day. I kept across the match and ensured we were updating viewers with the latest and best action every bulletin, and reaction from both teams after the game.
Following that, there was more English football with three games in the Premier League which I covered as well as matches from across Europe, with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, PSG and Juventus in action.
And England’s cricketers were on tour against the West Indies, so again, I made sure we had the best and latest action on-screen for our viewers, and reaction after the match.
Again, that gives you a taster of the different sports and stories you can cover on a weekend at Sky. I’m sure you can imagine that can create a real buzz in the newsroom, with so much top action going on.
So, those stories and host of games help build our bulletins that air on Sky News every hour, and also help shape our 30 minutes Sportsline shows, which run at 7.30pm and 9.30pm on the weekends, packed with great action, reaction and news.
But the content doesn’t just help with that. As mentioned, we also have bulletins on the skysports.com website, which I produced.
From general sports news bulletins, we also have a Premier League wrap, which takes you around all the Premier League grounds at full-time on a Saturday to give you the scores and latest manager reaction. So, next time you’re wanting a sports fix, check out the latest bulletin to see what it is we do.
As I’m sure you can tell, the varying tasks, covering different sports for different audiences, highlights how we aim to cater for everyone via our on-air and online bulletins. And it’s that varying nature is what makes this job a joy to walk into everyday, because there is always something different to do. As they say, no two days are the same!
How different or similar is your average working day to when you started?
I’ve gone from a small print newsroom, working largely on my own, to working for the world’s leading news broadcaster. You can imagine the change.
What I would say is my time in Glasgow, with a team that I still keep in touch with, do a great job, and it’s what I learnt there that gave me the grounding to move to a company like Sky.
I guess, like any journalist, every day involves a lot of news. I always need to know what’s happening and I’m always looking for story ideas. Some things never change.
At Sky, yes it is different, and I guess at the start there was a slight culture change – as you’d expect. However, one thing that hasn’t changed is working in a great atmosphere with a great team, that ultimately leads to a better output. Settling in from that point of view hasn’t been an issue and the buzz of no two days being the same, as I mentioned earlier, makes this new role a very exciting challenge and I can’t wait to see what the future holds here.
How do you see your job evolving?
I knew there would be a tough question soon. In short, as long as I keep doing well, progressing and developing, I’m not getting too carried away.
Everyone has an aim to continue excelling in their career and I don’t think I could have picked a better company to grow within, so let’s see what the future holds.
What gives you the most job satisfaction?
It’s when you know something you’ve been doing has worked out just right, or you’ve spotted a story no-one else has. They’re some of the things that show you are doing your job well. But, as long as I can play my part in helping us, as a team, have a successful day that’s all that matters. And as I say, there is always room for improvement, so I’ll never get too carried away.
