Spiliopoulos, P.1*, Tzekis, A.2
1School of Journalism and Mass Media Communications, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 46 Egnatia str., 54625 Thessaloniki, Greece
2Department of Communication, Media and Culture, Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences, Syngrou Avenue 136, 17671 Athens, Greece
*Contact Corresponding Author: 
Abstract
The purpose of the study was to record the causes of the sport press crisis in Greece, their effects on the practice of the journalistic profession, and to investigate to what extent the high unemployment of sports journalists in the country, is related / associated with this crisis. The research is part of a wider ethnographic study conducted using a methodological triangulation. Documents by Media organizations were analyzed and 36 sports journalists (convenient sampling) completed a structured questionnaire that was compiled after interviews with sports editors, while at the same time there was a participatory observation. SPSS ver. 25.0 was used for the data analysis. The results showed that, the participants consider that the crisis of sports newspapers, is a complex phenomenon, difficult to deal with, and it is related to: a) the strong questioning of the journalistic profession, b) the decrease of the public’s trust in the Media, c) the radical changes that are taking place due to the rapid expansion of the New Media, d) the severe economic crisis in Greece and e) the problems of unreliability and corruption that mainly affect the popular sport of football (soccer). In conclusion, the research highlighted the shrinking of the sportswear industry, which is suffering from high unemployment, the suspension of many sports newspapers publication and its decline / retreat into the media system. The findings reinforce the limited researches in the field of sports media in Greece and the study covers a serious gap that exists, since to the authors’ knowledge, the views of sports journalists have not been recorded, regarding the multi-complex phenomenon of the press crisis.
Keywords: Sports press; economic crisis; new Information and Communication Technologies (ICT); unemployment; quantitative research; Greece.
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