Sports Scandals

Kyle Beierlein

Dr. Rand

UWRT 1103

10 November 2014

Sports Scandals

Sports journalism as a profession has changed exponentially over the past few decades. It has gotten to the point where it seems as though the focus is taken off the games themselves and journalists are now keying more on what is happening off the field. That being said, sports scandals appear to be occurring more frequently now-a-days than in years past, and that could be the driving reason behind why there are more stories about off the field issues rather than the games actually being played. This begs the question: is the huge influx of scandals a product of the way sports have changed, or is it due solely to the new type of investigative journalism that has recently gravitated towards the sports world? Based on research I have conducted I believe it is the latter. There have been infamous reported scandals dating back to 1919 and the “Black Sox” scandal that involved point shaving during the World Series (Finley, Peter). If this were the case then you would assume that the in-depth investigative journalism that we are all aware of now would uncover these sports injustices as soon as they possibly could, but this does not always seem to be the case.

As of late, it appears as though something is hindering sports journalists from reporting these scandals as soon as the information becomes privy to them. Whether it be a school or organization covering up evidence that would make it known, or the reporters themselves refusing to investigate a certain topic because they are worried about the repercussions that could affect them; something is stopping these scandals from being reported to the public in a timely manner.

In the last two years alone, we have seen Lance Armstrong go from beloved American Hero to the most hated man in sports, Ray Rice beat his wife on camera, and Chapel Hill create fake classes so student athletes would meet the requirements necessary to keep playing their...