Sports Journalism and Athlete Self-Reporting Serve Different but Important Fuctions

     Years ago, if a sports fan wanted to know anything about his or her favorite athlete, he or she would need to either get the information by word of mouth or hear the information in an interview. There was no internet, and therefore no social media. Now, every last athlete has either Twitter or another social media account in order to communicate with his or her fans. Fans have access to tons of information and opinions on the internet. Many athletes self-report their daily lives, with updates about how they feel about practice, games, and more. While there are still thousands of sports journalists that interview athletes and write articles because there is still a very high demand for it, journalists are becoming less important as athletes are updating their social media sites in real time.

Journalists focus on the short- and long-term effects of decisions and situations. 

     When an event in the world of sports occurs that requires media coverage, there is never a shortage. Media will swarm to the athlete in question and ask tons of questions. They will ask questions regarding the event or situation, questions on how it will affect that athlete's performance in his or her sport, and how it will affect the team that athlete plays for, assuming he or she plays a team sport. Journalists want to get out of the athlete any information they can, because stories are what they search for. They are more concerned about how the event, decision, or situation will affect other aspects of the athlete's life than how it will affect the athlete him or herself. They many times ask the athlete to divulge information not readily available to the public, such as what other people have to say about the situation. 

Athletes are more concerned with themselves and how the event or situation relates to them.

     When a certain event or situation arises, many times athletes feel the need to take to the internet to communicate with fans about it. Much like when an athlete gets interviewed about an event that does not directly involve him or her, many times an athlete will tweet or post on Facebook about events that do not directly involve him or her. However, there are differences with how journalists approach the athlete and how athletes approach social media. It is very uncommon for athletes to release unpopular opinions on social media websites, as they are not asked controversial questions. Since they are in charge of what is said, they can easily appeal to the masses.

     In addition, athletes are able to use Twitter and other social media sites to further their own endeavors as well as promote themselves and their brands. Chad Johnson, the NFL wide receiver, had 3 Million followers on Twitter in 2012, and that number has now grown to 4.7 Million. That is an enormous number of people that care about what Chad Johnson has to say on a daily basis. Instead of needing a reporter to ask him about how he feels about a certain issue, he is able to connect with a sizable part of the United States just by typing on his computer. Companies find Chad Johnson attractive to them and possible endorsement deals come his way because so many people pay attention to him, they could pay him to tweet for them or tweet about their products.

Athletes give insight into their real personalities on social media sites.

     When an athlete is behind a microphone and speaking to reporters, he or she is always concerned about his or her image. Athletes are trained in this facet of life, as it is important for endorsement deals and good press for athletes to sound intelligent and sound like role models when speaking to reporters. They are very conscious that they say they right thing at the right time and do not bring up any controversial topics. However, that all changes when athletes hit the internet. The more informal setting on Twitter and Facebook allows the athletes to open up, and they show more of the kind of person they really are. One interesting thing about social media is that sometimes it can be seen which players on which teams are closest with each other. Players that are closest interact more on the social media sites and give the public an insight on how they feel about one another. For instance, Ray Rice of the Baltimore Ravens is clearly close with his offensive lineman Bryant McKinnie, as they can be seen tweeting back and forth regularly.

     While sports journalism has its place in the world, as the tough questions need to be asked, it is nice that social media has come along. Fans can get a better sense of the true people they cheer for, and occasionally can even truly interact with them. Both types of reporting serve their own function, and are both useful in different ways. While athletes now have to be more careful with more people looking at their Twitter and Facebook accounts, at least we get a better sense of who these people really are.