European Journal for Sport and Society 2010, 7 (3+4), 265-282 Contents and patterns of construction of sports coverage in the press. Results from a cross-national comparative study Thomas Horky German Sport University Cologne, Germany Abstract: While sports rank among the most important themes in the world’s media, there is a distinct lack of cross-national comparative research on the subject. Filling the gap, this article draws on results of an international survey examining the sports coverage in newspapers from ten different countries. The study sheds light on the arrangement of themes, patterns of con- struction and further aspects of quality of the sports reporting in three different types of news- papers. The results show that coverage primarily focuses on male sports celebrities, while globalized reporting increases and journalistic accuracy decreases. Keywords: sports coverage, journalistic quality, print media, press, newspapers, cross- national comparative study, football. Introduction Across the globe, sports represent crucial subject matters in media reporting. In most countries, live broadcasts of huge sports events generate enormous viewing figures and reach globally impressive market shares. Yet, despite the fact that sports reporting is apparently characterized by globalization, a national perspective and even local focus can be noticed as well. So far, the coverage of sports has been examined extensively with regards to television, while the press remain under-researched. Do the topical nar- row-mindedness and lacking problem-awareness documented for television’s sports coverage apply to that of newspapers? Are there national differences, or is print media coverage of sports characterized by similar construction patterns across different na- tional contexts? This article will fill the gap within existing scholarly research and suggest answers to these questions. Following a review of literature and a discussion of the theoretical approach, I will unfold the design of a cross-national study of global sports coverage in the press. The findings from this research were initially introduced in Kopenhagen in 2005 1 however I will re-examine and re-evaluate the results from a cross-national perspective, while providing case studies which focus on Germany. 2 1 See Schultz Jörgensen (2005). 2 Focussing on individual results of the study, some smaller publications exist in German: see Ternieden, Stukenbrock & Feicht (2006); Feicht, Stukenbrock & Ternieden (2006); with regards to Switzerland also see NZZ Online (2006) as well as App (2006).