ABSTRACT
Sports journalism has been characterised as a form of “soft” journalistic practice, without the rigour and credibility of other forms of “hard” journalism. It was an area of journalism that was viewed as an uncritical booster and promoter of sport and its culture rather than a sector that called the powerful in sport to account. Sports journalists often had more in common with other areas of journalistic practice than many journalists cared to acknowledge. Like all journalism, sports has a hierarchy with the Number 1 or sports writer being at the top of the pyramid, while the local sports beat reporter traditionally toils at the base of the pyramid. The digital turn of the 1990s has also dramatically reshaped the journalistic landscape, with sports journalism often being at the leading edge of this transition as journalism moved online and many new sources of information become available around sports culture.
