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The Same Old Stories: Exclusive News and Uniformity of Content in Sports Coverage
Journal article   Peer reviewed

The Same Old Stories: Exclusive News and Uniformity of Content in Sports Coverage

Peter A English
International Journal of Sport Communication, Vol.7(4), pp.477-494
2014
url
https://doi.org/10.1123/IJSC.2014-0026View
Published Version

Abstract

Communication and Media Studies Journalism and Professional Writing sports journalism Bourdieu field theory
Exclusive news is a demand of most news organizations, but previous research suggests the pursuit of unique material leads to uniformity of content among competitors. Bourdieu is among those who have argued homogeneity dominates journalism, and aspects of his field theory will be used to analyze the extent to which this occurs in sports journalism. Employing a sample of 6 broadsheet/ quality sports sections from Australia, India, and the United Kingdom, this study examines the amounts of exclusive content and the same and similar articles in the sports pages. Thirty-six in-depth interviews with sports journalists from the titles were conducted, along with a content analysis of 4,103 print and online articles. The results show small levels of exclusive material and a tendency for domestic rivals to produce larger amounts of similar stories. This was often in contrast to the views of the sports journalists.

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