SummaryThe salience of mediated scandals today is deeply linked with the formation of norms and values in our society. This is a particular challenge for the field of sport as the compliance with norms and values is of particular relevance in this social area. The paper shows the extent of scandalization in sport reporting and discusses possible implications for sport. Therefore, it offers a definition and typology for sport scandals. It indicates why sport scandals might have a fundamental share of overall scandal reporting today in comparison to other fields of society. The paper further emphasizes content-related aspects such as celebrity status, sport discipline and type of sport scandal. In the empirical portion, a quantitative content analysis of all reported scandals in three German newspapers over a period of one year is provided. Implications of the findings for athletes, organizations, and society are discussed.

Based on the fact that Twitter penetration in Germany is comparatively low this study analyzes the adoption of Twitter by German sports journalists. It questions how far influences on adoption that were proven to be important in the well-established diffusion of innovation theory can help to explain the Twitter usage among sports journalists. As influences for circumstances of adoption, the type of innovation decision and communication channels are identified. In addition, perceived attributes of Twitter concerning relative advantages, compatibility with norms and values and complexity are specified. A representative online survey with members of the German Association for Sports Journalists reveals that many sports journalists are reluctant concerning Twitter usage. Three Twitter user types were identified: Non-users, Occasional Information Seekers, and Regular Active Users. These user types differed clearly in terms of the circumstances of adoption: management decisions and the adoption by near peers favor the usage of Twitter. Further, compatibility and complexity are influential. For relative advantages, surprisingly, results are less distinct. Overall, this study shows that the diffusion of innovation theory is a helpful approach to explain Twitter usage in German sports journalism and advocates its application for the adoption of other digital innovations in sports journalism.

Information sourcing in sports journalism changes with the process of news curation on the internet. In particular, social media is an important source for sports reporters, as athletes and organizations post content on a regular basis. Although how sports journalists use social media in their daily work routines has already been investigated, there is little knowledge on how social media is used as a source in sports reporting. However, with regard to a possible copy-and-paste trend and an impeding loss of relevance of journalistic content, results pertaining to the use of social media as a source would be helpful to evaluate journalistic output. By conducting a quantitative content analysis of 3,150 online articles of three German sports news providers, this author investigated the number and patterns of social media sources in journalistic articles. The results reveal, inter alia, that social media is crucial for human interest stories on athletes.

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