In recent years, there has been an increased emergence of studies focusing on the media coverage of the Paralympic Games. Until recently, studies have predominately used quantitative content analyses that, although providing useful interrogation of observational patterns, limit the understanding of and appreciation for the contexts that may have shaped the production of information. By focusing exclusively on the “what” and on the “how much,” it is difficult to reveal the “why” and to identify the underlying motives of any changes. This article recognizes the nuances of the editorial decision-making process by using a mixed-methods approach, employing quantitative and qualitative data drawn from a case study focusing on the Spanish media coverage of the 2008 and 2012 Paralympic Games. An initial content analysis of all news published in Spain’s 12 highest circulation newspapers during Beijing 2008 and London 2012 Paralympic Games was undertaken. Subsequently, 15 semistructured interviews were conducted with journalists that were also sent to these two iterations of the Paralympic Games by Spanish media. Drawing on conceptualisations of media framing, the results highlight that the numerical data alone shed insufficient light on the complexity of the news-making process. The semistructured interviews brought to light issues such as editorial management buoyed by commercial imperatives, and organisational interjection in journalists’ narratives and authorship, that also contoured coverage and content. In addition to further debate about the complexities of media coverage of Paralympic sport, the study underscores the utility of incorporating and combining qualitative methodologies within sport media and communication research.
Increased activity of multiple stakeholders (e.g., agents and owners) have created new challenges for some coaches working in professional sports clubs. The purpose of this project was to draw attention to the normative or accepted practices inherent in sport work, some of the day-to-day realities of some coaches working in this context, and to understand how coaches' perceptions of other stakeholders come to bear on their individual circumstances, career expectations/objectives and professional agency. Data were generated from semistructured interviews with seven professional basketball coaches who worked in top-level European clubs. The analysis reveals the coach's relationships between some owners and agents differed with respect to exercising professional agency, and, coach's decisions and actions were tied to their professional ideals as well as understandings of what they need to undertake their work effectively and negotiation and/or adjustment strategies. Occasionally coach's work practices could be viewed as antithetical to employment security, however, the presence of insecurity was at times embraced and used strategically to affect workers' career decisions. Amid contemporary regional geo-political shifts, this work aids examinations of global sport settings, structures and issues that may contour sporting professionals' lives.
Within some disciplines, for example sociology, management, history, media and cultural studies, strong trends on sports research have been established. In some disciplinary spaces, however, interest in sport has content and context has been less marked. Notwithstanding sports inherently geographical characteristics (in particular, concerns with time, space, communities, mobilities and identities) and-with researchers interested in similar phenomena from geopolitics, socialization and habitation, migration and structural and ideological forces, there are a limited number of books addressing sports geography. Early work, for example, was useful in acknowledging the relevance of 'sportscapes'. Seminal work in this regard was Philip L. Wagner's (1981) synopsis of how sports contribute to culture, place, and societal relationships, Martin Barry Vinokur's (1988) look at sport and politics, and Charles Fruehling Springwood's (1996) account of place, time and the imagination of baseball. In addition to work published by John Bale (see Bale, 1982, 1994; Bale and Maguire, 1994), these works established meaningful conceptual and practical connections between geography and sports setting. Further adding to this scholarship was Karl Raitz' (1995) edited book which made a substantial contribution to the earlier work on sport and geography by focusing on landscapes of sport and how this impacts participation and involvement. It is, however, arguably John Bale's (2003) text Sports Geography that has been one of the most cited and useful bases for this topic area. What defines Bale's book is both its comprehensive approach to the establishing sports geography as a legitimate domain of academic inquiry, and the extent to which it outlines synergies and disjunctures between formative geographic processes and principles (e.g. globalization, diffusion, regional analysis, location, social welfare, place and geographical imaginaries) within the historical and contemporary structures and landscapes of dynamic sport spaces. Respecting this body of scholarship in establishing foci, debates and momentum, there remains room for much development, new insight and critical directions as more work continues to inform the sub-field of geography. Building on these points and to expand on the foundation of research written in previous decades, there is a need to bring together a contemporary collection of papers that look at pressing issues impacting places concerning the role of sport in society. What is needed, we believe, to augment the aforementioned seminal works are fresh inductive approaches narrating experiences of sporting participants to reiterate senses of place, community and identity linking the production of new case-specific and critical knowledge that has since been expanded in more recent scholarly commentary. Furthermore, reflecting trends within our own parent disciplines, and wider work with
Her research specifically focuses on sport mega-events and legacy. During her PhD she investigated the sport participation legacy and policy implementation processes undertaken within National Governing Bodies, undercovering the perceptions and attitudes of senior managers towards sports mega-events. Some of Emily's additional research interests relate to the areas of esport and B2B sponsorship practices. A current study is exploring the possibility of esport to be used as a social development tool, by examining its communities and current practices of corporate social responsibility within the esport industry.
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