Thesis (M.A. (Media Studies)) -- University of Limpopo, 2020 / This study examined the effect of digital news reporting on professional journalistic practice focusing on fake sport news websites. It evolves from the fact that, despite the progressive benefits of the digital revolution, the rise of fake news websites has become common practice associated with the clickbait that spreads rumours posted on unofficial accounts often with a journalistic pretext. The aim of this study was to examine how fake digital sport news reporting impacts on professional journalistic practice. The objectives of the study were: to describe the nature of internet-based fake sport news stories and websites; to assess the credibility of sport news disseminated through fake news sites, and to determine the implications of fake sport news stories and websites on standard news practice. The descriptive design within the qualitative interpretive paradigm was used to determine the negative effect that fake sport news has on professional journalistic practice. Qualitative content analysis of ten sample news excerpts and in-depth interviews with sixteen expert informants were complementarily used to collect data. Interpretive phenomenological analysis was applied to generate discursive themes which yielded the study outcomes. The data from screenshots and interviews were collected, corroborated and analysed, using content and thematic analysis techniques. After analysing both the screenshots and the interviews, a total of eight themes emerged from the study. The study notes how fake sport news and its associated litany of misinformation and/or disinformation has contributed to the creation of false hypes about sports news to the detriment of professional journalism practice. The study revealed that fake sport news is prominent on social media and poses a major challenge to journalistic integrity and credibility. From the various screenshots, fake headlines were identified as a contributing factor to the rise of fake news stories. It was also found that fake sport news has a negative effect on journalism practice, as it spreads lies, makes people more interested in emotional stories and forces credible news agencies to also use sensational headlines to gain the attention of an audience. The interviews revealed that characteristics of fake sport news stories are exaggerated, misleading, have no source or attributions, no by-lines or unknown authors and misrepresent so-called facts. iv vi The study recommends that research, fact-checking, naming and shaming people/websites that popularize fake sport news should be made known to the public; proper training and assertion of certain rules, regulations and ethics for new reporters and journalists to follow and stick to; there must be thorough research and cross checking of information gained from a secondary source; a governing body to possibly monitor and crack down on serial propagators and spreaders of fake sports news stories; sport journalists should alert readers of fake sport news and fake sport news websites, as these are common in sport due to the popularity of sport news sites; and sport journalists should stay away from reporting/re-writing and sharing fake news in order to maintain credibility and ethics in sport news reporting.

Uppsatsens syfte är att studera skillnader mellan kultur- och sportjournalistik för att kunna undersöka vad dessa skillnader har för grunder och betydelser för vår uppfattning om kultur och sport i samhället. Varför låter sport- och kulturjournalistik så olika? Vad har det för betydelse? Genom att detaljstudera två av Sveriges Radios nyhetsprogram, Kulturnytt och Radiosportens nyheter, görs skillnader mellan de två genrerna tydliga och konkreta. Skillnaderna analyseras utifrån begrepp som genre, hegemoni, dikotomi och uppdelningen mellan hög och låg samhällelig status. Uppsatsens slutsatser är att uppdelningen mellan sport och kultur hålls stabil genom journalistiska genrer, vilka i sin tur är skapade efter uttryckens olika samhälleliga status. Kulturens och sportens historiska bakgrunder och nutida plats i den samhälleliga diskursen speglas så i de journalistiska skillnaderna. Resultatet av undersökningen gestaltas i ett ljudverk som syftar till att tydliggöra hur skillnaderna ser ut genom att vända på genrerna. Hur låter det om man rapporterar om kultur som om det vore sport och hur skulle ett reportage om en sporthändelse låta med kulturjournalistikens verktyg? / The purpose of this dissertation is to study and examine the differences between culture and sports journalism to examine what the grounds of the differences are, and what the consequences are for our understanding of culture and sport in society. Why do sports and culture journalism sound so different? And, what does it mean? Through detailed study of two Swedish Radio news programmes, Kulturnytt and Radiosportens nyheter, the differences between the two genres is made evident and concrete. The differences are analysed through concepts as genre, hegemony, dichotomy and the division between high and low social status. The conclusions of this dissertation are that the division between sport and culture is kept stable by journalistic genres, which in turn is created by the expressions differences in social status. Culture and sport's historical background and contemporary place in the discourse is thus reflected in the journalistic differences. The results of the genre examination are interpreted in a radio piece, aiming to clarify how the differences are constructed by reversing the genres. How would it sound to report on culture as if it were sports, and how could a story about a sport event sound using the instruments of culture journalism?

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2012. / Includes bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The onset of democracy in South Africa in 1994 was accompanied by the rise in bids for, and the hosting of sports mega-events so as to accomplish national interests and goals. This was done with the purpose of rebranding the South African image to the international community through national and international campaigns that sought to highlight the country’s aspirant status as a rainbow nation and its pan-Africanist ideals. This study investigates how, as host for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, South Africa was reported on by two international online media newspapers, The New York Times (United States of America (USA)) and the Guardian (United Kingdom (UK)). The aim is to address an understudied aspect of South Africa’s hosting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ by reflecting systematically on the tone and content of international media portrayals of the event, both before and during the tournament. The study has two focuses. Firstly, it considers the motives for South Africa’s bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup™. Secondly, it appraises the content and nature of reporting in the two overseas newspapers. The study uses a mix of secondary and primary sources, which include academic journals, books, websites, newspaper articles and government and the FIFA websites. The findings of this study suggest that the bid to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ was based on the country’s positive experience from hosting previous sports mega-events. Additionally, South Africa wanted to showcase its commercial maturity, its development of physical infrastructure, and the presence of human skills. The motives underpinning the bid aimed at dispelling and challenging international misconceptions of the African continent. The novelty of an African country bidding to stage and hosting a sport mega-event such as the FIFA World Cup™ resulted in the country gaining extensive international media coverage from The New York Times and the Guardian. The qualitative and quantitative content analysis from these two newspapers yielded some commonality and recurrence of words such as: “stadium”, “tickets”, ‘vuvuzela”, “crime”, and “security”. The differences between the two newspapers were minimal, supporting the liberal-pluralist theoretical claim that the media acts as an agenda setter, and in line with the Marxist theory of the ideological role of the media. Media coverage of sports mega-events is important and influential in determining the way in which the host country is branded, and future studies are necessary to address the / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die koms van demokrasie in Suid-Afrika in 1994 het gepaard gegaan met die toename in tenders en die gasheerskap van megasportgebeure om nasionale belange en doelwitte te bereik. Die doel was die herposisionering van die Suid-Afrikaanse beeld in die internasionale gemeenskap deur middel van nasionale en internasionale veldtogte wat daarna gestreef het om die land se reënboognasiebeeld en sy pan-Afrikanistiese ideale te beklemtoon. Hierdie studie ondersoek hoe Suid-Afrika, as gasheer vir die 2010 FIFA Wêreldbeker, deur twee internasionale aanlynmediakoerante, The New York Times (Verenigde State van Amerika) en die Guardian (Verenigde Koninkryk) uitgebeeld is. Die doel is om die meer onverkende aspekte van Suid-Afrika se gasheerskap onder oë te neem, en voorts om sistematiese peiling te doen van die toon en inhoud van internasionale media-uitbeeldings van die sport gebeurtenis. Die studie het twee fokuspunte. Eerstens word ondersoek ingestel na die motiewe van Suid-Afrika se bod om die 2010 FIFA Wêreldbeker aan te bied. Tweedens beoordeel dit die inhoud en aard van verslaggewing in die twee oorsese koerante. Die studie gebruik ’n mengsel van sekondêre en primêre bronne, insluitend akademiese tydskrifte, boeke, webwerwe, koerantberigte en die regering en FIFA se webwerwe. Die bevindinge van hierdie studie beklemtoon dat die motiewe van Suid-Afrika se bod om die 2010 FIFA Wêreldbeker aan te bied, gegrond was op die bewese positiewe prestasierekord wat die land as gasheer in vorige megasportgebeure opgebou het. Voorts wou Suid-Afrika sy kommersiële volwassenheid, die ontwikkeling van fisiese infrastruktuur, en die teenwoordigheid van mensvaardighede ten toon te stel. Die motiewe vir die bod was ook daarop gemik om internasionale wanopvattings oor die Afrika-vasteland uit te daag en uit die weg te ruim. Die ongekendheid van die aanbied van ’n megasportgebeurtenis soos die FIFA Wêreldbeker deur ’n Afrikaland, het daartoe gelei dat die land uitgebreide internasionale mediadekking in The New York Times en die Guardian geniet het. Die kwalitatiewe en kwantitatiewe inhoudontleding het getoon dat daar ’n mate van gemeenskaplikheid en herhaling van woorde was, soos: “stadium”, “tickets”, “vuvuzela”, “crime” en “security”. Die verskille tussen die twee koerante was minimaal en ondersteun liberaal-pluralistiese teorie wat die media as ’n agenda steller uitwys. Dit ondersteun ook Marxistiese teorie oor die ideologiese rol van die media. Mediadekking van megasportgebeure is belangrik en invloedryk in die bepaling van die manier waarop die gasheerland as handelsmerk voorgestel word, en toekomstige studies is nodig om die onderbestudeerde aspekte van die 2010 FIFA Wêreldbeker ™ te ontleed. Dit sluit onder andere in, ontleding van die langtermyn ekonomiese, politieke en maatskaplike nalatenskappe van so ’n gebeurtenis.

This thesis deals with medial presentation of two most watched sporting events in the Czech Republic the football Synot league and hockey Tipsport league, on channel ČT Sport. The first chapter introduces the history and play system the top two competitions. The second chapter lists the most important corruption scandals since 1993 in the Czech football and hockey, and discuss also the issue of hooliganism. The third chapter presents the history of the channel ČT Sport, all programs dealing with hockey and football competitions, the most important journalistic tools and TV professions involved in these programs. The fourth chapter presents the first part of the analysis of the two selected TV programs. The fifth chapter presents the analysis of communication and semiotic aspects of the programs Bully and Studio. The sixth chapter contains the author's own survey, which focuses on the perception of programs Bully and Studio from the perspective of the grand public. The aim of this thesis is to determine which of the competitions is presented in a better way, both from a professional point of view and in terms of the perception of spectators.

The thesis titled Self-reflection Of Czech Sport Journalists Working Between 1980 And 1999 In Printed Media And The Influence Of Ideology On Their Role In Society focuses on a question of whether the work of writing sport journalists was influenced by the ruling ideology before 1989. The thesis is based on biographical interviews of five sport journalists, which were taken while using the help of oral history research method. The sport journalists bring their testimonies, memories, experiences and stories associated with the period of normalization, the Velvet Revolution and the post-revolutionary period. The biggest emphasis is placed on a degree of impact of the ruling ideology on the editorial process before 1989. Therefore the thesis touches themes of self-censorship, targeted campaigns, relationships of the journalists to the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia or to The National Security. The work brings views of still writing sport journalists, who evaluate their motivation to do the profession, their ongoing journalistic career and the role of sport journalists in society. This study is a contribution to oral-historical research on the period of normalization and to understanding the influence of ideology on the media activity before 1989. This thesis extends the knowledge of sports...

The submitted diploma thesis deals with presentations of figure skating at Winter Olympic Games from the 1990s to the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in two selected daily newspapers, and with ways in which the presentation of figure skating has changed within the analysed period. The first chapter presents sports journalism, its history and famous personalities, its text types and typical language, and characteristic features of a sport journalist. The second chapter presents the connection of sports and media, the concepts of agenda-setting, agenda-building and intermedia agenda, tabloidization and commercialization and ways in which news services work. The third chapter presents figure skating and figure skating events at the analysed Winter Olympic Games. The analysed media and changing paradigms of the media landscape are presented in the fourth chapter. The methodological basis used for the analyses is described in the fifth chapter. The sixth chapter presents the results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of the newspaper articles. Furthermore, the interviews with two personalities of the Czech figure skating are analysed qualitatively. The results of the quantitative analysis of the articles and the qualitative analysis of the interviews are compared. Keywords figure skating,...

[pt] Esta dissertação tem por objetivo mapear as peculiaridades referentes ao jornalismo esportivo, identificando as práticas adotadas pelos jornalistas dessa editoria e, também, as estratégias narrativas utilizadas na construção de seus textos. A análise tem como corpus notícias sobre a Seleção Brasileira publicadas em três sites jornalísticos – o brasileiro Lancenet!, o argentino Olé.com e o norteamericano SportsIllustrated.com - durante a participação do Brasil na Copa do Mundo de 2010. O trabalho é constituído por três etapas: 1) a contextualização – quando se relaciona futebol brasileiro, copa do mundo e jornalismo esportivo -; 2) o estudo das teorias do jornalismo – referente ao detalhamento do campo do jornalismo, conceito proposto por Pierre Bourdieu – e 3) a análise das notícias, dividida em duas etapas, sendo, a primeira, uma investigação acerca dos valores notícia que guiam os jornalistas dos três sites na seleção e construção da notícia e, a segunda, as estratégias narrativas adotadas por esses profissionais e quais estereótipos aparecem quando se escreve sobre a Seleção Brasileira. A escolha pela coleta das notícias durante a Copa do Mundo é relevante para a realização e para a compreensão deste trabalho, já que é nesse período que a editoria de esporte adquire ainda mais importância e torna-se mais interesse para milhões de pessoas. O maior evento esportivo do mundo coloca em evidência ainda maior o esporte mais praticado, que movimenta paixões e fortunas mundo afora. / [en] This dissertation is aimed at mapping the particularities of Sports Journalism, identifying the practices adopted by sports journalists and also the narrative strategies used in the construction of their texts. The analyses consider reports about the Brazilian Team published on three websites - the Brazilian Lancenet!, the Argentinian Olé.com and the North-American Sportsillustrated.com – during the participation of the Brazilian Squad in the World Cup 2010. This work consists of three stages: 1) the context -as it relates to the Brazilian Football, the World Cup and Sports Journalism are; 2) the study of the Theories of Journalism -regarding the breakdown of the journalistic field, a concept proposed by Pierre Bourdieu; 3) the analysis of the news, divided into two stages: first, an investigation about which news values guide journalists from the three sites in the selection and construction of the news, and, second, the narrative strategies adopted by these professionals alongside which stereotypes appear when they write about the Brazilian Team. The choice for the collection of news during the World Cup is important for the realization and understanding of this work, since it is in this period when the Sports Editor acquires even greater importance and becomes of more interest to millions of people. The world s biggest sporting event highlights more and more this most practiced sport, which moves passions and fortunes all over the globe.

According to earlier studies, men dominates the sports pages in Swedish newspapers. The gender balance is far from equal and the purpose of this thesis is therefore to look into how Swedish local and regional newspapers covered gender in their sports pages during the year of 2013. The study also examines the news values of men’s and women’s sports, whether there are any differences compared to previous studies and whether there are any differences across the country. The study uses a quantitative content analysis and the result is based on editorial material from six randomly selected newspapers in 18 randomly selected days. We have analyzed 2005 separate units in 108 copies of newspapers. The study shows, as in previous studies, that the news feed is mainly concentrated on sports practiced by men, and it isn’t any significant differences across the country regarding the coverage of gender. Sports practiced by men also have a higher newsworthiness since it gets more space and are more promoted on the frontpages of the newspapers. The conclusion is therefore that sports practiced by women are marginalized as a deviation from the male norm.

Thesis (MPhil)--Stellenbosch University, 2013. / Bibliography / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The representation of women in the media has been problematic in many respects. Women have often been portrayed in a limited number of roles and media reports have often unnecessarily focused on their physical appearance. In 2009, South African athlete Caster Semenya astonished the athletics world with her times in the 800 m. However, her performance was soon overshadowed by speculation about her sex. Before long, an Australian publication claimed that Semenya had male sexual organs and no womb or ovaries. The publication of this report left other media with a number of ethical dilemmas. This study examined the representation of Semenya in Beeld and Rapport, two Afrikaans newspapers, during the height of speculation. The aim of the study was to determine whether the specified media, in their portrayal of Semenya, adhered to journalism’s ethical principle of truth-telling. Two theoretical frameworks, namely, Representation and African womanism, were used as analytical tools. Qualitative content analysis was used to analyse the portrayal of Semenya. The study found that the representation of Caster Semenya did not adhere to journalism’s ethical principle of truth-telling in all respects. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die uitbeelding van vroue in die media skiet steeds in verskeie opsigte tekort. Studies oor die onderwerp dui daarop dat vroue dikwels in ’n beperkte aantal rolle uitgebeeld word. Daar word ook gereeld onnodig na vroue se fisieke voorkoms verwys. In 2009 het die Suid-Afrikaanse atleet Caster Semenya die atletiekwêreld verras met haar uitstekende tye in die 800 m. Dié prestasie is egter gou oorskadu deur media-spekulasie oor die atleet se geslag. ’n Australiese publikasie het kort daarna ’n berig gepubliseer wat beweer het dat Semenya manlike geslagorgane het en geen baarmoeder of ovaria nie. Die publikasie van dié berig het die media voor verskeie etiese uitdagings te staan gebring. Hierdie studie het die uitbeelding van Semenya in Beeld en Rapport, twee Afrikaanse koerante, gedurende die hoogtepunt van dié spekulasie ondersoek. Die doel van die studie was om te bepaal of die spesifieke publikasies gehoor gegee het aan media-etiese voorskrifte met betrekking tot die weergee van die waarheid. Twee teoretiese raamwerke, naamlik Uitbeelding en womanism in Afrika, is in dié verband as vertrekpunt gebruik. Kwalitatiewe inhoudsanalise is gebruik om die uitbeelding van Semenya te ontleed. Die studie het bevind dat die uitbeelding van Semenya nie in alle opsigte in ooreenstemming was met dié beginsel nie.

Sexy Sports: A reception study of the National Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) Olympics website coverage of women’s beach volleyball at the 2008 Beijing Olympics involves an examination of the sporting media and its reportage of the female athlete. The thesis will focus on the reception of the NBC Olympics website coverage of women’s beach volleyball at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by viewing groups constituted by the researcher. The reason for this is that it would be difficult to find naturally constituted audiences for this website, but its reception is never-the-less of research interest. My hypothesis is that the nature of the images and text on the website is overdetermined by the construction of women on other popular texts such as men’s magazines etc. In focusing on the meanings obtained from the content of the website (texts and images), the study will investigate how these meanings are naturalised in specific moments of production as well as through their intertextual relationships with similar texts involved in the glamorisation of female athletes. Specifically the study explores the meanings obtained from the content of the website (texts and images) and how in turn these meanings are naturalised by the consumers of the website. The study will utilise a qualitative research design to unpack the content of the website through the use of qualitative content analysis, focus group interviews and individual in-depth interviews. The research will be informed via a theoretical framework that draws from feminist theory, sport feminism, the concept of intertextuality between media texts, ideology and Stuart Hall’s model of preferred reading. Increasingly mainstream media uses the image of a woman’s body to sell almost anything from men’s razors to margarine and in so far as the reporting of women’s sports is concerned this holds true. Through the research I intend to account for the connotative power of other texts i.e. the men’s magazines and pornography, and how this is likely to be carried through into shaping the meanings that are read off the website. Arguably the production of the NBC texts and images are overdetermined by the existence of similar texts already in transmission in the circuit of culture.