Sports journalism emphasizes interventionist and infotainment roles

What the study found: Sports journalism across 36 countries was found to be dominated by interventionist and infotainment roles, with low watchdog performance and limited evidence that sports journalists mainly act as cheerleaders for sporting elites.
Why the authors say this matters: The authors conclude that sports journalism is a unique and globally distinctive news beat, and the findings suggest that its role performance is shaped by entertainment-oriented and interventionist tendencies.
What the researchers tested: The study used the Journalistic Role Performance framework to compare four roles—Interventionist, Watchdog, Loyal-Facilitator, and Infotainment—in sports news and non-sports news. It was based on a content analysis of 14,676 sports stories from 341 outlets in 36 countries.
What worked and what didn't: The analysis found frequent use of opinion, adjectives, emotion, sensationalism, and personalization, which aligned with interventionist and infotainment roles. Watchdog performance was notably low and varied little across political and media systems, though it was slightly higher in established democracies; loyal-facilitator performance showed limited evidence.
What to keep in mind: The abstract reports that the role patterns were stable across socio-political, organizational, and story-level contexts, but it does not provide detailed limitations beyond the scope of the sample and the measures described.

Key points

• Sports journalism showed a clear dominance of interventionist and infotainment roles.
• Watchdog performance was notably low across countries and systems.
• There was limited evidence that sports journalists mainly served as loyal facilitators for sporting elites.
• The study analyzed 14,676 sports stories from 341 outlets in 36 countries.
• Role patterns were described as stable across socio-political, organizational, and story-level contexts.