The Rise of Moral Risks: How Major Sports Organizers Can Capitalize on The Decline of Journalism

Abstract

Journalism, but especially sports journalism, is in a deep crisis. Functional, structural and organizational deficiencies can be observed worldwide. Editorial offices are being outsourced, staff cut, travel costs minimized. These profound disruptions are resulting in inferior coverage of numerous sporting events and sports. Some sporting events and types of sport, for example, are no longer covered by established editorial teams due to cost-cutting constraints. This has far-reaching consequences for sports organizers and players. Important information is not disseminated and some information is passed on incorrectly and inadequately. Such tendencies can also be observed in the Olympic Games. As this downward spiral can have serious consequences for sports organizations such as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), the Olympic Movement has long since reacted to this. This paper will show how the Olympic Movement has built up its own media structures and has now (cleverly) strategically positioned itself in recent years with so-called vertical media structures. It will be shown how the IOC has managed to make itself largely independent of sports journalistic reporting and to provide its stakeholders with high-quality reporting through its own media and public relations work, while at the same time protecting the Olympic idea/movement. The increasing integration of AI technologies will most likely reinforce the trend of sports organizations establishing their own media houses and increasingly refining their media structures.