Publishing for Paydirt: A Case Study of an Athletic Department Writer

This paper explores how in-house sports reporters—those who write for team- and league-branded websites—locate themselves within the sports media production complex. It builds from perspectives on professionalism that view it as a dynamic process of defining boundaries and building relationships between systemic stakeholders. The interview data presented here find that in-house reporters accentuate professional similarities to beat reporters and use this identity to build unique roles in sports organizations’ corporate structures. This push to define themselves as a distinct job category within the constellation of sports media professions speaks to the active work occupational groups engage in, and is reshaping the media system. The paper argues for a broader reconsideration of professional definitions, actors, and relationships within the sports media system as digital technology and other changes have altered preexisting relationships.

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has made it easier for in-house reporters to argue for a place in the field. While early work on in-house production found commitment to a commercial role (Scherer & Jackson, 2008), more recent studies have found in-house reporters making stronger claims to journalistic identity (Mirer, 2019; Yanity, 2013).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Just How They Drew It Up: How In-House Reporters Fit Themselves Into the Sports Media System

Mirer

2021

“…This development highlights a shift from mediatization to deep mediatization, through sports organisations focusing on digital technologies, media, infrastructures and data (see Hepp, 2020). As a result, sport has been an agent for media change through these organisations starting, developing and growing their own media platforms, although this has occurred at different levels across sports and nations (Frandsen, 2016(Frandsen, , 2020Mirer & Harker, 2021;Yanity, 2013). In many parts of the field, sports organisations are now setting the rules for traditional sports news media (Evans, 2021;Sherwood et al, 2017aSherwood et al, , 2017b.…”

Section: Sport Sports Reporting and Mediatizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The relationship between sports journalists and the organisations, teams and players they report on has transformed over the past two decades (Evans, 2021; Mirer & Harker, 2021; Yanity, 2013). While sport has often had a mediatized focus, such as throughout the history of the Tour de France (see Frandsen, 2020), more recent changing media dynamics created by digitalisation have dramatically altered the environment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sports Newsrooms Versus In-House Media: Cheerleading and Critical Reporting in News and Match Coverage

English

2021

The mediatization of sport has created a rise in sports organisations expanding their media presence through digital platforms. However, the often-opposing ambitions of in-house media and sports journalism newsrooms highlight a contest over boundaries. This article examines how the mediatization of sport has impacted on content in in-house and traditional newsrooms and whether it is more aligned with journalism or public relations. The study analyses the coverage of both news and match reporting in six newspaper websites and five national sports organisation websites in Australia. The qualitative analysis is based on a sample of 466 text-based stories and focuses predominantly on elements of critical reporting and cheerleading. The findings outline how mediatization of sport through in-house publications is changing the boundaries of sports media and sports journalism. There were often strong divisions between the coverage in the sports organisations and news publications, with the in-house titles usually the more promotional, positive and less critical.

“…These journalists argue their work reflects “adhering to standards of truth and maintaining a personal independence” (Mirer, 2019, p. 9). Yet most professional sports organizations now employ journalists to produce team news, as a result of financial troubles in the news industry, and make similar ethical claims (Kian & Zimmerman, 2012; Yanity, 2013). Journalists who work for sports organizations often reject the perception that they have left the journalistic field—noting their adherence to journalistic norms, despite working actively for a particular sports organization.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a “Digital” Sports Journalism: Field Theory, Changing Boundaries and Evolving Technologies

Perreault

Bell

2020

Long trivialized as the “toy department,” sports journalism nevertheless represents an enduring, and vital subfield within journalism. As with many niches of journalism, sports journalism has needed to adjust to changes resulting from the technology of the field. In particular, digital sports journalism faces pressure from adjacent fields, represented in team and player media, which perform many of the same tasks historically attributed to sports journalism. Through the lens of field theory, the present study reports on long-form interviews with 47 sports journalists who self-defined their work as digital journalism. This study argues that the perception of insurgents—team media that prior research demonstrated is often seen as a part of the field—has caused digital sports journalists to view their work as economically vital to the individual newsroom, but not topically essential to the journalistic field at large.