Nationalism in Online Sports Journalism - a Comparison Between Germany and the UK
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Örebro University Department of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences May 2012 Nationalism in online sports journalism - A comparison between Germany and the UK - MA Thesis Global Journalism Supervisor: Joel Rasmussen Author: Martin Altvater Abstract The focus of the study is an analysis, to what extend nationalist positionings are used in the online mediation of sports. The empirical study focuses on how nationality is represented and constructed in textual output. In addition, the study compares the findings of a content analysis conducted in Germany and the UK. As critical case the coverage of the 2012 UEFA EURO Championship qualification in 2011 has been selected. Previous research shows that nationalism in mediated sports within the traditional media is represented through various approaches. The usage of national identities and the construction of difference have been observed by researchers, such as Dixon (2000), Bruce (2004), Malcom (2009), Stocker (2009), Chesterton (2011) and others as mechanisms of nationalism. Furthermore, the developments and trends in the genre of sports journalism have been studied by researchers, such as Schlegel (2007) and Schmalenbach (2009), in regards to the journalistic profession, economical interests and tendencies in writing. The most important theory for this research has been the construction of difference in media output as well as how national identities or nationalism is represented in textual output. Most influential for this study are the theories by Stuart Hall (1997) and Teun van Dijk (1991). A definition regarding nationality and nationalism is based on the Danish researcher Jorgensen as presented by Östman (2009). The empirical study collects articles published on the two most visited websites / portals from Germany and the UK. 81 articles have been studied through a quantitative content analysis. From the empirical study it has been concluded that in both countries nationalist positionings are represented through constructions of difference. However, it needs to be noted that journalists in Germany and the UK are using different approaches. In Germany, country names and variations are used to create distance between the home and the other teams. In the UK they are used to strengthen their own national identity. Sources and quotations of the home teams are overrepresented to underline the connection between them and the audience. Pronouns and comparatives / superlatives are used to construct an “us-versus-them” relationship. Pronouns are more important in the UK for this approach, while in Germany it is mostly comparatives / superlatives. The frequencies of the different constructions vary, but all of them are used regularly in online sports reporting and confirm that there are nationalist tendencies in sports journalism. i Table of Figures Tables: Table 1: Difference in between newspaper / magazines and radio / television coverage ....... 20 Table 2: Drivers of online sports journalists ........................................................................ 20 Table 3: Online reach in 2011 according to AGOF, Germany............................................... 44 Table 4: Distribution of articles per online platform ............................................................. 50 Table 5: Correlation between means of country names and point of publication in German articles ................................................................................................................................. 55 Table 6: Correlation between means of country names and point of publication in articles from the UK ......................................................................................................................... 58 Table 7: Means of sources per genres in sports journalism in Germany ................................ 58 Table 8: Means of sources per genres in sports journalism in the UK ................................... 60 Table 9: Distribution of comparatives / superlatives per genre in the articles from Germany 65 Table 10: Distribution of comparatives / superlatives per genre in the articles from the UK.. 66 Table 11: Correlation between main actor and proposition of the headline ........................... 67 Diagrams: Diagram 1: Distribution of genres per platform .................................................................... 51 Diagram 2: Distribution of main topics for Germany and the UK ......................................... 53 Diagram 3: Amount of articles divided among main actors in the UK .................................. 57 Diagram 4: Distribution of articles from Germany in relation to all quoted sources referring to the competing teams ............................................................................................................ 59 Diagram 5: Distribution of articles from UK in relation to all quoted sources referring to the competing teams .................................................................................................................. 61 Diagram 6: Medians of pronoun usage, divided among the six match days of the German team ............................................................................................................................................ 62 Diagram 7: Medians of pronoun usage, divided among the six match days of the English team ............................................................................................................................................ 63 Diagram 8: Means of comparatives and superlatives used in relation to the three points of publication in Germany ........................................................................................................ 65 Diagram 9: Means of comparatives and superlatives used in relation to the three points of publication in the UK ........................................................................................................... 66 ii Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................. i Table of figures .................................................................................................................... ii Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background .................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Statement of the scientific problem and its relevance ................................................... 2 1.3 Statement of the aim and research questions of the thesis: .......................................... 4 1.4 The scope of the research ............................................................................................... 5 1.5 Outline of the thesis ........................................................................................................ 6 Chapter 2: Sport, media and society ................................................................................... 7 2.1 Sport and society ............................................................................................................ 7 2.1.1 Sport and nations .................................................................................................... 8 2.1.2 Sport and patriotism ............................................................................................. 11 2.2 Sports media and society .............................................................................................. 12 2.2.1 National identities in the mediation of sports ........................................................ 13 2.2.2 Representation of difference in mediated sports .................................................... 14 2.3 Sport, the media and economic interests ..................................................................... 15 2.4 Sport and journalism ................................................................................................... 17 2.4.1 Sport journalism as a genre................................................................................... 18 2.4.2 Sport journalism and the internet .......................................................................... 19 2.4.3 Sport as infotainment ........................................................................................... 21 2.5 Summary ...................................................................................................................... 22 Chapter 3 Theories ............................................................................................................ 23 3.1 Nation, nationalism and nationalist positionings ........................................................ 23 3.1.1 Defining nationalism in mediated sport ................................................................ 27 3.2 The meaning making process....................................................................................... 27 3.2.1 Representation and interpreting meaning .............................................................. 29 3.2.2 The construction and representation of national identities ..................................... 30 3.2.3 The construction of difference or otherness .......................................................... 30 3.3 The language used in mediated sport .......................................................................... 32 3.3.1 The role of headlines ...........................................................................................