Radical Sports Journalism?: Reflections on ‘Alternative’ Approaches to Covering Sport-Related Social Issues

In this paper we report findings from a study of what we are calling ‘sports media activism’ (or ‘SMA’). We were interested in how, why, and for what purposes a range of sport media activists are engaging with sport-related social issues through different media. This research contributes to a limited body of literature on sport-related activism, and especially to thinking about the role of media in sport-related activism. By ‘taking sport seriously’ in this paper, we consider what might be learned by focusing on the experiences of those creating and contributing to sport-related activism and alternative media. Also, by assessing a range of projects that we include under the sport media activism umbrella—each with their own goals and intentions for change—we think there is room to inform thinking about ‘alternative’ media more broadly.