WSU: Faculty-Led France & Belgium: Sports, News Media, & The World's Greatest Bicycle Race

The Tour de France -- the most famous bicycling race in the world – began more than a century ago to boost sales for a French newspaper, L’Auto. Created as a marketing tool in a newspaper war, the tour now provides a window into the symbiosis between sports and the news media. This program lets students learn about the history of international sports media, and provides a field laboratory for multi-platform sports storytelling as students follow the riders on the 2019 Tour de France. Students will spend one week in online preparation, followed by a week in Paris, where they examine the international sports scene including its Olympic Games (both past and the 2024 Games), the French Open, and the 2019 Women’s World Cup. The students will cover the culture of the race through the communities along the route.