How a LCFC-loving Journalism student helped cover the club's fairytale story in the nationals

Quizzing shifty politicians. Rubbing shoulders with celebs. Reporting from crime scenes, murder trials, war zones, red carpets and Premier League football grounds … a career in journalism promises a thrilling blend of deadlines, headlines, bylines and adrenaline.

But how do you break into the news industry? First you need to learn the ropes. Then you need to start climbing them.  

In the second of our series focusing on savvy students at De Montfort University’s Leicester Centre for Journalism, Chris Whiting talks about his amazing experiences reporting on his love of LCFC - while still studying for his degree.

'Once you get your foot in the door, you have to keep it there'


"Standing in front of my television screen every Saturday afternoon in May, watching myself detail the Leicester City’s epic title challenge on Sky Sports News is not something I ever anticipated doing.

I’ve been very fortunate so far to have been able to work with so many respected broadcasters and newspapers like Sky Sports, The Guardian, The Huffington Post and others.

Like with Sky Sports News, my love, and hopefully knowledge, of Leicester City FC has given me opportunities to write and record my opinions on the club’s on-goings for nearly three years. As well as this, I have been fortunate enough to appear on BBC Radio Leicester’s Football Forum on a couple of occasions too.

Truthfully, I believe my ability to land these gigs and maintain stints with all of these publications has come from three things. Firstly, luck. Particularly when it comes to coverage of Leicester City, I’ve been exceptionally fortunate that they won the Premier League last season and continue to court controversy today.



Secondly, I got myself out there. And really all that means is being relentless in my writing and trying to get as many articles, columns and features published on as many different topics as I could. I wrote about football for the Leicester Mercury, politics for The Huffington Post or music or film or whatever else. If you can write about it, then write about it.

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And the recipe to keeping it all going is to tenacity. As I learned from my lecturer here at university, when it comes to journalism, once you get your foot in the door, you have to keep it there – and that’s really all I did. I managed to get a regular spot on Huffington Post’s blog front page, and impress Sky Sports and The Guardian enough for them to invite me back.

There really is no great secret to getting experience in journalism. If you can, and you want to, you will."

Chris Whiting is a third-year joint-honours journalism student at De Montfort University. Follow him on Twitter @ChrisRWhiting. Watch the video diary he made for the Guardian in the run-up to Leicester City’s incredible title triumph here.