The Challenges of Sports Television Reporting in the Contemporary Sports-Media Complex
Open Access
- Author:
- Genovese, Jason
- Graduate Program:
- Mass Communications
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- September 10, 2010
- Committee Members:
- Marie Hardin, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Mark Dyreson, Committee Member
James Ford Risley, Committee Member
Marie Hardin, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Russell Frank, Committee Member - Keywords:
- Sports-Media Complex
Sports Television
Journalism
Reporter-Source Relationship
Social Identity - Abstract:
- As the Internet and its associated new technologies have expanded their reach, so too have their influence on our media; however, their effect on our contemporary sports media has not yet been adequately explored. Furthermore, while scholars have examined the work of sports journalists, particularly those in the print media, they have largely neglected those working in the television industry. This research considers how the work of television sports reporters is changing and evolving in the digital era. Through the ethnographic techniques of participant observation and interviews with both reporters and field producers at a regional sports channel in a major East Coast market, I provide an in-depth look at the work of reporters in the world of sports television. The study reveals a high level of complexity in the reporter’s day-to-day work as well as a view of the transformations the sports-media complex is undergoing in the digital age. Sports television reporters must negotiate and perform multiple professional identities, which are often in conflict with one another. They are also dealing with the destabilization of their position in the hierarchy of the sports media due largely to the Internet, which empowers athletes and sports fans and challenges the primacy of professional sports journalists. Participants have been forced to adapt to technological change and the increased workload that accompanies it. Corporate ownership adds yet another degree of difficulty as sports television reporters at this regional sports channel must navigate an organizational setting that exerts a significant influence on their daily work. Such issues and developments reveal the sports television workplace as increasingly complicated and problematic for those working in it. Recommendations for sports reporters as well as regional sports channels are provided along with suggestions for future research.