ABSTRACT
The extent to which sports journalists’ close relationship with their subjects and sources has made them complicit in enabling those subjects to achieve their economic and reputational goals is an enduring ethical concern in sports journalism. Critics accuse sports journalists of lacking a critical distance and being “cheerleaders” rather than watchdogs. This chapter analyses the issue of sports journalism complicity through the lens of self-censorship, using a standpoint of Kantian moral reasoning and semi-structured interviews with UK-based sports journalists to understand the ways in which sports media information flows are compromised. Different categories of complicit coverage are identified, including the alleged phenomenon of “sportswashing”. Means by which complicit reporting can be mitigated are discussed, with the role of “Fifth Estate” non-professional bloggers considered in this regard. This chapter is a contribution to the growing body of literature aimed at highlighting the multiplicity of ways in which information flows in sports media can be inhibited, compromised and curtailed by journalists’ relationships with the professional sports organisations, events, and individuals they are covering.
