How would you cover a multi-issue scandal such as the FIFA crisis, which led to the resignation of the newly re-elected president of the organization, Sepp Blatter? Consider the shock to the football community after the corruption charges against its top brass. Figure out the repercussions that will go far beyond sports. Weigh the political implications.
The complexity of the issue supposes expert knowledge of football, criminal law, international relations. Besides, with a developing story like that you will need to have journalists on location.
How will you find the right journalists to report the developments? That could be a tough challenge, but it is manageable if you have a database of journalist profiles, bios, contact details.
Let’s say that you need a freelancer working from Zurich. Next, you may want additional exposure, that is the services of a journalist with 50,000+ Twitter followers. All you have to do is enter the relevant search criteria and the database management system will match them against the records.
What is more, you need someone with a specific background who has reporting experience on corruption issues in sports. The football community has been shaken by allegations of match-fixing in the FIFA World Cup. The tension between FIFA and UEFA is escalating, the relationship between the presidents is deteriorating.
You may need someone versed in corruption and criminal law. Important people in the football world were detained and charged with bribery, wire fraud and money laundering.
How about International relations? Soon after the arrests were made public, Russian president Vladimir Putin called the attack on FIFA a US plot to prevent the re-election of Sepp Blatter. The country clearly has a lot riding on the hosting of the FIFA World Cup in 2018 while voices are already calling for cancelling the awards to Russia and Qatar (2022). The Arab country’s public image was additionally tarnished by publications of mistreatment of migrant workers building the stadiums.
The good thing about databases is that it only takes a second to do such complex searches and leaves you with more time to focus on improving the service, as well as delivering quality content to the customers.
In the last couple of years, we at A Data Pro have gained significant experience of managing an online media contacts database platform for a big international client. With that know-how we would be able to provide a simple solution to the complex problem of finding the right journalists to cover an event of such magnitude.
