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Showing posts with label What is a sports journalist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label What is a sports journalist. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

No Holds Barred: David Rowe on the Lamentable State of Sports Journalism

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with
David Rowe, a professor of cultural research at the University of
Western Sydney in Australia (http://www.uws.edu.au/ics/people/
researchers/david_rowe).
In February, he wrote an article, first for The Conversation and then
republished by Play the Game, which has gained much attention around
the world: "On scandal after scandal, sports journalists drop the
ball" (http://www.playthegame.org/news/detailed/on-scandal-after-
scandal-sports-journalists-drop-the-ball-5558.html).

In this article, he noted that while sport is rocked by numerous
scandals, those who are supposed to be covering them, the sports
journalists, "are looking more than a little dishevelled", and that
most good investigative sports journalism "happens outside the
mainstream institutional media". This should certainly be understood
by those who are familiar with what tries to pass as "journalism" in
the combat sports.

We spoke with David Rowe by Skype Wednesday (Tuesday New York time)
about the many issues facing sports journalists and journalism.

He discussed in this interview what he called "a very basic question".

"What is a sports journalist? What is sports journalists for? What do
they do? Now, I have a kind of old-fashioned idea of journalism as
being about the Fourth Estate, that is, a watchdog on behalf of the
citizenry, speaks truth to power, etc. That's what we expect of people
who call themselves journalists. Now I guess if they want to call
themselves something else, then that's OK, as long as they don't, I
suppose, pretend to be journalists."

We discussed how sports journalists have dealt with such issues as the
Lance Armstrong doping scandal and match-fixing. He said about their
coverage, "Generally I'd have to say, that it's been pretty
lamentable, but on the whole, with some distinguished exceptions",
with many of these journalists acting like fans and getting too close
to the sports organizations than they should.

We also discussed the many types of difficulties facing freelance
sports journalists who do aspire to act as watchdogs on behalf of the
public, how the main target of bad sports journalism has to be the big
media companies which too often act as unofficial public relations
agencies, the training of sports journalists, what fans can do to
pressure the media, some positive signs with the emergence of a new
generation of sports journalists, and much more.

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