Influence of Social Media on Sports Journalism

As a consequence, sports journalists are regarded as having stunted professionalism and rank and are consistently accused of being managed by sources. Therefore, what these criticisms neglect is the importance of this crucial subfield in connection to the quantity of sports content generated throughout media, the large population of journalists engaged in generating the news, and its influence in attracting viewers, as well as readers. These factors integrate to make sports journalism a wealthy area for academic scholarship. Nevertheless, in contrast with its position in newsrooms, this theme has often been criticized in studies and has no longer been considered as consequential as an area for scholarship. Even as there were contemporary growth or expansion in scholarly work, the sport has been defined as an under-researched work of the journalistic field.

Previously, executives were not familiar with sports journalism (Franklin 485). Therefore, the magazine modified from one week to another as they attempted diverse concepts. Nonetheless, the subjects provided readers with a vast variety of information, as well as pictures involving diverse sports. These covered everything from soccer and basketball, as well as gymnastics and more so bullfighting! The initial issue included how-to tips too. Literature Review In the sector of sports journalism literature, the current studies have appeared to focus on content evaluation, the self-analysis of sports journalists, as well as ethical problems and more so the working culture of sports journalists operating for conventional media. As claimed by Ricketts, Twitter is regarded by majority journalists as in sports industry as the “first with the news” as well as the immediate origin of a story.

However, this immediacy may not often be an efficient source. Simon Ricketts epitomizes this assertion with the explosions that occurred during the Boston Marathon. In the beginning, the speediness of the twitter would offer the whole intimacy, as well as the effects of the first-hand proofs from the witnesses. However, the responsibility of a journalist is to isolate rumors, as well as false information from facts. Furthermore, they also revealed that 92% of the US citizens are familiar with Twitter, as well as twenty million American citizens own twitter account (Schultz and Lou Sheffer 230). The growth of social media contributed to significant transformations and results in sports journalism. Approximately one-fourth of entire sports journalists utilize the blogs of different sports journalists. Those who utilize audio-visual such as YouTube has expanded to 20%. Those who use Linkedin are composed of over 10%.

Qualitative Research Design In spite of the lowly perception of sports journalists in academia, as well as industry, research evaluating their views, routines, and responsibility has been a characteristic of scholarship, partially due to the enormous population of journalists who have to particularize in the sport. According to research studies carried out in England and Australia, sports journalists were discovered to be the largest portion of those who associated with a particular round (Westlund 18). This composed of 13% of journalists in Great Britain, as well as 22% in Australia that suggested as operating in a professional reporting genre. Furthermore, in a research survey involving sports journalists, it was determined that about 10. of journalists in Australia generally particularize in sports reporting. As a result, journalists are expected to be available on various social platforms.

The utilization of social media by journalists and athletes influence the prominence of various sports. For instance, basketball is popular in social media; thus two-thirds of players in American NBA own twitter account. The finals in 2014 produced twenty-six million tweets. The enormous integration of Twitter, as well as other networking sites by sports journalism, mirror the problems of writing via social media.  Sports journalism: Context and issues. Pine Forge Press, 2006: 45-67. Franklin, Bob. The Future of Journalism: In an age of digital media and economic uncertainty. Rowe, David.