ABSTRACT
Two broad typologies of the sports journalist have emerged because of newsroom re-organisation in the digital age ;– the traditional and digitally native. Traditional sports journalists face significant challenges in performing serious news work because of the intensification of practice. Sports journalists must now engage regularly with social and digital media in addition to their core responsibilities. Traditional sports journalists’ core routines have not changed significantly, but the amount of content that they must produce has risen exponentially. Meanwhile, the new role orientation of the digitally native sports journalist has emerged that is challenging established understandings of professionalism. Digital sports journalists do not attend events and do not develop human contacts, which, while expanding the boundaries of practice, has led to tensions and confusion within the occupational group. Underpinning this discussion is the conflict between commercial and professional values in online settings.
