History of Sports Journalism
It probably does not come as much of a shock to you to hear that sports journalism was not always the glamorous cash-cow that it is today. This type of journalism evolved with trends in society and profit-hungry businessmen, which helped mould it into what we see today. Let me take you on a brief history lesson into how sports journalism began in the US, before it became the advertisement ridden money maker we know and love.
Early Years
Sport was considered a poor mans hobby before William Porter’s Spirit of the Times coverage of horse racing. The industrial Revolution in the US brought in waves of immigrants in the 1850’s which meant the Spirit of the Times reached 100,000 readers.
“Flamboyant sports writing in the era of yellow journalism attracted newspaper readers and contributed to building a worldwide image of the United States as an economic, political, and athletic power.” — Tracy Everbach,
After the Civil War, baseball dominated the industry, and with that came the daily sports pages in the 1920’s. Between sports writers and promoters, came famous publicity events such as the MLB All-Star Game.
Shift to the Radio
With the introduction of a different media platform, came the introduction of more opportunity for sports journalism. As radios were introduced into nearly every home in America, Graham McNamee became the first official sports broadcaster in the 1920’s.
NBC and CBS became front runners in the radio scene and found that they could profit on selling advertisement places in radio shows advertisers soon began to purchase the right to broadcast major sports events, and Ford forked out $100,000 to sponsor the World Series in 1934.
Jump to Television
Television was the platform that sports journalism was waiting for. It allowed sports media to grow hugely. With the TV came even bigger advertisement deals, as companies realised they could take paid breaks in sports events to show sponsors. CBS paid the NFL $4.5 million for broadcasting rights in 1962 which started a fight with ABC over coverage.
The New Media Age
Nothing has changed sports journalism like the rise of social media. Never has there been more ways of reporting news, covering games and providing punditry like there is thanks to Twitter and co. But with all this technology changing the way we report sports news, has it destroyed the grass roots of sports itself. It seems that money and advertisement may be the downfall in our favourite past-time
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