Introducing The Reader
Welcome to The Reader, a new home for fan led analysis that'll be covering sports, film, and a little bit of everything in between. This page has just launched, and while there are plenty of features in the works, I wanted to start by pulling back the curtain on the person behind the keyboard. My name is Rosario Monachino. Currently, I am the editor, reporter, graphic designer, and (occasionally frustrated) tech guy for The Reader. I’m wearing a lot of hats right now, so I thought I’d share my backstory.
About me
My introduction into journalism started in my second year at university, where I was studying English and Film at the University of Salford and enrolled onto a Film Journalism module as part of my degree. Despite it getting cut short due to COVID, I got enough of a taste to decide that journalism was a career I wanted to pursue.
Realising that I lacked the experience compared to someone who studied it for three years, I decided to do a Masters degree in Journalism at Liverpool John Moores University, which was the best decision I made as it gave me the education and experience to help get my foot in to the world of journalism.
As my degree began to wind down, I managed to secure a job at a small entertainment publication where I became the film and tv 'expert' for the outlet and was responsible for gathering the weekly stats on how our articles performed (a bold choice by my boss considering it took me multiple attempts to pass maths).
I loved the job and the team I was a part of, but after a few years I felt I needed to try something else and went into the world of corporate communications. While I learned a lot about the 'business' side of things and learned corporate jargon ('circling back' has annoyingly become a part of my everyday vocabulary), I missed telling stories I actually cared about. So instead of looking for another journalist job, I've made the leap into starting my own publication.
What to expect
The Reader is a project that combines my two biggest passions: film (and TV) and sports. Starting with film, I would consider myself a bit of a film geek. I'm the type of guy to log on to Letterboxd once I've watched a film to give it my personal rating. Personally, I love a good action film and enjoy superhero content, so you can expect a lot of coverage around that. While I am not a fan of horror, for the love of the game I will be covering the genre as there are some incredible horror films out there (which I will watch, likely with my head behind a pillow). I can't forget about the small screen too as some of the best media in recent years has been binge-worthy series.
On the other side of the coin is my obsession with sports. If it’s a weekend, you’ll likely find me glued to the TV watching any football match I can find, regardless of the league or division. Despite being a 'below-average' player (and that is being generous) in my youth, I’ve always been fascinated by the tactical side of the game, so you can expect The Reader to provide fan-led analysis that looks beyond the scoreline.
Then there’s basketball. Unlike my football career (if you can even call it that), I actually played the sport at a reasonably high, competitive level until my early 20s, so I do have some understanding of what it is like to be on the court and the preparation that goes on behind the scenes. Similar to football, I will be providing deep dives on everything happening before and after tip off. Beyond the court and the pitch, I will be covering other sports including boxing, MMA, rugby, and Formula 1, along with others. There should be something for everyone!
The Reader's goal isn't to chase clicks or churn out hot (and probably controversial) takes, it's to provide the kind of discussions you might have with a mate over a drink.
Things are only just getting started at The Reader. I’ll be launching a dedicated newsletter soon to bring these deep dives straight to your inbox. In the meantime, feel free to subscribe if you'd like to stay up to date when new content is published!
Thanks for reading. Let’s get into it.
