News Routines in the TV Sports Department: Shifting Expectations and Technology in an Increasingly Digital Landscape

Abstract

The sports departments in local television news stations across the United States are transforming with the shifting contemporary trends implemented industry wide. Some departments are contracting, others are moving their content to web-only, while others are simply trying to sustain themselves in modern ways. The purpose of this study was to examine how current local sports television journalists addressed the changing marketplace and what impact the procedural and technological changes had on the stories they delivered. Researchers conducted 30 semistructured interviews with current sports media practitioners who worked in newsrooms throughout the United States. The findings of this study rendered four themes, which cumulatively suggest local sports media practitioners are facing varied engagements with job satisfaction and productivity based on their adaptability with shifting expectations. The themes were underscored by the influence of a move to digital first as an industry standard, while specifically examining how social media influences behavior and engagement. The study concludes that, while there are pervasive traditional constraints on journalists, there are also more recent challenges that created complexities in the exchange of information.