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Sports Journalism and the Crossroads of the Internet Age
Journalism is changing and the way we cover sports has to adapt with it in an age of AI, clickbait, and rapid moving news cycle as has been evidenced from the demise of Sports Illustrated and changes at ESPN
The way we talk about sports and consume sports content has changed in recent years. What used to be the standard for many people that grew up in the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s is no longer the case. This reality has been on full display this week as two news stories broke that could be viewed as the final nail in the coffin to sports journalism as we once knew it.
The first, was the news that the NFL is considering becoming an investor in ESPN, widely viewed as the number one sports network in the United States. This move would allow ESPN to take control over NFL media properties (like RedZone and NFL Network) while giving the NFL an equity stake in the company. The second story was that Sports Illustrated, a print media institution since the 1950s, was going to lay off most of its staff leaving the future of the publication in doubt. For the people that grew up reading SI and watching SportsCenter, this is certainly a blow and is indicative of the reality of sports journalism, which is being attacked from all sides of the spectrum.
