ABSTRACT
Journalists are modern story-tellers. They convey true stories in an engaging and relevant manner. Journalism differs from fiction because not only does it deal with real events that are being (meant to be) reported in an accurate manner, but also because it is expected to follow binding rules and guidelines. However, topics covered by sports journalism have distinct characteristics that often differ from the topics covered by other journalistic beats. This chapter considers how the often emotional and affective themes covered in sports journalism have led to a problematic relationship with journalistic norms and principles. The analysis builds on a previous article published by Hans-Jörg Stiehler and one of the authors (Stiehler and Horky, 2009).
