What the study found
The study found that sports journalism is shaped mainly by interventionist and infotainment roles, rather than by critical watchdog reporting or simple support for sporting elites. It also found that these patterns are stable across countries and across different socio-political, organizational, and story-level contexts.
Why the authors say this matters
The authors conclude that sports journalism is a unique, resilient, and globally distinctive news beat. The findings indicate that the long-standing "toy department" stereotype is only partly supported, because the study also finds limited evidence that sports journalists are merely cheerleaders for elites.
What the researchers tested
The researchers used the Journalistic Role Performance framework, which examines how journalists perform four roles: Interventionist, Watchdog, Loyal-Facilitator, and Infotainment. They conducted a content analysis of 14,676 sports stories from 341 outlets in 36 countries and compared sports news with non-sports news.
What worked and what didn't
Interventionist and infotainment roles were strongly present, with frequent opinion, adjectives, emotion, sensationalism, and personalization. Watchdog performance was notably low and showed minimal variation across political and media systems, although it was slightly higher in established democracies. Loyal-facilitator performance was limited.
What to keep in mind
The abstract does not describe detailed limitations beyond noting that comprehensive cross-national evidence had been scarce before this study. The findings are based on sports stories from 36 countries and may not describe all journalism in all settings.
Key points
- The study analyzed 14,676 sports stories from 341 outlets in 36 countries.
- Interventionist and infotainment roles were the most dominant patterns in sports news.
- Watchdog performance was low and changed little across political and media systems.
- Loyal-facilitator behavior was present only to a limited extent.
- The role patterns were described as stable across socio-political, organizational, and story-level contexts.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- Sports news shows interventionist and infotainment roles across 36 countries
- Authors:
- Mireya Márquez-Ramírez, Daniel Jackson, Claudia Mellado, David Nolan, Matthews Jamie, Fergal Quinn, Xin Zhao
- Institutions:
- Bournemouth University, Bournemouth University, Bournemouth University, Ibero American University, Pontificial Catholic University of Valparaiso, University of Canberra, University of Limerick
- Publication date:
- 2026-02-23
- OpenAlex record:
- View
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