This paper explores how in-house sports reporters—those who write for team- and league-branded we... more 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.
This paper explores how in-house sports reporters—those who write for team- and league-branded we... more 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.
Sports leagues and teams have entered the media industry, producing news content about themselves... more Sports leagues and teams have entered the media industry, producing news content about themselves for broad consumption. The content producers behind these stories still largely position themselves as journalists, despite their lack of independence. They do so by engaging in boundary work, a process in which professional authority is won by enlisting other stakeholders in recognizing an occupational group’s jurisdiction over a societal task. While much of the debate over in-house reporting focuses on acceptance within the journalistic community, readers are also an important and underexplored stakeholder. This textual analysis of reader response to in-house coverage of athlete protest suggests that fans may respond to this content in ways that contest the commercial mission of a team website. As such, readers may be drawing their own boundaries in a media system with in-house content producers, and scholars should explore these questions.
As sports reemerge as a site for social protest, league- and team-controlled media are a new foru... more As sports reemerge as a site for social protest, league- and team-controlled media are a new forum for the spread and consideration of political messages. In-house sites challenge established boundaries between journalism and promotional content, but they seek to engage readers by establishing themselves as credible sources, although judgments about credibility are ultimately up to the audience. This content and textual analysis uses social protest by athletes following comments by President Donald Trump about National Football League (NFL) players in September 2017 as a means of exploring the terms of engagement in team media between site producers and audience. In content produced about the protest, writers for NFL team sites stressed the ideas of unity and collaboration expressed by players and executives. Fan response on Facebook was harshly critical toward the protesting athletes, teams, and NFL. These findings suggest in-house media may amplify messages of social protest, but ...
This paper explores how in-house sports reporters—those who write for team- and league-branded we... more 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.
This paper explores how in-house sports reporters—those who write for team- and league-branded we... more 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.
Sports leagues and teams have entered the media industry, producing news content about themselves... more Sports leagues and teams have entered the media industry, producing news content about themselves for broad consumption. The content producers behind these stories still largely position themselves as journalists, despite their lack of independence. They do so by engaging in boundary work, a process in which professional authority is won by enlisting other stakeholders in recognizing an occupational group’s jurisdiction over a societal task. While much of the debate over in-house reporting focuses on acceptance within the journalistic community, readers are also an important and underexplored stakeholder. This textual analysis of reader response to in-house coverage of athlete protest suggests that fans may respond to this content in ways that contest the commercial mission of a team website. As such, readers may be drawing their own boundaries in a media system with in-house content producers, and scholars should explore these questions.
As sports reemerge as a site for social protest, league- and team-controlled media are a new foru... more As sports reemerge as a site for social protest, league- and team-controlled media are a new forum for the spread and consideration of political messages. In-house sites challenge established boundaries between journalism and promotional content, but they seek to engage readers by establishing themselves as credible sources, although judgments about credibility are ultimately up to the audience. This content and textual analysis uses social protest by athletes following comments by President Donald Trump about National Football League (NFL) players in September 2017 as a means of exploring the terms of engagement in team media between site producers and audience. In content produced about the protest, writers for NFL team sites stressed the ideas of unity and collaboration expressed by players and executives. Fan response on Facebook was harshly critical toward the protesting athletes, teams, and NFL. These findings suggest in-house media may amplify messages of social protest, but ...
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Papers by Michael Mirer