Page 9 - Sport Culture and the Media

viii || SPORT, CULTURE AND THE MEDIA

2 || WORKING IN MEDIA SPORT: THE DISCIPLINE OF SPORTS JOURNALISM 37
Introduction: flesh, blood and sports journalists 37
Sports journalists: ‘shabby reputations’ and professional problems 40
Profiler: the strange case of the sports journalist 45
Crusaders and cheerleaders 51
Talking to the sports talkers 56
Tabloids, broadsheets and fanzines 60
Conclusion: hacks and hipsters 65
Further reading 66

3 || MONEY, MYTH AND THE BIG MATCH: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE SPORTS MEDIA 67
Introduction: valuing sport 67
Sport, media and capital accumulation 69
How to make money while losing it in sports television 74
The ‘strategic chaos’ of media sport 79
Sport as screen filler 88
Media sports policy, politics and myth 91
Fighting for the right to watch 95
When sports television fails 99
Sport as school for scandal 109
Conclusion: media sport lost and found 113
Further reading 114

PART II UNMAKING THE MEDIA SPORTS TEXT 115

4 || TAKING US THROUGH IT: THE ‘ART’ OF SPORTS COMMENTATING AND WRITING 117
Introduction: the world of sports speak 117
Live commentary, dead language 118
Ideologies and Olympic extravaganzas 125
On the page, off the air 128
Revelations, exclusives and ‘bungs’ 134
Literary moments 137
Conclusion: from script to still 141
Further reading 141

5 || FRAMED AND MOUNTED: SPORT THROUGH THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE 142
Introduction: still sport 142
Caught in the act 143
Sports bodies: hot and hard 147
Politics and portraits 154