On scandal after scandal, sports journalists drop the ball
With the sporting world in crisis both in Australia and abroad from allegations of match fixing, drug use and ‘culturally toxic incidents’, David Rowe of the University of Western Sydney says in The Conversation, sports journalists need to lift their game.
The year so far has been terrible for the reputation of sport. Lance Armstrong confessed (sort of) to Oprah; Europol discovered widespread match-fixing in European football; the Australian Crime Commission dramatically exploded the myth that sport’s problems are all offshore; the AFL fined Melbourne FC for “prejudicial” conduct following allegations of tanking, and the Australian Olympic swimming team described in a report as afflicted by “culturally toxic incidents” involving “getting drunk, misuse of prescription drugs, breaching curfews, deceit, [and] bullying”.
But if sport is currently on the ropes, the section of the media dedicated to informing us about it – sports journalists – are looking more than a little dishevelled. The ABC’s Clarke and Dawe lampooned the discipline last week, with Clarke’s “expert sports journalist”, responding to a “release form” question about silence or incompetence, with the answer: “I just get stuff off the internet and stick it in the paper”.
This comic turn raised an important question – what is sports journalism for? Is it reasonable to describe the sports desk as “the toy department of the news media”? Are its journalists part of the fourth estate or simply a fan club?
Sorry. But the writer knows little about the topic he is writing about, namely, because he clearly doesn’t read the sports pages or even the front pages, and pages 3-5, of Australia’s major newspapers.
The inquiry into the Australian swimming team only arose out of sports journalism, namely Todd Balym’s original piece in The Courier-Mail newspaper in Brisbane in which allegations of misbehaviour were first raised. The story was then followed up by The Australian. On its front page. And, I’m sorry, but allegations about Lance Armstrong have been published for years. Sorry again. Forgot to mention, those allegations appeared in the sports pages. So an Academic-minded person might not have read them either. Mickey Mouse journalism indeed.
Sorry. But the writer knows little about the topic he is writing about, namely, because he clearly doesn’t read the sports pages or even the front pages, and pages 3-5, of Australia’s major newspapers.
The inquiry into the Australian swimming team only arose out of sports journalism, namely Todd Balym’s original piece in The Courier-Mail newspaper in Brisbane in which allegations of misbehaviour were first raised. The story was then followed up by The Australian. On its front page. And, I’m sorry, but allegations about Lance Armstrong have been published for years. Sorry again. Forgot to mention, those allegations appeared in the sports pages. So an Academic-minded person might not have read them either. Mickey Mouse journalism indeed.
I certainly hope Todd Balym puts in for a sports Walkley and the writer of these opinions sticks to teaching.
I agree in general with the premise that sports journalism is awful in this country.
With a few exceptions, the print and broadcast media are populated with ex athletes and coaches along clubby, matey journos who value their relationships with athletes and the inside info they occasionally give over the need to offer insight and impartial dissection of the issues.
the result is an interminable focus on personality over issue, endless puff pieces, gossip columns which exist to be PR releases for the chums of the respective hacks and banal quotes of the ‘that’s a dirty play but it’s not his go’ variety.