What is Sports Journalism? Boundary Work Performed by the Digital Counterpublic Sphere

• In Event: Sports Journalists and Sports Journalism: Producers and Content

Abstract

Episodes of unprofessional behavior create tension between digital and traditional sports journalists, opening a dialogue to answer the question “What is sports journalism?” This paper demonstrates how digital-only sports journalists performed boundary work against traditional sports journalists by publicly shaming the journalist Rick Reilly. An analysis of digital-only sports media reveals how the formation of a counter-public sphere created an opportunity for digital-only sports journalists to have a say in what is professional. Rather than dismissing journalistic boundaries of traditional sports journalists as archaic, digital-only sports journalists embraced the boundaries to show how their own journalistic authority exceeded that of traditional journalists.

Author

• David Asa Schwartz, U of Iowa