Sports Organizations and Their Defensive Mediatization Strategies: The Sports Journalist’s Perspective
This article provides empirical evidence of ‘defensive mediatization strategies’ in the field of sport. These are strategies used by actors individually and collectively to control and sometimes avoid media publicity—for example, by refusing requests for media interviews, or in the case of an organi...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-05-01
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| Series: | Journalism and Media |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/4/2/42 |
| _version_ | 1797593945578930176 |
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| author | Neil O’Boyle Aaron Gallagher |
| author_facet | Neil O’Boyle Aaron Gallagher |
| author_sort | Neil O’Boyle |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article provides empirical evidence of ‘defensive mediatization strategies’ in the field of sport. These are strategies used by actors individually and collectively to control and sometimes avoid media publicity—for example, by refusing requests for media interviews, or in the case of an organization, by making media literacy training available to its staff. In this article, we use the concept of defensive mediatization strategies to identify and illuminate some of the challenges facing professional sports journalists in the postbroadcast era. The article draws on findings from an ongoing study of the relationships between professional sports organizations, athletes, and journalists, but reports only on interviews conducted with experienced sports journalists in Ireland and Britain (<i>n</i> = 16). Our analysis identifies a number of defensive mediatization strategies used by sports organizations, including increased levels of in-house media, differential treatment of journalists, and an increasingly competitive stance towards journalism generally. We also consider a potentially more pernicious strategy: the hiring of professional sports journalists as internal communications advisers—a switching of role positions that might be termed ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’. The article organizes findings according to the three categories of defensive mediatization strategies identified in the extant literature (<i>persistence</i>, <i>shielding</i>, and <i>immunization</i>) and proposes a fourth category, which we label <i>steering</i>. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:16:44Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c6e0e4b45d2e4e089acc5bbf54ddce42 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2673-5172 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T02:16:44Z |
| publishDate | 2023-05-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journalism and Media |
| spelling | doaj.art-c6e0e4b45d2e4e089acc5bbf54ddce422023-11-18T11:09:49ZengMDPI AGJournalism and Media2673-51722023-05-014266567810.3390/journalmedia4020042Sports Organizations and Their Defensive Mediatization Strategies: The Sports Journalist’s PerspectiveNeil O’Boyle0Aaron Gallagher1School of Communications, Dublin City University, D9 Dublin, IrelandSchool of Communications, Dublin City University, D9 Dublin, IrelandThis article provides empirical evidence of ‘defensive mediatization strategies’ in the field of sport. These are strategies used by actors individually and collectively to control and sometimes avoid media publicity—for example, by refusing requests for media interviews, or in the case of an organization, by making media literacy training available to its staff. In this article, we use the concept of defensive mediatization strategies to identify and illuminate some of the challenges facing professional sports journalists in the postbroadcast era. The article draws on findings from an ongoing study of the relationships between professional sports organizations, athletes, and journalists, but reports only on interviews conducted with experienced sports journalists in Ireland and Britain (<i>n</i> = 16). Our analysis identifies a number of defensive mediatization strategies used by sports organizations, including increased levels of in-house media, differential treatment of journalists, and an increasingly competitive stance towards journalism generally. We also consider a potentially more pernicious strategy: the hiring of professional sports journalists as internal communications advisers—a switching of role positions that might be termed ‘poacher turned gamekeeper’. The article organizes findings according to the three categories of defensive mediatization strategies identified in the extant literature (<i>persistence</i>, <i>shielding</i>, and <i>immunization</i>) and proposes a fourth category, which we label <i>steering</i>.https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/4/2/42sports journalistssports organizationsdefensive mediatizationIrelandBritain |
| spellingShingle | Neil O’Boyle Aaron Gallagher Sports Organizations and Their Defensive Mediatization Strategies: The Sports Journalist’s Perspective Journalism and Media sports journalists sports organizations defensive mediatization Ireland Britain |
| title | Sports Organizations and Their Defensive Mediatization Strategies: The Sports Journalist’s Perspective |
| title_full | Sports Organizations and Their Defensive Mediatization Strategies: The Sports Journalist’s Perspective |
| title_fullStr | Sports Organizations and Their Defensive Mediatization Strategies: The Sports Journalist’s Perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Sports Organizations and Their Defensive Mediatization Strategies: The Sports Journalist’s Perspective |
| title_short | Sports Organizations and Their Defensive Mediatization Strategies: The Sports Journalist’s Perspective |
| title_sort | sports organizations and their defensive mediatization strategies the sports journalist s perspective |
| topic | sports journalists sports organizations defensive mediatization Ireland Britain |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2673-5172/4/2/42 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT neiloboyle sportsorganizationsandtheirdefensivemediatizationstrategiesthesportsjournalistsperspective AT aarongallagher sportsorganizationsandtheirdefensivemediatizationstrategiesthesportsjournalistsperspective |