A Study On The Times’s Report Of 2013-2015 Wimbledon

With Li Na winning two single grand-slams in 2011 and 2014,the passion of tennis has risen in China.The Wimbledon Open held in the UK is the oldest tennis tournament in the world,which has an irreplaceable position in the tennis world.The Times is a British daily newspaper which was founded in 1785,regarded as one of the most important newspapers in Britain.It has a significant influence on the whole world.With the development of new media,paper media are now facing great challenges but the Britain newspapers are still standing firmly.The successful experience of The Times contains both advantage of its reporter team and characteristics in editions of content,pictures and titles which is a worth experience.At present,lacking of attetion on specific sports event like tennis,most of the domestic academic researches on sports event of The Times have focused on comprehensive events such as the Olympics.Therefore,to some extent,this study could enrich the domestic research on western sports reportings and the communication of tennis.With growing passion of tennis in our country,the study will also provide reference for the developing Chinese tennis industry.The literature review chronologically collates early research and the one after the 2003 reform.With listing representative articles,this part mainly summarizes the domestic research achievement of The Times and the one on sports reporting.It not only gives theoretical basis to this study but also tries to find a new angle for the research.Using literature review,data statistics and content analysis,this paper takes Wimbledon reports of The Times during the period from 2013 to 2015 as research object to generalize characteristics of its tennis reporting.Firstly,the research compares the number of grand-slams reporting.The ammount of Wimbledon reporting is much more than any other grand-slams.Apparently,The Times pays more attention to Wimbledon.The shape of its daily reporting amount is like capital‘M’and the journalists have rich experience in sports journalism.Secondly,the paper describes characteristics of tennis reports on The Times in its editions,titles,photographs and charts.During the Wimbledon,the paper sets Sports·Wimbledon Editions and uses colourful pictures.It also sets ‘Wimbledon in 60seconds’ column to enrich its content.The titles of match reports mainly use present tense,structure of ‘Somebody do Something’and rhetoric to make them seem to be much more vivid.The titles of ‘Wimbledon in 60 Seconds’ are mostly short and chatty.The photographs congtainsports pictures and face closeups.The use of charts reflects its professionalism in sports reporting.Thirdly,the paper describes characteristics of tennis reports on The Times in its content and types.The study finds that The Times uses news to report Wimbledon more than correspondence and commentary.The news which show the full view of match is made up of match report and features.Correspondence tells the readers details in match and always has remarkable depth.Commentary gives professional opions on match process and results.Fourthly,the paper finds that The Times pays more attention on star athletes and domestic players.It pays more attention on Big 4.During the national players’ limited playing time,The Times reports everything of them.The paper also points out the defects and problems of sports reporting:the excessive entertainment content and the lack of women athletes.Finally,on the conclusion of the study,the last part combines with characteristics of domestic media and gives suggestions including the professional construcion of Chinese journalists,expansion of tennis content,emphasis on commentary,appropriate use of charts and increase content of features.