Coverage of the recruitment of high school athletes has exploded in the last decade as the advent of the Internet turned a once-obscure type of coverage into a multimillion-dollar industry. The demand for information about college football recruits has led to new ethical challenges for Web-based publications. This survey of sport media identifies some of the ethical challenges associated with such coverage and proposes a code of ethics for Web-based media outlets. Media covering high school recruiting can use these guidelines to gain and maintain credibility, to uphold a high level of ethics, and to avoid restrictions or rules mandated by an outside source in a specialized beat where high school students are the primary subjects.

Since 2010, major college athletics departments have expanded a trend of hiring former beat writers to the hybrid position of sportswriter/public relations (PR) practitioner. This case study explored the routines and roles of a former sportswriter in his PR position at the University of Washington. After observing how he moved through social and professional settings and occupational routines, the author identifies 3 themes surrounding his routines. The themes are sport journalist, PR practitioner, and subordinate. Given the historic antagonism between journalists and PR practitioners, the routines are sometimes at odds with one another. The results indicate that the routines affect content while engaging stakeholders.

The current study examines how student media in the United States utilize Twitter and if those media outlets are following best practices. A constructed-sample content analysis of 10 Twitter feeds over the course of four semesters was conducted. The findings show that student media are generally not following best practices with a wide range of differences among those outlets in the sample. Discussion includes what this means for institutions teaching social media for journalists and other concerns.

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