ITALY - The career of the sports journalist Paola Ellisse

ITALY - The career of the sports journalist Paola Ellisse

The Italian partner - ASD Margherita Sport e Vita - shown as well how it could be interesting if basketball clubs/basketball federations had the opportunity to launch initiatives for female journalists:

⮚ Creating position, roles, in each basketball club for young journalist → this would involve the proper young athletes that would challenge themselves as journalists for their basketball team ⮚ The federations/organizations could organize sports journalists’ courses → if addressed to young basketball female player; it would build such a continuity (especially for those players who are most likely to drop up). ⮚ These famous female journalists (such as Paola Ellisse) should have more visibility and should be better known (just to make the idea: there is no Wikipedia page regarding Paola Ellisse).

Paola Ellise has been the first Italian woman to conduct and comment on TV the first Italian male basketball league.

She has spent 24 years in the most important sports TV channels (e.g. SkySport) commenting on the most important basketball events:

● Italian leagues; ● NBA; ● Euroleagues; ● NCAA championships.

She reached one of her best moments in her career in 2018 when she interviewed Michael Jordan.

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“It is not easy being a woman in a male world, even if I must admit that inside of the sports environment I have never felt discriminated - I have always been treated as “one” of the group, without distinctions. The problem comes from the outside, where it is more difficult. It is easier to forgive a mistake made by a man than a mistake made by a woman in this specific world. I must always show that I deserve the place where I have. During my job, for sure, I use a male language, but I try not to lose my female side. I am so proud of myself for having succeeded in a field, which is overwhelmed by male. I am proud of myself for having proved that even a woman can interview somebody at the end of a game. I just wait for some other woman willing to challenge and try it.”

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