Att inte bevaka en match - En kvalitativ intervjustudie om covid-19-pandemins påverkan på sportjournalistiken

Abstract

Aim of thesis: The aim of this thesis is to study how the covid-19 pandemic has affected the Swedish sports journalism.

Method: Qualitative in-depth interviews with ten Swedish sports journalists, both reporters and editors-in-chief. The interviews were carried out during the autumn of 2020, when the covid-19 pandemic was still ongoing. The interviews were transcribed and analysed, based on the theoretical framework.

Theoretical framework: The results were compared to Richard J. Peltz’s as well as Galtung and Ruge’s theories about news values. We also compared our results to Kevin Hull and Miles Romney’s study about the experiences among sports broadcasters in the USA in the early stage of the covid-19 pandemic. The same comparison was done with Maja Björklin’s findings. To see whether Swedish sports journalism has changed in quality the results were compared to Gavin Weedon’s findings. Finally, the interviews involved a question about whether our subjects find it true that sports newsrooms are seen as a ‘toy department’. This question was inspired by Richard J. Peltz’s study.

Results: There is a concern among several Swedish sports journalists regarding the potential of less accessibility to some clubs, first and foremost to the largest and most elite clubs in the country. The Swedish sports journalists had to be more creative than before due to the pause of live sports. That meant more in-depth reportages, economical coverage and interview series for example. Some new technical solutions appeared as well. Video call programs may have a positive effect on the accessibility. Some sports journalists were transferred to the regular news desks, and even some transmission times decreased for a period of time.