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Sports journalismStill the `toy department' of the news

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Article  in  Journalism · August 2007

DOI: 10.1177/1464884907078657

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 Journalism

Copyright & 2007 SAGE Publications

(Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)
Vol. 8(4): 385–405 DOI: 10.1177/1464884907078657
ARTICLE

Sports journalism
Still the ‘toy department’ of the news media?

& David Rowe

University of Western Sydney, Australia

ABSTRACT

Sports journalism is an increasingly significant feature of the press yet is subject to con-
siderable criticism, as summarized by the familiar jibe that it is the ‘toy department of
the news media’. While there is an element of cultural snobbery and prejudice in this
charge, sports journalism should not be exempted from scrutiny regarding conven-
tional professional criteria within the news arena. There is, though, a dearth of empirical
evidence concerning international patterns in sport. This article draws on data from the
International Sports Press Survey 2005 (Schultz-Jorgensen, 2005), the largest inter-
national survey of sports journalism yet produced, and, in particular, on its Australian
component. In assessing the survey’s findings on sports journalism’s concerns with pro-
blems and social issues, and the range of sources that it uses, the article reflects on
whether the pejorative ‘toy department’ is justified. In concluding it addresses the
role of sports journalists in the creation, maintenance, and enhancement of a sports
celebrity system.

KEY WORDS & celebrities & critical investigation & problem orientation
& professional status & sources & sports journalism

Introduction: life and journalism

Sports journalism is an important part of the news media, but it is fair to observe
that it is not among its most prestigious disciplines (Boyle, 2005, 2006). Sports
journalists and others, both in agreement and protest, often refer to the jibe
that sports journalism is ‘the toy department of the news media’ – that is, in a
place dedicated to fun and frivolity, rather than to the serious functions of the
fourth estate (Rowe, 2004). There is a surreptitious ideology here (the assump-
tion that toys and play are not serious and important) that derives both from
traditional, class-based and patriarchal perspectives on the press and popular
culture in general (Hartley, 1996; Croteau and Hoynes, 2003), and on sport in
386 Journalism 8(4)

particular (Tomlinson, 1999, 2005). Howard Cosell, the late American sports
journalist credited with inventing the expression, in fact said that ‘sports is
the toy department of human life’ (O’Brien, 2007), and so sports journalism
became the toy department of the news media by association with the object
of its coverage.
It is not intended in this article, though, to rehearse in detail debates about
the pleasures of popular journalism (these are briefly summarized below).
I intend, instead, to explore the extent to which sports journalism may be
adjudged not only to discharge comprehensively the provision of information
and entertainment, but also to be engaged in the investigation, analysis and
critique that is the legitimate purpose of ‘news culture’ (Allan, 2004). It is
assumed that sports journalism should not be exempt from scrutiny regarding
conventional professional criteria within the news arena (Andrews, 2005;
Boyle, 2006). Of course, other journalistic rounds may be similarly accused of
professional failure – travel, information technology, fashion, or television, for
example – and more prestigious journalistic ‘beats’ like politics and business
contain their fair share of self-serving, innocuous, even vacuous discourse
(Franklin, 1997). However, if sports editors and journalists seek to enhance
their occupational prestige (Henningham, 1995; Salwen and Garrison, 1998)
and to counter an often unfavourable professional reputation, then their textual
product and practices must be assessed in the light of available research data and
analysis.
Sports journalism, then, cannot be quarantined from the requirements of
critical investigation because of its popular cultural object. The debate concern-
ing journalism and popular culture is of long standing, and has tended to
revolve, at least until comparatively recently, around a binary distinction
between seriousness and quality on one side, and superficiality and trivia (some-
times typified as ‘tabloid’) on the other (Dahlgren and Sparks, 1992; Lumby,
1999; Sparks and Tulloch, 2000). These are not only concerns for the press,
but also apply to broadcast journalism (Bromley, 2001; Born, 2005) and, increas-
ingly, online journalism (Pavlik, 2001). Indeed, the current moment is typified
by a troubling sense of a profession seeking to re-establish and re-orient itself
in the light of traumatic public events, rapid technological change, economic
transition, political imposition, cultural transformations, and public scepticism
(Zelizer and Allan, 2002; Allan, 2005).
It should also be recognized that sports journalism has different degrees of
cultural and occupational status in different national and institutional contexts.
My principal knowledge is of the Anglophone world, where it is apparent that in
the USA sports journalism is traditionally more highly regarded than in Britain
or Australia (in non-Anglo countries, such as Germany, sports journalists
appear to be accorded greater respect – see, for example, Hackforth and Fischer,
 Rowe Sports journalism 387

1994). In Britain, though, there has been something of a shift in the last decade
in favour of ‘respected’ columnists in broadsheet newspapers, while there is still
considerable disdain for tabloid and magazine sports journalism (Rowe, 2004;
Boyle, 2005). Variations and patterns in the professional and public position
of sports journalism occur across space, time and publication type. It may be
similarly assumed that there are parallels and divergences in the content,
approach, and ideology of sports journalism across the globe, but such com-
parative data are rare and difficult to obtain. This article draws on data from the
International Sports Press Survey 2005, the largest international survey of
sports journalism yet produced, covering ten countries, over 10,000 sports
articles, and 37 newspapers from Australia, Austria, Denmark, England, Ger-
many, Norway, Romania, Scotland, Switzerland and the USA. In recognition of
the power of the media in sport, the survey sought to ascertain both the influ-
ence and the quality of the daily sports press in its sample (attempts to find
research collaborators in Asia, South America, and Africa were, unfortunately,
not successful).1 Summary findings were largely unfavourable to sports editors
and journalists, describing the sports press as the ‘world’s best advertising
agency’:

Sports editors of daily newspapers all over the world allow the sports industry to set
the agenda and the priorities for coverage of sports events . . . the sports pages in
daily newspapers are dominated by the particular types of sport, sports stars and
international events which create the biggest turnovers on parameters such as
advertising, sponsorship, numbers of television viewers and spectators in the
stadium. Conversely, the sports press has great difficulties reporting anything
that takes place outside the angle of television cameras and after the stadium spot-
lights have been turned off. (Schultz-Jorgensen, 2005: 1)

Specific findings included that the sports pages focus mainly on the pre-
viewing and descriptive reporting of sports events (58% of all articles), but are
little interested in money (3%), politics (5%), or sport’s social impact (2.5%).
A heavily gendered sports world is revealed, with women the focus of only
14 percent of sport coverage and constituting only 5 percent of sports journalists
with by-lines. The use of multiple story sources was rare, with 60 percent of all
sampled stories having either one source or none at all, and those sources used
overwhelmingly confined to the sports industry (athletes, coaches, and repre-
sentatives of sports clubs dominating completely as sources for sports clubs).
Although the detailed comparison of the sports press in different national
settings is yet to be conducted, the survey demonstrates:

. . . remarkably few differences in the way that newspapers in different countries

cover sport – when you exclude sports with a specific national interest. Baseball,
basketball and American football dominate media coverage in the US. Skiing is
more important in Norway than anywhere else, and cricket fills up the sports
388 Journalism 8(4)

pages in England and Australia, where Australian football also receives massive
exposure. And Denmark is home to the best female handball team in the world
and therefore Denmark has the most intense media exposure of handball in the
world.
But apart from such differences determined by history and culture, the Inter-
national Sports Press Survey clearly documents that sports journalism is a global
culture – just like sport itself. The priorities in sports journalism are more or less
the same and it does not matter whether the newspaper is based in Washington,
Bergen, Vienna or Bukarest [sic]. (Schultz-Jorgensen, 2005: 1)

The full interrogation of these data through international comparative

analysis of the survey would be a very substantial undertaking, especially a
closer examination of the proposition that ‘sports journalism is a global culture
– just like sport itself ’. In this article I mainly address the Australian component
of the International Sports Press Survey 2005 (for which I was partially respon-
sible). Within its limitations, this task enabled the current state of sports jour-
nalism in Australia to be addressed, and for similarities and differences to be
established in subsequent international comparative studies. Here I address
mainly the sports pages of the Sydney Morning Herald ‘broadsheet’, the country’s
oldest metropolitan journal of record (first published in 1831). In order to pro-
vide a broader context for the discussion, the results for the Sydney Morning
Herald are frequently compared with those of the total Australian dataset.2 The
Sydney Morning Herald has considerable prestige and devotes substantial
resources and print space to sport (including large supplements and occasional
‘wraparounds’). The principal question posed here is whether it also provides
challenging, critical, socially responsible sports journalism, or is vulnerable to
criticisms of ‘toy department’ disengagement with matters of substance arising
in and around sport.

Sports journalism: following the commercial strength?

The Play the Game International Sports Press Survey concerned a range of topics,
from the gender of athletes and journalists to the types of sport covered, only
some of which can be addressed in this article. If sports journalism is to chal-
lenge the ‘toy department’ label, then counter-evidence must be found in its
textual product. In building up a picture of key interacting components of con-
temporary Australian sports journalism (and by implication and extension that
of other national contexts), a starting position is the pivotal point at which jour-
nalism departs from orthodox public relations, promotion and marketing – the
identification and critique of significant problems and issues in the area under
examination.
 Rowe Sports journalism 389

The survey sought to test a phenomenon that it defined as ‘problem orien-

tation’. This is a fairly basic concept, but it is useful in assessing whether sports
reporting predominantly involves de-politicized, perhaps bland description
(playing in the ‘toy department’) or critical journalistic engagement. It does
not cover, in this case, the idea that an article might be highly political without
directly addressing political or any other kind of important question – in other
words, the subterranean ideology and meaning that must be excavated by the
analyst because the producer of the text is apparently unaware of them. But it
does propose the argument that behind every identified problem there is, poten-
tially, an explicit or implicit question to be answered, so that the absence of a
problem orientation is likely to be inimical to the idea of an inquiring sports
press. The data in the following tables and figures are suggestive rather than con-
clusive – it is necessary to conduct a closer textual analysis in a more detailed,
sophisticated manner for the ‘final word’ to be pronounced. For example, the
problem raised might be comparatively trivial or individualized – like player
injury or national team performance. On this basis, many (especially tabloid,
especially British) sports sections might superficially seem to be a veritable
hotbed of socio-cultural inquiry and debate. On the other hand, the ‘problem’
identified and addressed by the journalist might be racism, sexism, access, parti-
cipation, corruption and so on, by which measure many newspapers (especially
tabloid, especially British) would appear to view sport as a tranquil meritocracy.
Nonetheless, prima facie, the data indicate some significant patterns in the
sports journalism of the sampled newspapers that are of considerable concern.
It is clear from Figure 1 that there exists a majority of non-problem-oriented
articles in the Sydney Morning Herald, and that this ratio largely parallels the over-
all Australian data. However, as Table 1 reveals, there is also some variation,
with the Sydney Morning Herald publishing proportionately fewer problem-
oriented articles than the average for the total Australian dataset. This first find-
ing indicates that most articles were routinely neutral in terms of handling
sports stories.
But the sports pages, like all others, are not homogeneous. They contain a
range of stories, from highly prominent and comparatively lengthy treatments
to small news ‘bites’. Thus, the survey also assessed sports page articles by prior-
ity – what I call ‘presentational prominence’ – as an index of editorial priority
judgements of significance, classifying articles as ‘leading’ (the main stories in
the most conspicuous positions), ‘common’ (stories of conventional length)
and ‘subordinated’ (news ‘bites’, although excluding the kinds of visually
separated digest column that would swamp the data). As in all textual interpre-
tation there was an element of subjectivity and coding uncertainty, but sports
press stories generally fell neatly within these three broad categories.
390 Journalism 8(4)

900

800

700

600

500

400

300

200

100
Aust
SMH
0
Yes No Not sure

Figure 1 Problem orientation in the sports pages of the Sydney Morning Herald by frequency
of articles compared to the Australian total

Table 1 Problem orientation in the sports pages of the Sydney

Morning Herald by percentage of articles compared to the total
Australian average

Category SMH Australian

% average %

Problem-oriented 17.27 29.17

Non-problem-oriented 82.72 69.93

Problem-oriented articles might be, then, in a minority, but also highly pro-
minent, while lead articles are, of necessity, a minority of all articles or they
would be less conspicuous. Thus there was an investigation of the relationship
between problem orientation and presentational prominence in order to check
whether problem-oriented articles were the most prominent in the sports
pages. First, the general distribution of articles by type needed to be established.
Figure 2 demonstrates, unsurprisingly – indeed, tautologically – that most
articles were of the ‘common’ type.
 Rowe Sports journalism 391

70

60

50

40
%
30

20

10 Aust
SMH
0
Leading Common Subordinated

Figure 2 Presentational prominence of articles in the sports pages of the Sydney Morning
Herald by percentage compared to the total Australian average

Problem-oriented articles were, as Figure 3 reveals, no exception to the idea

of ‘commonality’, with a clear majority being ‘common’, although in the Sydney
Morning Herald they are proportionately less likely to be major stories than the
total Australian average. In the Sydney Morning Herald only 26.36 per cent of
overall sports articles were ‘leading’ articles, and, as Figure 3 and Table 2
reveal, only 28.07 per cent of problem-oriented articles were given that degree
of extensive text and high level of visibility. No more priority in the sports
pages, then, is accorded to problem-oriented than non-problem-oriented
stories. In other words, most sports stories, even those that are problem-
oriented, are on the basis of this survey sample likely to be run-of-the-mill
‘sports talk’ rather than incisive, critical analysis.
These two tests of the ‘toy department thesis’ have tended to support it, but
more evidence is required in order to establish the current state and trajectory of
the Australian sports press. A closer examination of the topics covered is, there-
fore, imperative. Sport is often manifest as its own microcosm – a world within
a world, insulated from the mundane demands of everyday life and struggle.
Critical sports sociologists, historians and philosophers, however, have con-
stantly stressed that the social transcendence of sport is an illusion, and that
sport is both a product of, and a key institution within, human societies at all
levels (see, for example, Birrell and McDonald, 2000; Giulianotti, 2004; Gutt-
mann, 2004). The survey, therefore, also sought to establish the broad themes
addressed by sports journalism (in individual articles these were the principal
or two main themes). These thematic categories were clustered into 17 themes
and an ‘other’ category,3 ranging from relatively ‘sport-enclosed’ themes like
392 Journalism 8(4)

100%

80%

60%

40%

20% Subordinated
Common
Leading
0%
Aust SMH

Figure 3 Problem orientation in the sports pages of the Sydney Morning Herald by
presentational prominence percentage compared to the total Australian average

Table 2 Prominence of problem-oriented articles in the sports

pages of the Sydney Morning Herald by percentage compared
to the total Australian average

Percentages of problem-oriented articles

Prominence SMH Australian

% average %

Leading 28.07 35.75

Common 59.65 58.48
Subordinated 12.28 5.75

‘Results and reports from specific matches, competitions or tournaments’ to the

more sociologically expansive theme ‘Sport and social integration/discrimina-
tion’. This element of the survey enabled the ‘unpacking’ and cross referencing
of the primary thematic content of articles with problem orientation. That is, it
helped to illuminate the predominant concerns of the surveyed newspaper
sports text, especially as they relate to significant social, political and cultural
issues that involve sport, but are not entirely confined to everyday, familiar con-
cerns with the performance of sports people, teams and organizations.
 Rowe Sports journalism 393

Problems, themes and sources

The breakdown of problem-oriented articles by means of primary content and

listed themes demonstrates a heavy concentration on the first three themes,
which broadly concern coverage whose purpose, problem-oriented or otherwise,
addresses a particular sporting individual or team in relation to a specific sports
contest (in the past or future). These three themes, when taken together,
accounted for 61 per cent of the total Australian average and 56 per cent of
the Sydney Morning Herald’s total number of problem-oriented articles – that is,
the type that might be expected to contain a greater critical, investigative and
analytical emphasis. The remaining 15 categories are contained within 39 per
cent and 44 per cent respectively of the other articles in the sample. Thus, for
example, even among problem-oriented articles, the theme of ‘Sport and
social integration/discrimination’ constituted only 4.16 per cent (7) of articles
in the total Australian dataset, and 1.17 per cent (1) in the Sydney Morning
Herald, while only one article specifically dealing with ‘Gender issues in sport’
appeared in the total Australian sample. Figures 4 and 5 demonstrate the
extent to which the broad category of problem orientation can disguise the
comparative thematic innocuousness of sports journalism.
Even when event coverage is ‘excluded’ from problem-oriented articles,
those that focus on problematizing an aspect of sports culture or practice relat-
ing to the broad sport–society nexus are by no means predominant. This sub-
category, which can be termed ‘Political inquiry’ and provides the strongest

Other
Spectators & fan culture
Media aspects
Sports politics
Gender issues
Environmental issues
Sport & social integration/discrimination
Health aspects
Sports for elderly
Youth sports
Local sports
Betting
Doping & anti-doping
Sports financing-public
Sports financing-private
Other coverage related to performance
Preview
Results & reports
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

Figure 4 Designated themes of problem-oriented articles in the sports pages of the total
Australian dataset
394 Journalism 8(4)

Other
Spectators & fan culture
Media aspects
Sports politics
Gender issues
Environmental issues
Sport & social integration/discrimination
Health aspects
Sports for elderly
Youth sports
Local sports
Betting
Doping & anti-doping
Sports financing-public
Sports financing-private
Other coverage related to performance
Preview
Results & reports

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Figure 5 Designated themes of problem-oriented articles in the sports pages of the Sydney
Morning Herald

indication of any sports press concern with matters beyond sports events and
related individuals, is presented in Figure 6.
It is immediately striking from the graph below that some themes have no
representation at all in the sample:
8) ‘Local, community and amateur sports’;
9) ‘Children’s and youth sports’;
10) ‘Sports for elderly and senior citizens’; and
13) ‘Sport and ecology/environmental issues’.

Other SMH %
Spectators & fan culture Aust %
Media aspects
Sports politics
Gender issues
Environmental issues
Sport & social integration/discrimination
Health aspects
Sports for elderly
Youth sports
Local sports
Betting
Doping & anti-doping
Sports financing-public
Sports financing-private
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
%

Figure 6 ‘Political inquiry’ articles in the sports pages of the Sydney Morning Herald by
percentage compared to the total Australian average
 Rowe Sports journalism 395

Even allowing for some ‘quirks’ of classification and interpretation, it

cannot be denied that these themes are either marginal or largely absent in
the sports journalism of one of Australia’s most highly regarded newspapers,
and, indeed, in all the newspapers surveyed as part of the Australian contribu-
tion to the international survey. Furthermore, the themes: 5) ‘Sports financing
– public sector’; 12) ‘Sport, social integration and discrimination’; and 14)
‘Gender issues in sport’ had very low frequencies in the datasets. No doubt,
these themes may at certain times come to prominence: in Australia, for exam-
ple, ‘Sports financing – public sector’ was a major public issue in the lead-up to
the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games (Schaffer and Smith, 2000; Toohey and Veal,
2000). With due acknowledgement that the sample period may not be entirely
typical, or that specific ‘spikes’ in story types sometimes occur that would
affect the data findings, it does not appear that ‘Political inquiry’ is a staple of
Australian sport journalism. In the sample there were only five articles on this
theme in total, while for themes 12) and 14) there were only 11 articles in
total. The most likely themes to involve ‘Political inquiry’ were: 6) ‘Doping
and anti-doping’; 11) ‘Health related aspects of sports’; and 15) ‘Sports politics’
(the last mostly emanating from sports organizations and governments, and
concerning sport and public policy). However, even when taken together
these did not constitute a very large corpus of newspaper articles, especially in
the Sydney Morning Herald, as is demonstrated in Figure 7.
If the sampled sports journalism did not focus intensively on problems in
sport, give them prominence, or engage deeply with matters of society and
politics, then perhaps it demonstrated a resistance to the insularity of the
sports desk, and to the potentially unhealthy dependence on single or restricted

Other
Spectators & fan culture
Media aspects
Sports politics
Gender issues
Environmental issues
Sport & social integration/discrimination
Health aspects
Sports for elderly
Youth sports
Local sports
Betting
Doping & anti-doping
Sports financing-public
Sports financing-private
Other coverage related to performance
Preview
Results & reports
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Figure 7 Total number of articles per theme in the Sydney Morning Herald
396 Journalism 8(4)

sources that has been previously observed and criticized (Lindsey, 2001; Lowes,
2004). A wide range of sources, both numerical and taxonomic, would, if
unveiled, help to counter the perhaps unwarranted stereotype of the sports
journalist relying only on their own observations or on cultivating favoured
sources.
When identified story sources were counted in the sample survey,4 it was
apparent that there were not many of them. The most frequent number of
per-story sources – when there was one – was a single source. Thus, when non-
event coverage is considered, in which it might be expected that a range of
sources would be used in the multi-perspectival consideration of sporting and
socio-political issues, there is little evidence of wide-ranging sports journalism.
Indeed, when the type of source is measured, it can be seen that these are
heavily skewed towards the opinions of significant but highly predictable
‘actors’ in sports events.
Figures 8 to 12 demonstrate that not many sources were used per article,
and that the clearly dominant non-media source types are 6) ‘Athletes’ and
7) ‘Sports coach, manager or other spokesperson’ providing comment or
reaction (sometimes caricatured as the ‘how do you feel question?’ after victory
or defeat in a sport contest). In relation to theme, sources also tended to be clus-
tered within the event coverage subcategory. It is notable that the media do not
use each other as sources very frequently (perhaps for reasons of professional
rivalry). What is most striking is that one source type alone is completely
absent from all the surveyed newspapers that comprise the total Australian data-
set – ‘Researcher from the social sciences’! The lack or absence of perspectives
from beyond the ‘sportsbiz’ – be they from politics, science, social sciences and

Others
Media person
Researcher from social sciences
Researcher from natural sciences
Non-sport business person
Politician or govt institutions
Representative of sporting organization
Corporate spokesperson
Sports coach, manager or other spokesperson
Athletes
Internet
Print Media
Radio
TV
News Agency

0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Figure 8 Types of source used in articles in the Sydney Morning Herald

 Rowe Sports journalism 397

Other n = 3+
Spectators & fan culture n=2
n=1
Media aspects
n=0
Sports politics
Gender issues
Environmental issues
Sport & social integration/discrimination
Health aspects
Sports for elderly
Youth sports
Local sports
Betting
Doping & anti-doping
Sports financing-public
Sports financing-private
Other coverage related to performance
Preview
Results & reports

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50

Figure 9 Number of sources in sports stories of the Sydney Morning Herald by article theme

Other n = 3+
Spectators & fan culture n=2
n=1
Media aspects
n=0
Sports politics
Gender issues
Environmental issues
Sport & social integration/discrimination
Health aspects
Sports for elderly
Youth sports
Local sports
Betting
Doping & anti-doping
Sports financing-public
Sports financing-private
Other coverage related to performance
Preview
Results & reports
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180

Figure 10 Number of sources in sports stories for the total Australian dataset by article theme
398 Journalism 8(4)

Other
Spectators & fan culture
Media aspects
Sports politics
Gender issues
Environmental issues
Sport & social integration/discrimination
Health aspects
Sports for elderly
Youth sports
Local sports
Betting
Doping & anti-doping
Sports financing-public
Sports financing-private
Other coverage related to performance
Preview
Results & reports
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140

Figure 11 Total number of sources used for sports stories in the Sydney Morning Herald by
article theme

the humanities or wider communities – suggests that sports journalism remains

rather insular and heavily dependent on the usual source suspects.
These data demonstrate that, in relation to sources, the sports desk is a
rather self-enclosed world with its own restricted preoccupations, in direct dia-
logue mainly with a narrow range of interlocutors who, it might be said in refer-
ence to the professional jibe examined in this article, are able to ‘play with same
toys’.

Other
Spectators & fan culture
Media aspects
Sports politics
Gender issues
Environmental issues
Sport & social integration/discrimination
Health aspects
Sports for elderly
Youth sports
Local sports
Betting
Doping & anti-doping
Sports financing-public
Sports financing-private
Other coverage related to performance
Preview
Results & reports
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Figure 12 Total number of sources used for sports stories in the total Australian dataset by
article theme
 Rowe Sports journalism 399

Conclusion: toys aren’t us

This ‘snapshot’ survey did not deal with questions of readership – that is,
whether the main readers of the sports pages might be happy to digest sports
journalism that is free of the weighty duties of the ‘watchdog press’, although
the rise of sports fanzines might suggest that professional sports journalism is
not meeting all the needs of sports aficionados (Shaw, 1989; Haynes, 1995). It
also neither dealt in detail with variations in sports journalism genre and sub-
genre nor conducted comparative analysis of other disciplines of journalism.
Even if the deliberately provocative invocation of the ‘toy department’ accusa-
tion was consensually accepted, to establish whether it is ‘still’ so would require
tracking over time, space and media context. For a survey only released in
November 2005, there has not yet been time or resources to conduct the
major international comparative analysis that would deal adequately with varia-
tions between countries and newspapers (in Greece, for example, investigative
sports journalism appears to be both well established, critically investigative
and, correspondingly, dangerous – see Syrigos and Syrigos, 2005). It is safe to
say, however, that the evidence of the survey elicited from the Australian
context has provided little to counter accusations that sports journalists exist
in a fairly cosy world with limited horizons, and that they are likely to leave
sustained, intensive critical inquiry into sport and its relationship with other
major areas of society and culture, to others – including journalists from other
disciplines (Jennings, 1996; Rowe, 2005). There seems to be little concern with
problems beyond the daily sports round, a narrow range of themes addressed,
and few sources drawn upon to enrich the representational tapestry of sport.
When it is considered that the inspiration for the International Press Survey
2005 was to achieve both a replication and an extension of the 2002 survey of
the Scandinavian sports press (also conducted under the auspices of Monday
Morning for Play the Game), then it is useful to revisit its conclusion. Soren
Schultz-Jorgensen (2002) observed that, after surveying almost 3200 sports
articles in nine daily newspapers in Denmark, Sweden and Norway, a ‘ghetto
metaphor’ of largely male sports players and readers is appropriate, with a
heavy concentration on ‘results, summaries and advance coverage’, an uncriti-
cal approach, little interest in politics or economics, and so on. As noted earlier,
the 2005 follow-up and extension across the globe produced similar aggregate
findings (Schultz-Jorgensen, 2005). On the more specific and localized evidence
reported in the Australian study, much the same could be said of the sampled
sports journalism three years later and in a different hemisphere. It is a critique
that resonates in many other places – not least in the USA and Britain, where
professional sports journalism first emerged over three centuries ago.
400 Journalism 8(4)

The sports beat occupies a difficult position in the news media. It is eco-
nomically important in drawing readers (especially male) to general news publi-
cations, and so has the authority of its own popularity. Yet its practice is
governed by ingrained occupational assumptions about what ‘works’ for this
readership, drawing it away from the problems, issues and topics that permeate
the social world to which sport is intimately connected. In doing so, it seeks
reinforcement and affirmation from the largely closed circle of sources that
creates the insular world of sport in the first place. Some forms of sports writing
have literary–artistic or campaigning political aspirations (Haynes, 1995; Rowe,
2004; Boyle, 2006), but the overall evidence of the International Sports Press
Survey 2005 and the Australian component addressed here is that most sports
journalism concentrates on anticipating, describing and reflecting on sports
events, eschews problematic social issues, and consults prominent (especially
celebrity) sportspeople. In this way, given the heightened socio-cultural promi-
nence of sport made possible by intensive, cross-media representation and pro-
motion, sports journalism has moved closer to an entertainment and celebrity
journalism form that operates to sustain a sport star system (Andrews and
Jackson, 2001; Whannel, 2001; Cashmore, 2002; Smart, 2005) at the expense
of other, more critical or inquisitorial frameworks informed by social sensi-
bilities. This is not simply a matter of the primacy of commercial ‘realities’.
As other components of the International Sports Press Survey 2005 reveal (and
which cannot be discussed in detail here), the sports press is implicated in the
active promotion of a hierarchy that results in saturation coverage of a small
number of sports and the advanced neglect of most others, despite their
substantial popular support bases (Play the Game, 2007; Rowe, 2007; Schultz-
Jorgensen, 2005).
This critique, though, is not a rejection of journalism’s engagement with
sport as popular culture, or a call for a more formal, humourless and reader-
unfriendly treatment of its subject, as appears to be imagined in some of the
more traditionalist laments for a return to ‘serious’ journalism. It is clear that
major transformations, not least those emanating from the pressures from
other media (especially broadcasting and the internet), and from generational,
gendered and other social divisions, will not permit a return to an imagined
‘golden age’ of the press (Hartley, 1996; Holmes, 2005). But in the case of
sports journalism, an unprecedented opportunity to diversify and deepen its
remit occasioned by its expansion and heightened cultural resonance is seem-
ingly being squandered by an excessively close integration with the sports
industry, a lack of critical ambition, and an unimaginative reliance on socially
and politically de-contextualized preview, description, and retrospection
regarding sports events. When sources are used, they tend to be drawn from
the ranks of celebrity athletes, coaches and administrators, thus further isolating
 Rowe Sports journalism 401

the sports desk from the world beyond sport. The key question is, therefore, not
whether sports journalism is, indeed, the toy department of the news media, but
whether its controllers and practitioners are content to operate within the self-
imposed and isolating limits that leave it continually open to professional chal-
lenge and even contempt.

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank The University of Newcastle’s Research Grants Committee,

Play the Game, and the Walkley Foundation for their financial and in-kind sup-
port for this research, Nathaniel Bavinton for his research assistance, and Kylie
Brass at the Centre for Cultural Research, University of Western Sydney, for
assisting with final adjustments to the text.

Notes

1 The survey was commissioned by the world conference Play the Game (which is
devoted to improving the ethics and governance of world sport) and conducted
by the Danish ‘think tank’ The House of Monday Morning. Data collation was
funded by the Danish Institute for Sports Studies and Play the Game. The survey
was a ‘rolling’ content analysis of the sports pages of selected newspapers covering
14 consecutive weeks from 11 April until 24 July 2005 (alternating the day sampled
every week). Because it is an international, comparative survey conducted within a
short time frame, there was a strategic emphasis on methodological standardiza-
tion at the expense of some diversity and complexity (for further information on
the survey, see Play the Game, 2005). Please see Appendix 1 for a list of the news-
papers surveyed.
2 The other sampled newspapers were the Australian (a broadsheet, the only national
general daily newspaper in Australia); the West Australian (a metropolitan/regional
newspaper on the western seaboard); and the Herald Sun (a Melbourne tabloid
newspaper and Australia’s biggest-selling daily newspaper). The total dataset was
1131 sports articles, of which 330 were in the Sydney Morning Herald.
3 The fully elaborated sports page themes were clustered as follows:
1. Results and reports from specific matches, competitions or tournaments
2. Preview to specific match or competition/tournament
3. Other coverage related to the performance/sporting aspects of athlete/club
4. Sports financing – private sector
5. Sports financing – public sector
6. Doping and anti-doping
7. Betting and bookmaking
8. Local, community and amateur sports
9. Children’s and youth sports
10. Sports for elderly and senior citizens
402 Journalism 8(4)

11. Health related aspects of sports

12. Sport and social integration/discrimination
13. Sport and ecology/environmental issues
14. Gender issues in sport
15. Sports politics
16. Media aspects of sport
17. Spectators and fan culture
18. Other
4 The types of source in the Play the Game research design are classified as follows:
1. News Agency
2. TV
3. Radio
4. Print media
5. Internet
6. Athletes
7. Sports coach, manager or other spokesperson related to sports achievements
8. Corporate spokesperson of club, team or player
9. Representative of sporting organisation
10. Politician or government institutions
11. Non-sport business person
12. Researcher from the natural sciences
13. Researcher from the social sciences
14. Media person
15. Others

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Biographical note

David Rowe is the Director of the Centre for Cultural Research at the University of
Western Sydney, Australia. He has published extensively in the areas of media and
popular culture, especially on sport, music and journalism. His books include Sport,
Culture and the Media: The Unruly Trinity (2nd edn, 2004, Open University Press),
Globalization and Sport: Playing the World (co-authored, 2001, Sage), and Popular
Cultures: Rock Music, Sport and the Politics of Pleasure (1995, Sage). Professor
Rowe’s work has been translated into several languages, including Chinese, Arabic,
Turkish, French, Italian and Spanish.
Address: Centre for Cultural Research (CCR), University of Western Sydney, Parra-
matta Campus, Locked Bag 1797, Penrith South DC, NSW 1797, Australia. [email:
d.rowe@uws.edu.au]

Appendix 1

Australia: The Australian, Herald Sun, Sydney Morning Herald, The West Australian
Austria: Kleine Zeitung, Kronen Zeitung, Salzburger Nachrichten
Denmark: B.T., Politiken, Berlingske Tidende, Jyllands-Posten, Fyens Stiftstidende
Germany: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Bild Zeitung, Hannoversche Allgemeine
Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Hamburger
Abendblatt
Norway: Aftenposten, VG, Nordlys
Romania: Evenimentul Zilei, Libertatea, Adevarul
 Rowe Sports journalism 405

Switzerland: Der Tagesanzeiger, Blick, Neue Zürcher Zeitung

United Kingdom, England: The Daily Telegraph, The Sun, The Daily Mail
United Kingdom, Scotland: The Herald, The Daily Record, The Scottish Sun
USA: USA Today, The New York Times, The Cleveland Plain Dealer, Atlanta Journal-
Constitution, Nashville Tennessean

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