At least since 2001—the year I commenced my undergraduate studies at the University of Ljubljana—the Department of Journalism of the Faculty (School) of Social Sciences has been trying to introduce sports journalism contents in its curriculum. Years have passed and potential lecturers have proved elusive: to date, students of communications-related topics in Slovenia still cannot take a single course dedicated to sports-specific contents. Nonetheless, Department of Journalism faculty has not given up on the prospect of offering their students access to knowledge on sports media; part of their recent efforts was inviting me to lecture to first-year journalism students on sports journalism.
I designed the lecture to appeal to more than the one in four students whose primary interests include sports-related topics: I understand “sports journalism” and “sports reporting” as journalism and reporting about sports, rather than an exceptional field that has little in common with the conventional profession. Hence, sports journalists and sports reporters are above all journalists and reporters bound to follow professional norms. In turn, the field in which they operate offers topics and angles that are relevant to media people working in other sections as well: the toy department of journalism educates its audiences and provides topics that can be covered in economic, legal, and health sections of newspapers and broadcast media. I dare say that by the end of the lecture, each of the approximately 30 students in attendance learned something new that could be integrated in their future professional careers.
One of the main points of the lecture was emphasizing the difference between sports journalism and sports reporting. In Slovenia, both academics and professionals seem to regard the two as equivalents. I prefer to emphasize the difference between them, stressing that sports reporting involves regular and routine coverage of competitions, teams, or even individual athletes, while sports journalism also consists of in-depth coverage of individual phenomena, single stories or affairs. The two are not mutually exclusive: rather, sports journalism is a wider concept that includes, but is not limited to, sports reporting. The latter is a widespread and perfectly legitimate form of media expression—according to the 2011 International Sports Press Survey, around 80% of newspaper coverage of sports focuses on games and other competition aspects. However, it must be emphasized that it essentially represents sports chronicling, or beat reporting which contributes to perpetuating the existing status quo of newsworthy topics and excludes others such as governance in sports and women’s sports. Investigative journalism in sports is becoming increasingly relevant outside the Unites States, thanks among other to authors such as Andrew Jennings and outlets such as Play the Game. Slovenia currently lags behind as media executives have shown virtually no interest in hosting this kind of contents.
Another popular custom among Slovenian sports reporters is referring to Slovenian athletes in international events as “ours”. The origins of this habit are unclear: some, including TV Slovenija sportscasters I interviewed while writing my dissertation, claim “everybody does it”. This is not true: media in the United States and Germany ban the use of the first person plural in their contents. Others claim “the viewers do not accept unbiased commentators well”. Wrong again: a non-scientific survey conducted on RTV Slovenija’s (a public service broadcaster) website showed that “rooting for ‘ours’” ranked fourth among broadcasting approaches preferred by the audience at 15%, surpassed by “description of events and inclusion of trivia” at 24%, “insightful explanation of technical and tactical aspects of the sport” at 22%, and even “objective reporting about facts” at 16%. Hence, 62% of potential viewers selected some form of impartial reporting as their preferred style of sports broadcasting over the 15% of die-hard rooting fans perceived by sports media professionals in Slovenia as a majority. If not to abide to professional standards which ban the rhetoric of the first person plural, or to profit from knowledge offered by social identity theory which assumes that people are motivated to evaluate themselves positively by (irrationally) valuing their own group as better than others, then these professionals might want to commit to impartial reporting simply to indulge the public. Group affiliation is only one of the eight typical motives that are common among sports fans.
To do this, sports journalists and sports reporters in Slovenia should first be able to transcend their own need to reaffirm a positive social identity. The media in general and sports media in particular are saturated with more or less implicit indications of nationalism. In an excellent book, Michael Billig referred to this phenomenon as banal nationalism. The media construction of an imagined sense of national solidarity and belonging is typically perceived as “patriotism”, a positive quality, as opposed to “nationalism” which is usually considered a negative and extremist manifestation. Banal nationalism is thus an ideology in which “being ours” and (thus) “being winners” is more important than collective well-being. It consolidates national identity and, by doing this, cements the internal cohesion of an imagined community. It is hard to say whether the media perpetuate banal nationalism intentionally or not; certainly, it influences the interpretation of media texts by narrowing down the field of potential meanings and thus narrowing down the intellectual horizons of their readers and audiences.
The pool of sports media professionals in Slovenia is small, limiting its potential horizons and making it difficult to introduce new perspectives and approaches. Nonetheless, the field is slowly but surely opening up: hopefully, some of the students in the Introduction to Journalism II course will be among those embracing these views. I would like to hear from them, as well as from other sports media scholars and professionals in Slovenia and abroad: is it time for sports journalism that transcends game reports and quotes? Comments and emails on the topic are welcome.
About Simon Ličen
Simon Ličen is a researcher, lecturer and author in sport, media and communication.
Sports Journalism and Sports Reporting in Slovenia
At least since 2001—the year I commenced my undergraduate studies at the University of Ljubljana—the Department of Journalism of the Faculty (School) of Social Sciences has been trying to introduce sports journalism contents in its curriculum. Years have passed and potential lecturers have proved elusive: to date, students of communications-related topics in Slovenia still cannot take a single course dedicated to sports-specific contents. Nonetheless, Department of Journalism faculty has not given up on the prospect of offering their students access to knowledge on sports media; part of their recent efforts was inviting me to lecture to first-year journalism students on sports journalism.
I designed the lecture to appeal to more than the one in four students whose primary interests include sports-related topics: I understand “sports journalism” and “sports reporting” as journalism and reporting about sports, rather than an exceptional field that has little in common with the conventional profession. Hence, sports journalists and sports reporters are above all journalists and reporters bound to follow professional norms. In turn, the field in which they operate offers topics and angles that are relevant to media people working in other sections as well: the toy department of journalism educates its audiences and provides topics that can be covered in economic, legal, and health sections of newspapers and broadcast media. I dare say that by the end of the lecture, each of the approximately 30 students in attendance learned something new that could be integrated in their future professional careers.
One of the main points of the lecture was emphasizing the difference between sports journalism and sports reporting. In Slovenia, both academics and professionals seem to regard the two as equivalents. I prefer to emphasize the difference between them, stressing that sports reporting involves regular and routine coverage of competitions, teams, or even individual athletes, while sports journalism also consists of in-depth coverage of individual phenomena, single stories or affairs. The two are not mutually exclusive: rather, sports journalism is a wider concept that includes, but is not limited to, sports reporting. The latter is a widespread and perfectly legitimate form of media expression—according to the 2011 International Sports Press Survey, around 80% of newspaper coverage of sports focuses on games and other competition aspects. However, it must be emphasized that it essentially represents sports chronicling, or beat reporting which contributes to perpetuating the existing status quo of newsworthy topics and excludes others such as governance in sports and women’s sports. Investigative journalism in sports is becoming increasingly relevant outside the Unites States, thanks among other to authors such as Andrew Jennings and outlets such as Play the Game. Slovenia currently lags behind as media executives have shown virtually no interest in hosting this kind of contents.
Another popular custom among Slovenian sports reporters is referring to Slovenian athletes in international events as “ours”. The origins of this habit are unclear: some, including TV Slovenija sportscasters I interviewed while writing my dissertation, claim “everybody does it”. This is not true: media in the United States and Germany ban the use of the first person plural in their contents. Others claim “the viewers do not accept unbiased commentators well”. Wrong again: a non-scientific survey conducted on RTV Slovenija’s (a public service broadcaster) website showed that “rooting for ‘ours’” ranked fourth among broadcasting approaches preferred by the audience at 15%, surpassed by “description of events and inclusion of trivia” at 24%, “insightful explanation of technical and tactical aspects of the sport” at 22%, and even “objective reporting about facts” at 16%. Hence, 62% of potential viewers selected some form of impartial reporting as their preferred style of sports broadcasting over the 15% of die-hard rooting fans perceived by sports media professionals in Slovenia as a majority. If not to abide to professional standards which ban the rhetoric of the first person plural, or to profit from knowledge offered by social identity theory which assumes that people are motivated to evaluate themselves positively by (irrationally) valuing their own group as better than others, then these professionals might want to commit to impartial reporting simply to indulge the public. Group affiliation is only one of the eight typical motives that are common among sports fans.
To do this, sports journalists and sports reporters in Slovenia should first be able to transcend their own need to reaffirm a positive social identity. The media in general and sports media in particular are saturated with more or less implicit indications of nationalism. In an excellent book, Michael Billig referred to this phenomenon as banal nationalism. The media construction of an imagined sense of national solidarity and belonging is typically perceived as “patriotism”, a positive quality, as opposed to “nationalism” which is usually considered a negative and extremist manifestation. Banal nationalism is thus an ideology in which “being ours” and (thus) “being winners” is more important than collective well-being. It consolidates national identity and, by doing this, cements the internal cohesion of an imagined community. It is hard to say whether the media perpetuate banal nationalism intentionally or not; certainly, it influences the interpretation of media texts by narrowing down the field of potential meanings and thus narrowing down the intellectual horizons of their readers and audiences.
The pool of sports media professionals in Slovenia is small, limiting its potential horizons and making it difficult to introduce new perspectives and approaches. Nonetheless, the field is slowly but surely opening up: hopefully, some of the students in the Introduction to Journalism II course will be among those embracing these views. I would like to hear from them, as well as from other sports media scholars and professionals in Slovenia and abroad: is it time for sports journalism that transcends game reports and quotes? Comments and emails on the topic are welcome.
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About Simon Ličen
Simon Ličen is a researcher, lecturer and author in sport, media and communication.