ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on ethical and legal debates in sports journalism, including: self-censorship among sports journalists; tensions between objectivity and subjectivity in sports writing; codes of conduct; media regulation in a digital sports media environment; the key legal issues facing sports journalists. Journalists are subject to laws that restrict what they can publish or broadcast. The laws that restrict what journalists can publish or broadcast can be either civil or criminal. If a sports journalist commits a civil wrong, then they can be sued and ordered to pay damages. Sports journalists, like other subgroups of journalists, also need to consider industry regulators. Sports journalists should report on all areas of sport. Sports journalists must avoid using warlike language, as well as disseminating expressions and images that emphasise or legitimate any form of violence towards individuals or groups of people within or outside sports venues.
