By By: Sandro Angulo Rincón
A prevailing misconception, belief, or perhaps prejudice held by academics and those outside the sports arena is that sports journalism is one of the least valued specialties, akin to entertainment journalism. To put it differently for the reader of this article, within intellectual and academic circles, it is argued that sports journalism is marked by frivolity, bias, a lack of investigation, and poor language usage by its reporters – all unforgivable shortcomings for quality news.
This negative image was previously diagnosed by British sociologist David Rowe, a professor at the University of Western Sydney (Australia). In his research, he noted that this disdain is widespread among his journalist peers who report from sections like economics, culture, and politics — areas of expertise where the tenets and ethics of journalism are supposedly more rigorously adhered to.
Hence, Irene Pallardó warns that sports journalism risks abandoning its informative mission by focusing solely on entertainment, resorting to “extra-journalistic” techniques to retain audiences, even if it means creating emotional, speculative, and, therefore, inaccurate narratives. An example of this lack of rigor is found in Alejandro Martínez’s doctoral thesis, which analyzed the winter signings of soccer players in the 2019/2020 season as reported by Spanish, English, and Italian newspapers. The results showed that of the transfers reported, the Spanish daily Marca was correct 38% of the time. In comparison, Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport and England’s The Guardian were accurate only 26% of the time (see interactive graph).
Added to these flaws are the scant investigations into the hidden interests surrounding sports (corruption, match-fixing through illegal betting, doping, etc.) and narratives that incite violence in and out of stadiums. Criticism also often targets media outlets prioritizing football over lesser-followed sports that don’t get enough coverage, such as fencing, speed skating, and others that our children, parents, friends, and siblings enjoy. And there are other mistakes which you can mention in the comment box below this article.
However, while aware of sports journalism’s dysfunctions, Professor José Luis Rojas Torrijos from the University of Seville has highlighted the merits of this journalistic specialty. Specifically, he underscores the innovative narrative and visual presentation styles, as well as the introduction of neologisms that eventually make their way into the dictionaries of the Royal Spanish Academy. It’s also worth noting that aspiring sports journalists are now seeking formal education in the field through courses and structured study plans.
Sports Journalism, Audiences, and the Stock Market
Sports journalism has become a valuable ally for television and the internet. Its succinct, passionate, and popular language can draw massive audiences. In the United States, out of the 100 most-watched television broadcasts in 2022, 95 were sports-related, and of these, 82 were NFL (National Football League) games, as Austin Karp of the Sports Business Journal reported. In Spain, as written by Pablo Montaño of the newspaper AS, the classic football match between Real Madrid and Barcelona in the 2020-2021 season captivated an audience of 650 million viewers in 185 countries. Meanwhile, the FIFA World Cup final in Qatar between Argentina and France was watched by 1.5 billion viewers, according to a report by José Félix Díaz of Marca.
Thus, the field serves as a capital promoter, as standardized products (or sports news, as we commonly say), catered to large and segmented audiences whose consumption patterns and lifestyles are known in detail, generate wealth for major media corporations, advertisers, event organizers, and elite athletes. Another surreptitious action of sports journalism has been to overhype athletes’ abilities — and, conversely, to critique them harshly when they don’t perform at top levels — inflating their market value as if they were stocks traded on the stock exchange.
Here’s a quick overview and reflection on this journalistic specialty. In the next installment of Agon&Areté, I’ll provide guidelines, as suggested by experts, for launching a venture in sports journalism.
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