A new breed apart? Work practices of Australian Internet sport journalists

This essay presents the findings of research that examined the work practices of a selection of Australian Internet sport journalists, employed within either independent sport sites or those connected to a traditional print media parent company. The results are divided into three main categories - nature of the medium, work practices and self assessment - and in each it is clear that the work of Internet sport journalists differs from their print media colleagues in particular. Specifically, the Internet is a converged medium in which immediacy and interactivity influence both its content and its structure. Internet sport journalists, far more than their print media colleagues, are dependent on content from wire services and in the main engage in a role similar to a sub-editor, in which they edit material and prepare it for publication, rather than produce content in the manner of a conventional reporter. Finally, Internet sport journalists, like sport journalists in general 20 years ago, suffer from a poor reputation among their colleagues, particularly because the Internet is a new and unknown medium and thus, in the main, neither tested nor trusted.