Marie Hardin, Associate Professor and Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research at the Penn State John Curley Center for Sports Journalism, led a recent online chat on sports journalism and social media. She moderated the chat with the following guests:
-
Malcolm Moran, Penn State Knight Chair for Sports Journalism and Society;
- Viv Bernstein, New York Times contributing sports correspondent and former sports writer at the Hartford Courant and Detroit Free Press, among other media outlets;
- Megan Hueter, Women Talk Sports founder (an online sports media network); and
- Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi associate professor and researcher on sports reporters and new media
The following offers a selection of highlights from the chat.
View the full unedited transcript of “Sports & Social Media: Issues & Predictions” at AEJMC LIVE (via Cover it Live.com, a web-based Live Blogging tool that allows you to broadcast live commentary to your readers.) AEJMC LIVE features conversations between academics and professionals on current topics in journalism and mass communication education and practice.
How critical is social networking for sports journalists?
Megan Hueter: Social network allows journalists to actually develop relationships with their readers. I think the idea of a writer-to-reader relationship is amazing.
Malcolm Moran: Social networking is becoming as much a part of the process as the traditional contact. It’s a real-time equivalent of the letter or phone call from a reader.
Viv Bernstein: Social networking is essential. You need it just to follow what LeBron is going to say. Because he isn’t going to say it in a media scrum anymore.
Brad Schultz: There are too many people who simply think that shooting and posting something makes them a journalist. They forget about the other stuff.
How have the independent bloggers and social-media forums pushed media companies to be better?
Malcolm Moran: The Washington Post, decades ago, started “Postcards from Wimbledon” and other major events. They were smart, witty items that did not meet the requirements of news but belonged in the paper. They were blogs on newsprint.
Brian Schultz: I think they’ve increased the level of accountability. If you make a mistake or get lazy as a reporter, fan blogs will catch you on it. Plus, they push reporters to get better info, to dig for more compelling content rather than settle for a press conference quote that anyone can watch online.
Is social media used (or can it be used) differently for male and female athletes/sports?
Megan Hueter: Female athletes don’t get too much a voice in traditional media. I’m a firm believer that social media empowers them.
Brian Moritz: Great point, Megan. But does that mean that mainstream sports sources will further ignore women's sports, because they have a voice online?
Malcolm Moran: The Olympic sports - male and female - that may be ignored by mainstream outlets can receive attention by informed bloggers and reporters using non-traditional sites.
Viv Bernstein: Yes, social media has given female athletes the avenue they lacked as traditional media ignored or limited their coverage. It will be very important moving forward for female athletes and leagues to take advantage of social media to build audiences and fan bases.
Megan Hueter: @Viv makes a great point. social media gives female athletes a following (a visible one) that can help justify WHY traditional media should cover them, right?
Brian Moritz: @Megan it goes both ways, though. Mainstream sites could say "Sure, this has a following. But people who care can get it online, etc." Not saying it's right, but I can see that happening.
Marie Hardin: @Brad: Unfortunately,I agree. Social media will provide exposure, but I'm afraid women's sports fans will be "on their own" until attitudes change in wider society.
TV is still king despite the Internet – no doubt. How long will that continue? Are we overstating the impact of social media?
Megan Hueter: TV is not going away. It might start to become a bit more participatory, though. For example, it might start to integrate my social networks. (i.e., I can see what my friends are watching and switch channels.)
Brian Moritz (from Syracuse University, former sports reporter): I think the lines between media forms are becoming blurred. I forget the author, but a book I read for a class last semester used the phrase “platform agnostic” and I think that applies. People view Facebook/TV/Twitter/Newspaper as all one amorphous thing.
Malcolm Moran: Television has already merged with the internet. When Jerry Seinfeld was here a few years ago, he did this riff about viewers scrambling to type into computers while they watched. “Who are these people?” he said. Now they’re everywhere.
Does social media threaten to make journalists irrelevant for athletes?
Viv Bernstein: Very good point. We are being bypassed by teams and leagues and athletes who are cutting out the middleman and getting the message directly to the consumer.
Brad Schultz: Dan LeBetard made that point not too long ago. He said athletes simply won't need the traditional media anymore.
Brian Moritz: For superstars, maybe. A-Rod doesn't need the New York Post. But college athletes? Day-to-day players? I don't think they have the cache to bypass the media. Yet.
Megan: No, I don't think so. I'd rephrase that to say social media pushes journalists to be "more relevant" to athletes.
Predictions?
Sada Reed: Journalists will have their own social media sites; people turn to them like they would their friends, family, for information.
Malcolm Moran: Professional athletes will breeze by the crowd waiting at the locker and say, “Check my tweets.” But when that happens, they will fail to realize the information can always come from
some place else.
Viv Bernstein: I think more athletes, leagues, etc., will turn to social media to control the message, and more teams and sports leagues will turn to social media to cut out the middleman – reporters – in controlling that message.
Dan Vecellio: There will be Facebook, Twitter and blogging channels on TV with analysts breaking down social media 24/7. A new type of CNN/Fox News/ESPN.
Brad Schultz: Technology is great, but content is king. Create good content and you'll find an audience ... and make money.
Brian Moritz: A profitable online model is unveiled, saving newspapers and journalism as we know it.
Megan Hueter: I see the sports viewing experience as a possible convergence between live TV, gaming, social media, etc. But that large of change requires public policy and business to change as well. [...] In the meantime, I see hyper-local content, mobile options, and small media empires forming from blogs.
Malcolm Moran: And, Comcast will be a major player in college sports.