Sports Press Research Articles

Sports in African Print Media: Quality Journalism or Toy Department? A Comparison of the South African Results from the 2011 and 2021 International Sports Press Survey

Sports journalism has, for some time, been a traditional subject of communication research. However, long-term studies and cross-national studies on sports journalism are still relatively rare. Analysis of sports in African print media is particularly underrepresented in scholarship. This contribution compares and contrasts the quality of sports journalism in the South African print media based on data collected during the 2011 and 2021 International Sports Press Survey (ISPS). Findings from the study largely replicate earlier studies with regards to authorship, placement, primary content, primary actors, journalistic formats, sourcing patterns, and gender representation in sports stories. While there are indications of gradual transformation, in a few aspects of sports journalism sport remains in the margins. Thematically, the media coverage is narrowly dominated by match reports, results, and previews. Moreover, coverage lacks critical journalistic engagement which makes sports pages amenable to ‘soft’ journalism and content that is generally considered to be ‘less serious’, thus lending credence to the thesis that sport is the ‘toy department’ of the news media.

Media communication in sport

Abstract We live in a world where the media is ubiquitous, through the multiple and diverse ways of expression, a world in which the press has become an “industry”, with a coverage and influence that is difficult to anticipate not too long ago, having the ability to capture the imagination and exert its influence on all walks of life. Conquering and then broadening the area of the public are really the raison of a media. This conquest and expansion are, however, based on three guiding principles: to do the job seriously (credibility), to produce pleasure (the show) and to be empathetic (empathy). Throughout this “industrial platform”, the sports press finds itself as a very important segment, with a major influence in society. Sport can also be regarded as a large global industry, with fans and spectators acting as consumers who demand. The research question is about the influence of media communication in the sports industry.

ТРАНСФОРМАЦИЯ СИСТЕМЫ ФИЗКУЛЬТУРНО- СПОРТИВНОЙ ПЕЧАТИ СССР НА РУБЕЖЕ 1920-1930-Х ГГ.: СТАТИСТИЧЕСКИЙ И ТИПОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ ОБЗОР

The purpose of the presented article was to study the complex of reasons that caused significant quantitative and qualitative changes in the system of physical culture and sports printing in the USSR at the turn of the 192©0s-1930s. The relevance of addressing this topic is predetermined by the search for effective mechanisms for propaganda, organization and coverage of the mass sports movement. The main research method is historical and typological analysis, which allows revealing the general patterns of transformation of various types of physical education and sports publications in close relationship with the factors of political, economic and cultural life of Soviet society. Publications of periodicals about physical culture and sports, as well as archival documents related to the activities of leading sports organizations were taken as sources. As a result, a key factor in the transformation of the physical culture and sports press system was identified – the general restructuring of the Soviet physical culture movement, which led to a significant expansion of the audience, the setting of new tasks and the transformation of the typological image of the press. Further development of the physical culture and sports press in the 1930s followed the path of centralization and rigid planning.

Sports Press as a Soft Power Tool in the Polish-German Border Plebiscite of 1921

According to the will of World War I’s victors, a plebiscite planned for 1921 would determine the border demarcation between Germany and reborn Poland. In the conflict with Germany, Poland was the weaker side, both in political, military and economic terms, and needed to use a wide range of tools to achieve a favourable result in the planned plebiscite. The Polish side used the sports press as a soft power tool which played a special role in the plebiscite’s campaign. The sports press presented Poland as a modern country that promoted democratic sports disciplines and having excellent contacts with European sports which were in opposition to Germany, the war loser excluded from the Olympic family and now unattractive in sports terms. In the soft power context, the sports press contributed to building a local community and to sports and hygienic education by using non-material energy resources.

The Communicative Effectiveness of Branding at Sports Press Conferences.

This scientific work studies brand placement in the press conferences of soccer coaches and evaluates their communicative effectiveness through the measurement of their cognitive and affective effects on the viewers. In this research, we established the following objectives: (1) to examine the characteristics of the practice of brand placement in football press conferences: the diffusion times of brands, space occupied on the screen, and categories of brands placed; (2) to evaluate the behaviour of the human eye when viewing press conferences, in terms of continuous movements (saccades) and fixations (fixations) on brands; (3) to gauge the spontaneous and assisted recall of brands by subjects; (4) to verify the correlation between the persistence of visual fixations and recall/recognition; (5) to investigate the changes in subjects’ attitudes towards brands viewed in the experimental context. An exploratory observation was made that enabled a more in-depth knowledge and implementation of brand placement at sports conferences. For the experimental observation, a 2 × 2 factorial design of independent groups with total randomization was defined in order to perceive the influence of the variables “time” and “quantity” on the communicative effectiveness of the placed tags. In order to collect the data, a combination of several tested and validated tools was used, namely the screen division grid in surface units, as advocated by Bravo (1995); the technology of eye-tracking as an instrument for the recognition of the ocular movements of subjects in the observation space; surveys tested for cognitive gauging; and a semantic differential scale to assess attitudes toward the brand. The results indicate that the subjects recall in a spontaneous and suggested way the brands placed at the press conferences and develop positive attitudes about them. The recall is influenced by the diffusion time of the stimulus, and above all, the type of placement on the screen is decisive. It was not found that the brands to which subjects develop more positive attitudes were the most remembered. Finally, the face of the soccer coach is the main focus of attention of the subjects, and the areas surrounding this interlocutor are the ones that arouse the most interest in terms of the placement of brands.

ЖАНР СПОРТИВНОГО РЕПОРТАЖУ: ТЕОРЕТИЧНИЙ АСПЕКТ

<p><strong><em>The purpose </em></strong><em>of the work is to study the theoretical aspects of the genre features of reporting in the Ukrainian sports press.</em></p><p><strong><em>Research methodology</em></strong><em>. The basis of the study is informational, axiological, culturological, systemic, activity approaches. The following research methods were used in the work : analysis and synthesis, induction and deduction, and the generalization method generalization – to determine the main genre features of a sports report.</em></p><p><strong><em>Results</em></strong><em>. It was determined that sports journalism is a relatively new informational activity, it creates additional conditions for the development and promotion of sports literature, unites athletes and fans, informs, educates and entertains. The sports press is one of the auxiliary factors in the popularization of sports among the population. The rapid growth in the role of sport in the life of society leads to an increase in the need for organized and targeted information about this socio-cultural phenomenon. The article examines the theoretical aspects of the genre features of reporting in the Ukrainian sports press. It is emphasized that sports journalists traditionally resort to reporting as a genre most suitable not only for promptly displaying sports events, but also for visualizing their key moments, because it allows them to convey the dynamics and height of sports events, to convey to fans the emotions and excitement of competition participants, tell about all their twists and turns. It was found that precisely due to the most characteristic feature of reporting – the effect of presence – the author of the message transports the reader to the venue of the competition, where he becomes a witness of what is not possible to see for himself, represents what is happening, and empathizes with the journalist.</em></p><p><strong><em>Novelty.</em></strong><em> The main features of sports reporting, which distinguish it from other journalistic genres, have been determined: visibility – the creation of a figurative picture by means of a substantive description of details; guidance of details, reproduction of actions and replicas of actors; maximum documentary – a reportage cannot be a reconstruction of an event or a creative fiction; an emotionally charged style of storytelling, which gives the information additional credibility; the active role of the personality of the reporter, allowing not only to see the event through the eyes of a journalist, but also provoking the independent work of the reader’s imagination.</em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Practical significance.</em></strong><em> The results of the study can be used in practical media activities and in the process of studying professionally oriented courses of the specialty «Journalism».</em><em></em></p><p><strong><em>Key words:</em></strong> <em>sports journalism, sports press, sports reportage.</em></p>

Phraseological translation of specialized speech: contrastive analysis of sports press in Russian and Spanish

This article discusses one of the most relevant topics from the point of view of translation: collocations in the sports press. The reason why this field was chosen is due to the great interest of linguists to include new words in dictionaries due to the influence of other areas of the language and the spread of sports in society. The result of the observed processes is that even native speakers of the Russian language find it difficult to read and understand sports news, and for foreigners interested in sports, these features of the sports press may present insurmountable difficulties, since the actual sports vocabulary is present in textbooks and dictionaries is limited. The analyzed corpus does not have the representative power inherent in large national and parallel corpora, however, this study has revealed several interesting phenomena and outlined ways to further study sports discourse: further study of collocations and productive models based on the material of large Russian and Spanish language corpora, Yandex search engines, blogs and other lexicographic online tools is of undoubted interest. In the process of assimilation of collocations, difficulties arise, since stable phrases are always difficult and impossible to predict. During the study, we saw that usually the components of combinations in one language do not coincide with other languages, since there is an influence on the language of the culture in which their own use of metaphors manifests itself. The compilation of multilingual educational dictionaries and the identification of productive collocation models can significantly expand the field of mastering the Russian language by foreigners and develop skills in predicting the meanings of unfamiliar words and collocations when getting acquainted with different types of discourse.

Men’s and Women’s Basketball Coverage in the Spanish Digital Press During the 2016 Rio Olympics

ABSTRACT This paper analyzes the differences in the representation of women and men in basketball news in the Spanish digital sports press during 2016 Olympic Games from a gender perspective with the aim of investigating whether media coverage was unequal. The sample comprises 679 news articles published in Marca.com and MundoDeportivo.com from 1 July to 30 September 2016. The study analyzed 15 variables: date, sport, sex of main subject, nationality, number of photographs, authorship, external sources of information, direct and indirect speech, news about medals, main topic, representation of the main subjects, gender marking, and presence of gender stereotypes and their typology in the text and photographs. Results show a clear inequality in the representation of women and men both (i) quantitatively and (ii) qualitatively: (i) female teams were underrepresented in the information and the photographs and (ii) the nature of the content. Finally, it is argued that greater coverage of female athletes by itself is insufficient to achieve equality unless it is accompanied by a qualitative change.

Review of studies on female leadership and authorship in the media: the case of the sports press

Las mujeres han aumentado en los últimos años su presencia en la profesión periodística, aunque las normas y estereotipos de género todavía mantienen muchos espacios de discriminación para estas, sobre todo en puestos de toma de decisiones, pero también en las propias redacciones, al limitarlas a unos ámbitos específicos acordes a su género. Este trabajo tiene como objetivo estudiar la situación de las mujeres en la producción informativa, centrándonos en un área tradicionalmente masculina como es la cobertura deportiva, para conocer si existen todavía hoy formas de discriminación hacia estas en el ejercicio de la profesión. Los resultados revelan que, la mayor cobertura del deporte femenino no se corresponde con un aumento de las firmas femeninas en tales medios. Las noticias deportivas continúan siendo cubiertas mayoritariamente por hombres, quienes además cuentan con mayor tiempo en antena, asumen funciones de mayor peso y copan los cargos de responsabilidad de los medios, mientras que las escasas periodistas presentes se ven restringidas a cubrir deportes tradicionalmente femeninos y perviven sesgos y estereotipos de género sobre ellas. Se discute sobre la exigua presencia de firmas femeninas en las redacciones deportivas y se proponen nuevos estudios que profundicen en las causas últimas de esta discriminación.

Features of Galicia Sports Press Functioning in 1920s — 1930s

The results of the typological analysis of the Galician sports press of the 1920s—1930s are presented. The quantitative growth of sports publications in Galicia during the analyzed period is noted, despite the fact that the region is under Polish hegemony, and the role of the regional sports press as a catalyst of national consciousness is emphasized. The sociopolitical conditions for the development of sports periodicals and general trends in the program policy of Galician sports publications have been determined. The novelty of the research is seen in the identification of the characteristic regional dominants of the sports periodicals in Galicia through the implementation of content analysis of Galician publications and a comparative analysis of sports journalism in Galicia and the Ukrainian SSR of the 1920s—1930s. The author’s development of the periodization of the sports press of Galicia of the indicated era based on the unification of sociopolitical, typological, problem-thematic, genre features of publications in a certain chronological period is presented, constitutional dominants of each period are indicated. Particular attention is paid to the review and content analysis of the most representative media of each period of the sports press of Galicia in the 1920s and 1930s, where the units of scientific observation were the goals and objectives of the publications, the composition of the editorial boards, the genre and problem-thematic ranges of materials. An overview analysis of the conditions of development, the characteristics of content, structure, genre-thematic palette, authorship of the sports media of Galicia in the context of sports journalism of Ukraine in the first half of the twentieth century is presented in conclusion.

Conceptualization of sport as a business in the Ukrainian sports press of the XX—XXI centuries

The article considers the paradigm of sport as a socio-cultural phenomenon through the mode of business in the Ukrainian sports media during the XX—XXI centuries, outlines and substantiates the transformation of the image of sport as a business in Ukrainian journalism in the Soviet period and the independence era, describes the causes of sports and business. The Ukrainian sports media of the period of independence are determined, where the concept of sport as a business is most often presented, the most representative materials of conceptualization of sport as a business are analyzed and tokens related to the economic layer of Ukrainian vocabulary are determined. The characteristic dominants of publications representing the relationship between business and sports are outlined, and three information vectors of the paradigm of sports as a business are singled out: 1) information on the budget of clubs, sports organizations, companies, amounts of transfers and contracts of athletes and coaches; 2) information on the payment of fees, bonuses for successful performances; 3) advertising and information about sponsors, partners, investors, which are related to information that reveals the economic component of sports. Analyzed on specific materials and substantiated the symbiosis of media, public relations and advertising communication effect in the coverage of the image of sport as a business, argued the use of athletes' names in publications as an invariant of productive advertising and image technologies to create and position brand advertising for sports product, lobbying the image of certain organizations. The invariants of the symbiosis of the paradigm of sport as a business with other modes of sport (crime, entertainment, art) as a factor of expanding the variable range of sports and identified its sanogenic effect to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of sports publications are identified and characterized.

The Names Heard Long Ago: How the Golden Age of Hungarian Soccer Shaped the Modern Game

The Names Heard Long Ago: How the Golden Age of Hungarian Soccer Shaped the Modern Game

Hungarian Football Coaches in Latin America in the Interwar Period

The aim is to shed light upon the intriguing – and what might seem at first sight mysterious – presence of Hungarian football coaches in the Americas in the interwar period. These years can be referred to as a Silver Age, which had preceded the success Hungary achieved in football in the middle of the twentieth century. The activities of football trainers in Latin America – such as Jenő Medgyessy, Gyula Bíró or György Orth – took place within a migration context. Consequently, the general tendencies of Hungarian emigration to Latin America form the first part of this paper. An analysis of specific push and pull factors follows; then the motives of Latin American clubs for employing Hungarian coaches, and finally, the results and impact they had, both on sport and on migratory processes in general. The methodology is content analysis of the Hungarian sport press of the given period. Academic literature from both sides of the Atlantic complements primary sources.

The Importance of Rumors in the Spanish Sports Press: An Analysis of News about Signings Appearing in the Newspapers Marca, As, Mundo Deportivo and Sport

The front pages of newspapers are the main showcase to sell the product. Those first pages are a perfect hook for newspapers to attract readers; thus, it becomes vital to show striking pieces of information, captivating the audience. In the case of the written sport press in Spain, there is a key period in which true information is mingled with half-truths and even rumors: The summer transfer window. This paper shows an analysis of the front-page news appearing in the Spanish sports newspapers Marca, As, Mundo Deportivo, and Sport, over a five-year period (2015–2019), based on a sample of 120 different issues of the newspaper. Many times, the media present information either as something true or as a hypothesis or possibility. After quantitatively analyzing that, it can be noticed that in more than 50% of the cases, the signing or sale of the player referenced on the front page (the main news) does not occur. Similarly, it can be observed that there is a direct link connecting the news referring to Real Madrid with Marca and As, and Fútbol Club Barcelona with Mundo Deportivo and Sport. Finally, almost 100% of this news is showed along with real photographs, using photo montage in just a few cases.

Daciada and Mass Sport during Communism in Romania as Reflected in the Sport Magazine: A Propaganda Tool

In communist Romania, in order to create the ‘multilaterally developed socialist society’ promised by Nicolae Ceausescu, every field of social life participated. Sport, considered an underdeveloped area until the establishment of Communism in Romania, starts the transformations process. From 1977 until 1989, the national competition Daciada promoted mass sports activities. People were encouraged to participate in all these activities. Propaganda was one of the key elements in promoting Daciada in the sport press. By controlling the people’s free time of Romanians, Daciada played a role in the transformation of mass sport. The introduction of Ceausescu’s cult and the new politics of peace manifested in the mass demonstrations stopped the transformation of mass sport. Tourism practiced in Romania represented the alternative to a large compulsory activity that had lost its meaning.

Sports photography and its artistic dimensionality

Sports photography is a powerful visual tool that can be used to promote sports, athletes and recreational physical activities. Her main role is to present sport as an art. In that respect, good sports photography also implies the recorded moment of the athlete in a specific movement position, which is unusual and which cannot be seen on television. When it comes to the promotion of professional sports, sports photography occupies a significant place in the sports press and sports magazines. On the other hand, sports photography also promotes recreational sports, which is intended for all those who want to do sports for themselves and their own health. Sports photography has the power to present important sports and recreational events to readers in a simple way, without large and dry texts. Good sports photography refers to the composition, angle, light, dynamics and color contrast, i.e. the relationship between warm and cold tones. Also, sports photography depends on good photographic equipment, knowledge and experience of a sport photojournalist. Sports photojournalists always try to present quality and interesting sports photographs in the most professional and high-quality way, which in an artristic way convey ''visual information'' of sports events to loyal readers and sports fans. It is very important to understand that sports photography is not only sports, but also artistic. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to present sports photography and its artistic dimension.

Propaganda content in the Polish sports press of the 1950s

The article describes main forms of socialist propaganda in polish sports press of the 1950’s decade. As the analysis shows, sports magazines, despite their apparent thematic distance from political issues, had become tools of social impact. The main force of influence was concentrated in texts created typically for propaganda purposes, but also texts devoted to sports competitions (i.e. reports) contained political components. The most important manifestations of propaganda in the sports press were the mixing of sport with politics, promoting Soviet training and tactical patterns, over-emphasizing successes, informing about the socialist commitments made by athletes on public holidays, as well as criticizing social and political conditions in capitalist countries.

Magazine "Football Style": specific features of functioning and history of development in the sports press of Ukraine of the independence period

The article considers the prominent magazine of the Ukrainian sports press of the period of independence — the magazine "Football Style", motivates the expediency of its analysis, determines the conditions of its occurrence, substantiates the importance of the magazine and its advantages, considers the editorial and authorial composition, its structure, genre diversity, and problem-thematic range, the rubrics are characterized and their priority directions are defined, specific features of the magazine's functioning are outlined, the place of "Football Style" magazine in the history of sports journalism of independent Ukraine is characterized. The constitutional dominants of the magazine are defined in two parameters: technical-formal (symbiosis of print and multimedia, effective feedback with readers through the editorial conference of the magazine, bilingualism of the magazine, bright design, glossy format) and content (representation of various ratings, ratings, various ratings, the best players of the Ukrainian championship, the main Ukrainian victories in European Cups, the top best young players in Europe, the best matches in the history of Ukraine, the best teams in the history of Ukrainian football, coverage of youth and children's sports, current sports issues, frequent citation of poems by famous poets and writers, films describing a particular country or phenomenon in football, publishing reviews of football movies, the availability of publications about fans, fan movements of teams, representation of letters from female audiences to the magazine, submission of assessments, prospects of certain teams from the perspective of their fans, representation forecast opinions of famous football experts, players and coaches about the schedules of teams in the national championship, representation of the history and modern development of football in many exotic countries, presenting stories of Ukrainian players about their experience in little-known countries, a symbiosis of "serious" and "entertaining" type of discourses in the pages of the magazine).

O diretor de comunicação no futebol: perfis e tendências nos “três grandes” clubes portugueses

Objetivo do estudo: Traçar o perfil do Diretor de Comunicação (DirCom) nos grandes clubes do futebol português e analisar a sua atividade, não só enquanto pivô do processo comunicativo, mas também como protagonista de um processo de comunicação, influência e poder. Pretende-se assim analisar as competências necessárias para o exercício desta função.Metodologia/abordagem: A partir de uma revisão da literatura problematizamos a centralidade midiática do DirCom, tendo como estratégia metodológica a observação participante completa no Sporting Clube de Portugal. Foi ainda efetuada uma análise documental, de caráter descritivo/comparativo, da imprensa desportiva, currículos e trajetos profissionais dos DirCom dos “três grandes” (Benfica, Porto e Sporting).Originalidade/relevância: A centralidade da função DirCom nas Sociedades Anônimas Desportivas (SAD) em Portugal não encontra, ainda, correspondência ao nível das pesquisas acadêmicas e científicas desenvolvidas. Este estudo exploratório ganha relevância ao contribuir para o aprofundamento e conhecimento deste assunto.Principais resultados: O perfil identificado caracteriza-se pela senioridade, experiência política e empresarial dos DirCom, em detrimento da esportiva. São privilegiados modelos de comunicação unidirecionais (propagandísticos) num ecossistema comunicacional que proporciona aos clubes um maior controle sobre as suas mensagens, com as suas próprias plataformas de comunicação e sem necessidade de intermediação jornalística.Contribuições teóricas/metodológicas: Promove a discussão da relação entre a mercantilização, a política e o futebol, em torno do DirCom e o seu papel na atualidade, objeto por explorar.Contribuições sociais/para a gestão: Analisa o papel do DirCom na governança das SAD e na relação com os stakeholders, num mundo cada vez mais digital, abrindo caminho a novas pesquisas.

Wychowankowie Związku Towarzystw Gimnastycznych „Sokół” w Polsce w igrzyskach olimpijskich 1924–1936

The aim of the article is to depict the participation of athletes, originated from the Union of Gymnastic Societies ‘Sokół’ (Falcon) in Poland, in the summer and winter Olympic Games in the interwar period. The Olympians represented gymnastics, athletics, boxing, wrestling and cross-country skiing – sports that were initiated on Polish soil yet during the partitions and were widely exercised in ‘Sokół’s’ societies in the interwar period. In this article, the political and social context accompanying the development of professional sport in “Sokół” can be found. Moreover, included biograms of the Olympians mention, in addition to sports successes, their membership in‘ Sokół’, and their social and professional activities after the end of a sports career. The aim of the article is to depict the participation of athletes, originated from the Union of Gymnastic Societies ‘Sokół’ (Falcon) in Poland, in the summer and winter Olympic Games in the interwar period. The Olympians represented gymnastics, athletics, boxing, wrestling and cross-country skiing – sports that were initiated on Polish soil yet during the partitions and were widely exercised in ‘Sokół’s’ societies in the interwar period. In this article, the political and social context accompanying the development of professional sport in “Sokół” can be found. Moreover, included biograms of the Olympians mention, in addition to sports successes, their membership in ‘Sokół’, and their social and professional activities after the end of a sports career. Futhermore, this study presents athletes whose biographies were contained in the published biographies and memoirs. This sources unambiguously confirm that their membership in the “Sokół” was not incidental, and their social identity was shaped in the process of education of the Society. This research area has begun to interest sport historians for some time, but publications are still incidental and rather focused on the achievements of the 'Sokół' in the dissemination of sport in selected regions of the country rather than the performance in competitive sport. The research methodology is based on the analysis of historical sources, such as sports press, diaries, and in-depth biographical studies.