Just How They Drew It Up: How In-House Reporters Fit Themselves Into the Sports Media System

Abstract

This paper explores how in-house sports reporters—those who write for team- and league-branded websites—locate themselves within the sports media production complex. It builds from perspectives on professionalism that view it as a dynamic process of defining boundaries and building relationships between systemic stakeholders. The interview data presented here find that in-house reporters accentuate professional similarities to beat reporters and use this identity to build unique roles in sports organizations’ corporate structures. This push to define themselves as a distinct job category within the constellation of sports media professions speaks to the active work occupational groups engage in, and is reshaping the media system. The paper argues for a broader reconsideration of professional definitions, actors, and relationships within the sports media system as digital technology and other changes have altered preexisting relationships.