International Journal of Sport Communication, 2012, 5, 384-402 © 2012 Human Kinetics, Inc. www.IJSC-Journal.com CASE STUDY Covering the Scandal in 140 Characters: A Case Study of Twitter’s Role in Coverage of the Penn State Saga Jimmy Sanderson Clemson University, USA Marion E. Hambrick University of Louisville, USA This case study explored how sports journalists used Twitter to cover allegations about former Penn State University assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abusing young boys. A content analysis of 1652 tweets from 151 sports journalists was conducted. Analysis revealed that sports journalists used Twitter in the following ways: a) offering commentary, b) breaking news, c) interactivity, d) linking to content, and e) promotion. The results suggest that Twitter serves as an additional venue for sports journalists to frame stories; however, their behav- ior in this venue blurs professional and personal boundaries as they mock fans and promote their competitors. The analysis further suggests that the immediacy with which news breaks on Twitter places sports journalists and sports media organizations into a dialectic between “being first” and “being accurate” when reporting news. Keywords: Twitter, sports journalism, social media On November 5, 2011, the sports world was rocked by news that former Pennsylvania State University (PSU) assistant football coach Gerald “Jerry” San- dusky was being charged with sexual abuse of minors. Testimony from a grand jury investigation revealed numerous accusations against Sandusky—specifically that he had molested 10 boys during a 15-year period—with some of the abuse alleged to have occurred at Penn State facilities (Chapell, 2011). One of the more prominent allegations involved assistant football coach Mike McQueary (then a graduate-assistant) who reported that in 2002 he personally witnessed Sandusky engage in sexual activity with a young boy in the football facility’s showers. McQueary reported the incident to head football coach Joe Paterno, who in turn disclosed this information to PSU Athletic Director Tim Curley and Vice-President of Finance and Business Gary Schultz. Curley subsequently demanded Sandusky’s Sanderson is with the Dept. of Communication Studies, Clemson University, Clemson, SC. Hambrick is with the Dept. of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Louisville, Louisville, KY. 384 Journalists and PSU 385 locker room keys and prohibited him from inviting children to the football facility and campus, but neither Curley nor Schultz reported the alleged abuse to the police (Chapell, 2011). On November 6, 2011, the University Board of Trustees fired both Curley and Schultz. The trustees also terminated Paterno and PSU President Graham Spanier, but placed McQueary on administrative leave (Chapell, 2011). During a tumultuous two-week period from November 5–18, 2011, media outlets across the nation covered this developing news story in extensive detail. However, via Twitter messages, or “tweets,” sports journalists broke the latest news, shared information, and discussed the story immediately as events unfolded (Daniels, 2011). For instance, NBC’s John Clark noted the football team’s reaction: “Joe Paterno spoke to team today and broke down in tears. He is very upset and sad. Players gave him standing ovation.” ESPN’s Buster Olney argued for Paterno to step down: “The right thing to do: Joe Paterno should offer his resignation. Penn State would have opportunity to accept or decline, when it deems necessary.” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review writer Dejan Kovacevic speculated about President Spanier’s fate: “I don’t see how Graham Spanier lasts the day. Really don’t. He’s next. #PSUcharges.” Yahoo! Sports columnist Pat Forde weighed in on students marching in support of Paterno: “Sensing a massive disconnect between the feelings of Penn State students and fans here vs. the rest of the nation when it comes to Paterno.” These tweets depict the variety of sports journalists (e.g., Olney covers Major League Baseball for ESPN) covering and weighing in on this story (Daniels, 2011). Previous research has examined the growing use of Twitter within the sports industry, although most work has focused on professional athletes (Hambrick, Sim- mons, Greenhalgh, & Greenwell, 2010; Pegoraro, 2010) and their Twitter followers (Clavio & Kian, 2010; Kassing & Sanderson, 2010). Fewer studies have examined sports journalists’ Twitter use (for exceptions, see Schultz & Sheffer 2010; Sheffer and Schultz, 2010). This case study explores how sports journalists used Twitter as a sports crisis was unfolding and discusses shifts in journalistic standards that arise as social media becomes more prominent in sports reporting. Literature Review Social Media and Sports Media Sports fans’ consumption of sports news has shifted from traditional outlets such as television and newspapers to digital resources such as blogs, mobile applications, and social media sites (Kian, Burden, & Shaw, 2011; Sanderson, 2011). This real- location has ushered in an era of “on-demand” sports news, characterized by three factors: 1) the rapid speed with which information is transmitted, 2) the numerous channels facilitating this information exchange, and 3) the democratic nature of information dissemination processes (Hutchins, 2011). Digital media have flattened sports media hierarchies, offering publication and distribution tools to those outside mainstream sports media circles. Hutchins and Rowe (2009) posit that this transfor- mation constitutes a shift from “broadcast scarcity” to an era of “digital plentitude” (p. 354) and that this digital plethora, “demands adjustment and reorganization in both media and sports industries” (p. 355). As a result there is not longer a scarcity of sports media channels and sports media organizations are now competing with athletes and bloggers in the race to break news (Sanderson & Kassing, 2011). 386 Sanderson and Hambrick Social media has shifted sports news from a one-way to a two-way avenue. Traditional one-way flows designated news providers as the single authoritative source, leaving consumers with little means to engage in a discussion. Yet, these capabilities are now possible via Internet and social media technologies, as con- sumers can respond to information as well as create and disseminate content of their own (Galily, 2008; Hutchins, 2011). In response, sports journalists have been forced, out of necessity to move into digital spheres—most notably Twitter. Twitter and Sports Journalism Twitter started in 2006 and has grown to 462 million registered users; it is expected to reach 500 million users by the 2nd quarter of 2012 (Bennett, 2012). At the pres- ent time, Twitter has 100 million active users (defined as accessing the account at least once per month) with 250 million active users expected by the end of 2012 (Bennett, 2012). Twitter is a microblogging site that allows users to create messages, termed “tweets,” that are no more than 140 characters in length. One’s Twitter account is linked to a username preceded by the @ symbol. Twitter users connect to one another by electing to “follow” another Twitter user. Each tweet a person sends is transmitted to their “followers,” who can reply to the tweet by adding their own commentary, or “re-tweeting” (retransmitting) the message to their individual followers. Twitter has become the social media tool of choice for athletes and, increasingly, sports reporters (Hambrick et al. 2010; Sanderson & Kassing, 2011; Schultz & Sheffer, 2010; Sheffer & Schultz, 2010). For sports journalists, Twitter represents both an information source (e.g., citing an athlete’s tweet in a news story) and a means for transmitting information (e.g., posting a tweet that promotes an upcoming story; Hutchins, 2011). While Twitter is becoming more integral to sports journalists, few researchers have conducted empirical studies to examine how these media members employ Twit- ter. Schultz and Sheffer (2010) completed a two-part study by surveying sports journalists working in print and broadcast outlets and identifying their reasons for using Twitter. In the first study, the researchers asked journalists open-ended questions about their Twitter use, and discovered that Twitter was used in the fol- lowing ways: a) breaking news, b) providing personal opinions, c) promoting media outlets, d) connecting with fans and others, and e) becoming a better journalist. The journalists rated breaking news and promoting their media organizations as the chief reasons for using Twitter, while assigning lower rankings to the other categorical areas. Schultz and Sheffer (2010) noted that these journalists and their affiliated media organizations used Twitter in similar ways. As such, they observed that social media may enhance rather than truly transform sports news coverage. They suggested future studies should examine this “emerging hybrid of journalism” (p. 237) to better understand the interplay between Twitter and more traditional news communication outlets. As a follow-up, Sheffer and Schultz (2010) revisited their previous study results by conducting a content analysis of tweets posted by sports journalists. They sought to determine differences between sports journalists described versus actual Twitter usage. They collected 1008 tweets over a three-week period from 297 journalists. The results revealed divergences from the previous study. Most Journalists and PSU 387 notably, sports journalists frequently used Twitter to offer commentary as more than half