without access, favor or discretion': the gatekeeping practices of deadspin

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Without access, favor or discretion:

The gatekeeping practices of Deadspin

Without access, favor or discretion 1

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Abstract

Deadspin.com, a part of the online Gawker network, is one of the most popular

sports blogs. The site promotes itself as an alternative outlet to mainstream sources of

sports news and information, and carries stories about the off-field exploits of athletes as

well as their on-field achievements. This study examines the gatekeeping effect of

Deadspin by examining the types of sources editors draw stories from, the types of

stories posted as well as the valence and the frame of each post. The study found that an

overwhelming number of stories selected from non-mainstream sources were about off-

field events, illustrating the sites gatekeeping influence of bringing new types of stories

from alternative sources into the marketplace of ideas.

Keywords: Blogs, sports media, gatekeeping, framing


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Without access, favor or discretion:

The gatekeeping practices of Deadspin

For years, each morning a post appeared onDeadspin.com, a popular blog for

sports news. The post, which generally appeared around 9 a.m., included a collection of

links to sports stories. It began the same way every day, with the following text in italics

beneath the headline and before the first link:

Because no one reads the newspaper, and SportsCenter's anchors are too perky

for this early in the morning, Deadspin combs the best of the broadsheets and

internets to bring you everything you need to know to start your day.

(Deadspin.com, May 1, 2010)

This text did more than just suggest a strong gatekeeping influence. With itsreference to daily newspapers and to ESPNs ubiquitous highlight show, it outright

acknowledged the gatekeeping role the site hopes to play and believes it does play in the

sports media landscape. (The site reformatted its morning round-up post in 2011 as part

of a larger site redesign.)

Throughout the first decade of the 21st century, blogs emerged as an importantnew communications medium. Theyve been called a new, post-modern form of

journalism (Robinson, 2006). One of the most popular blogs to emerge in the 2000s is

Deadpsin, one that is dedicated to sports news (Deitsch, 2008).

The purpose of this study is to examine the gatekeeping role Deadspin plays in thesports media world. The study seeks to identify the types of stories that appear on


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Deadspin and how the editors and contributors of the site frame those stories. Stories will

be defined as the subject material of the posts onDeadspin.

Gatekeeping and framing are important theoretical frameworks in the study ofnews. Gatekeeping has been conceptualized as the study of the processes by which news

organizations select the stories that are presented to the public (Shoemaker, 1991).

Framing is the study of how the stories are presented in the media, or how individual

elements within stories are presented to increase the salience of the topic (Entman, 1993).

Numerous studies have been conducted on the gatekeeping aspects of the massmedia, dating back to David Manning Whites famous study of Mr. Gates, the wire

editor and his selection of newspaper stories (1950). But the 2000s have brought an

upheaval to the traditional media power structure. Declining circulation and advertising

print revenues have had a devastating impact on print newspapers (Pew, 2010). Online

advertising revenues, while growing, have yet to yield profitability for media

organizations (Pew, 2010), but the growth of online circulation and the proliferation of

laptop computers, mobile devices such as iPhones and other smart phones and tablets

clearly show that the future of news is, in at least in some form, online.

Deadspin is one of the most popular sports blogs, receiving at least 15 millionpage views each month from May 2009 to May 2010 (Deadspin.com). Founded in 2005,

the blog promotes itself as an alternative to mainstream sports media outlets like ESPN,

Sports Illustratedand The New York Times. Its slogan, which is a part of its masthead,

reads Sports news without access, favor or discretion (Deadspin.com, May 1, 2010).

Despite promoting itself as an alternative to those mainstream, traditional publications,

Deadspin is owned and operated under the umbrella of a highly successful online media


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network, Gawker. Like other blogs in the Gawker network, the content on the site is

typically written in a humorous, biting, sarcastic style and often pokes fun at (or directly

insults) prominent sports figures. The site is known best for posting pictures of

professional athletes partying with fans (typically young, attractive women) and focusing

on the salacious side of sports. It received widespread attention in the fall of 2010 by

publishing lewd text messages allegedly sent by then-New York Jets quarterback Brett

Favre to a team employee (Deadspin.com, Oct. 7, 2010). The site is widely read by

sports fans and sports media professionals, and it is perceived as being influential in the

growth and direction of online sports news. As noted earlier, the header on the sites

morning round-up suggests a strong gatekeeping affect thatDeadspin seeks to play.

Media have derived much of their influence due to their gatekeeping abilities.However, the emergence of internet communications in the 1990s and throughout the

2000s has created a transition era for news producers. More and more people are going

online to read their news - whether it is original online content or news that is repurposed

from traditional print or broadcast formats. The emergence of online news has led to a

new generation of gatekeepers outside the traditional mass media - including blogs like

Deadspin. In order to better understand the extent of the power sites like Deadspin can

have on the marketplace of ideas, it's important to study what stories "pass through their

gate," so to speak.

Sports media represents an ideal area to study. Mass communications research,particularly research surrounding journalism blogs, has shown that sports are one of the

most popular subjects for newspapers to cover via blogs. Blogs have been shown to be an

extension of talk radio because sports often elicit strong opinions from fans. This makes


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sports a natural subject for blogs, and makes sports blogs worthy of study. This study

would add to that literature.

For the purpose of this study, mainstream media sources will be defined asnetwork sports coverage (ESPN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, etc.), newspapers (both print and

online editions) as well as nationally recognized websites (i.e. Yahoo.com). Non-

mainstream news sources will be defined as any news source outside of the mainstream

definition (i.e. blogs, message boards, etc.).


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Theory

Several theories are drawn on in this study. The primary theoretical lens is

gatekeeping. Framing is also important, as are the studies of journalists roles. However,

before delving into the scholarly literature and theory, it is important to provide some

background intoDeadspin.

Deadspin

Deadspin is the brainchild of Will Leitch, who started the site in 2005 after

working as a freelance writer in New York City. The popular press dates the sites

beginning as September of 2005 (Mallozzi, 2006); however the first posts on the sites

archive are dated August 30, 2005. The first post is Chopping Wood at Baseball

Prospectus, detailing how one of the writers at a popular baseball website became a

transsexual (Deadspin, August 30, 2005).Deadspin is owned and operated by Gawker

Media, an online media corporation that runs, among other blogs, Gawker.com,

Jezebel.com and Gizmodo.com (Hollingshead, 2008). Leitch leftDeadspin in 2008 and

was replaced as editor by AJ Daulerio, also a former sports writer and blogger. In 2010,

the site had a staff of seven editors and contributors.

In less than five years,Deadspin became one of the most popular sports-related

blogs, recording 150,000 page views per day (Perez-Pena, 2009). Sports Illustrated

ranked it as the top sports blog of the 2000s (Graham, 2009). One of the main reasons for

its popularity is its subject material and the blogs writing style.Deadspin blog entries are

typically funny, sarcastic, snarky and cynical and deal with off-the-field misdeeds of

athletes and sports casters (Gonzalez, 2009; Lemke, 2008; Mallozzi, 2006; Nolan, 2007).


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Its seen, both by itself and by fans, as an alternative to mainstream sports news sources

like ESPN and daily newspapers (Nolan, 2007).

Leitch has said in an interview that he wanted the site to be something different on

the sports landscape, something other than a typical fan site or one that is heavily into

statistics (Beer, 2006). One of the first stories the site pursed was that of then-Atlanta

Falcons quarterback Michael Vick being accused in a civil lawsuit of giving a woman a

sexually transmitted disease, and the fact that Vick used the alias Ron Mexico at a clinic

(this was before Vicks well publicized conviction for running a dog-righting ring). The

Ron Mexico portion of the story was not widely covered by mainstream sports media

outlets, but Leitch wrote about it onDeadpsin. On occasion,Deadspin has broken

typical sports news stories. In 2005, it was the first to report a baseball players pending

suspension for steroid use (Nolan, 2007). ButDeadspin also received attention for

running pictures of quarterbacks Matt Leinart, Ben Roethlisberger and Kyle Orton

partying and drinking. The site has also focused attention on ESPN anchors, posting

audio and video of anchors drunk in public or trying to pick up women in bars - including

a famous one of Chris Berman, the popular anchor, saying Youre with me, leather, to a

woman at a bar (Nolan, 2007, p. 8).

In an interview with the online edition ofSports Illustrated, Leitch summed up his

view of the site:

One of the exciting things aboutDeadspin is that kind of wall used to be there.

Now we (fans) decide what we want to know. We dont always need that wall


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anymore people react to sports as entertainment because thats what it is.

Whatever fans find entertaining is what counts. (Deitsch, 2008, p. 1).

Like the daily recap post quoted at the beginning of this study, that quote from

Leitch acknowledges the gatekeeping role he hopesDeadspin plays.

Gatekeeping

For 60 years, one of the primary areas of media research has examined medias

role as a gatekeeper of news and information. Broadly defined, gatekeeping is the

process used by media professionals select which news items will be written about or

covered in the newspaper, included in a broadcast or published on the internet

(Shoemaker, 1991; Shoemaker & Vos, 2009). The name comes from the selection of

stories to pass through the medias gates and get to the public.

The study of gatekeeping in a mass media context dates to David Manning

Whites famous study (1950) in which he asked a newspaper wire editor to keep notes on

why he chose specific stories and to write on the back of those stories he did not use why

he chose not to use them. Among Whites findings was the fact that almost 90 percent of

available stories were not chosen and that the decisions of the editor named for eternity

as Mr. Gates were highly subjective. Later studies argued that gatekeeping choices

were less about personal preferences and more reliant upon organizational roles and work

routines (Bass, 1969; Halloran, Elliott & Murdock, 1970; Gieber, 1956; Westley &

McLean, 1957). Chibnall (1977) and Tuchman (1978) argued that news is manufactured

by reporters, not simply reported, meaning that reporters themselves often act as

gatekeepers.


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This process has evolved over the past 10-15 years with the emergence of the

internet as a news source. Government agencies and sports teams alike can communicate

directly with the public through their own websites, eliminating the need for the media to

act as a gatekeeping conduit, leading some to argue that gatekeeping is dead (Poor, 2006;

Williams and Deli Carpini, 2000). An early example of this was the Bill Clinton-Monica

Lewinsky scandal, which first emerged not from the mainstream media but from internet

sources and blogs (Williams & Deli Carpini 2006). In the sports realm, this was studied

by Poor (2006) and his study of Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schillings use of the

internet and traditional media.

Blogs have also become a growing news source. Originally, weblogs were

personal, opinionated sites the online equivalent of a diary (Deuze, 2003). But through

the late-1990s and the early 2000s, blogs emerged as a sort of new journalism (Robinson,

2006). Deuze (2003) found that blogs fit into his second category of online journalism,

index and category sites. One of the primary aspects of a blog is its ability to act as a sort-

of second-level gatekeeper for instance, stories that dont appear in mainstream sources

(or are downplayed in those sources) can be given significant attention on a blog. Hewes

and Graham (1989) illustrated an early version of this with their second-guessing

theoretical perspective, in which individuals interpret and reinterpret messages based on

their personal memories and doubts they may harbor. But blogs are still reliant on

mainstream news sources for most of their material. One study showed that 99 percent of

stories linked to on blogs come from so-called traditional, mainstream media outlets

(Pew, 2010).


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An important element to the study of gatekeeping is how newsworthiness is

defined. Shoemaker, Chang and Bredlinger (1987) found that deviance that is,

something outside the accepted, normal boundaries of every day life is an indicator of

newsworthiness. A story headlined Plane lands safely after routine flight would hardly

qualify as news. A story headlined Plane crashes; hundreds feared dead would

definitely be news. A primary reason forDeadspins creation and popularity is the fact

that they pick stories to pass through its gates that arent typically covered by traditional,

mainstream news sources. One of those story categories is the behavior of media figures,

including ESPN anchors and sports writers. Leitch has said in interviews that he believes

the traditional belief that sports media figures are there to report the games and not be

covered themselves is hypocritical, because the media figures are as well known than

many athletes (Sandomir, 2008). Stories that do not focus on the well-covered realms of

game results and player moves are also a perfect fit forDeadspin. Leitch explained in an

interview:

If ESPN gets a story that they dont consider news or might not be in their best

interest to run, well, its no longer a story and we never hear about it. But if I get a

really good scoop from one of my sources or something really interesting from a

fan, I have the freedom to post it without having to deal with any political

pressure. (Mallozzi, 2006, p. 11)

Framing


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Framing is related to gatekeeping. If gatekeeping is loosely and simplistically

defined as the study of what gets covered, framing can be loosely and simplistically

defined as the study of how those news items are covered.

Broadly put, frames supplied by the media allow audience members to organize

and understand information (Tewksbury et al, 2000). Entman (1993) defined framing as

selecting some aspects of a perceived reality and mak(ing) them more salient in a

communicating text (p. 52). By highlighting word, phrases, or other bits of information,

Entman said those particular pieces of information are elevated in salience. Salience can

also be influenced, Entman wrote, by the placement and/or repetition of texts or by their

association with familiar symbols.

One type of framing involves word choices or phrases used, such as event-

oriented coverage or conflict-oriented coverage, which presents two sides of an issue

(Tewksbury et al, 2000). Other types of framing include the placement of information

within a story. Journalistic norms and practices dictate that the most relevant information

is placed closer to the beginning of the story (this is known as the inverted pyramid style

of writing), with the lead paragraph serving as an important location for framing devices

(Tewksbury et al, 2000; Pan & Kosicki, 1993).

As noted earlier,Deadspin is well known for the way it portrays athletes and

sportscasters, often taking a negative, sarcastic and humorous light to their stories (Beer,

2006; Gonzalez, 2009; Nolan, 2007). The goal is to be funny, even if that requires

occasionally being scatological, Leitch said in an interview with the online edition of

Sports Illustrated(Deitsch, 2008, p. 4). In the same interview he said, in reference to


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running photos of drunk athletes: I dont want to over intellectualize it. The photos are

fun (Deitsch, 2008, p. 5).

Journalists roles

The way in which journalists view their on-the-job duties and responsibilities has

been widely studied and debates within the profession. Johnstone, Slawski & Bowman

(1972) found two primary roles reporters play within a newsroom culture: One being a

neutral, impartial observer and the other being an active participant whose point of view

drives the reporting. Weaver & Wilhoit (1992), in a survey of American journalists at the

end of the in the 1990s, found three different roles for journalists: disseminators of

information; interpreters of events; and adversaries of business and government. A study

10 years later found a fourth role a mobilizer of audience members (Beam, Weaver &

Brownlee, 2008). In some circles, objectivity is considered the most important

professional norm in journalism (Soloski 1989). Soloski (1989) defined journalistic

objectivity as the ability to seek and report themes fairly and in as balanced a way as

possible.

The rise of online news has raised questions about the place of traditional

journalism roles in newer media. Concerns have been raised that the speed of online news

could hurt journalists accuracy (Berkman & Shumway, 2003). The increased amount of

raw information available on the internet has lessened the publics reliance on the typical

media outlets - in the sports world, teams are providing game statistics, quotes from

players and coaches and video on their official websites (Weintraub, 2007). Blogs, with


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their highly personal writing, are not typically bound by notions of objectivity (Deuze,

2003; Singer, 2006).

Mainstream journalists have been critical ofDeadspin, saying that editors and

contributors spread rumors without subjecting them to traditional journalistic fact

checking (Cowlinshaw, 2010). Deadspin editors have been quoted in the popular press as

saying that they view what they do as being rooted in traditional journalism practices but

that, as a blog, there is a different standard they should and do work by (Deitsch, 2008;

Fitzpatrick, 2009). Were still a blog at the end of the day, current editor Daulerio said

in 2009 (Perez-Pena, p. B-6).

Hypotheses

With the theoretical background in mind, the following hypotheses are proposed:

H1:Posts to Deadspin drawn from non-mainstream media sources are more likely

to consist of off -field news items than posts drawn from mainstream media sources.


to be negative in valance than posts drawn from mainstream media sources.


to be representative of a critical frame and a celebrity frame than posts drawn from

mainstream sources.

For the purpose of this study, a posts source will be the independent variable,

coded as either a mainstream or non-mainstream outlet as defined earlier in this

paper. The topic of the post is one of the dependent variables and will be coded as either

on-field or off-field. On-field news items is defined for this study as any event or story


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dealing with a game, a team, or a coach or athletes performance specifically related to

their sport. For example, a story about Kobe Bryants play on the court for the Los

Angeles Lakers would be an on-field news item. Off-field news items would be any story

relating to a team, athlete or fan outside of the actual sport. For example, a story about

Kobe Bryants legal or marital troubles would be an off-field item. Since Deadspin has

positioned itself as an alternative source of information, its logical that the sites posts

will not repeat widely available sports news but instead focus on off-field activities, and

that those posts are more likely to come from non-mainstream news sources than

mainstream ones.

Valence is another dependent variable and is defined as either negative, neutral or

positive. Negative valence is defined as a story that casts the subject/story in a

predominately negative light. Neutral valence is defined as a story that does not cast the

subject/story in either a positive or negative manner. Positive valence is defined as a story

that casts the subject/story in a predominately positive light. As interviews with Deadspin

editors have shown, posts on the site are often written from a funny and critical

perspective.

Frame is the third dependent variable in this study and is being defined as either

critical, celebrity, supportive or straightforward/statistical. A critical frame will be defined

for this study as story primarily critical of an athlete (related to, but not necessarily the

same as, negative valence). A celebrity fame will be defined as story that focuses

primarily on the athlete or subject as an object of fame. A supportive frame will be

defined as a story that focuses primarily on the positive aspects of an athlete (related to,


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but not necessarily the same as, positive valence). A statistical frame will be defined as a

story focused primarily on statistical elements of sports (i.e. game results, contract

negotiations). This finding would verify the anecdotal evidence provided in the literature

and in interviews ofDeadspin editors.


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Method

Deadspin posts appearing over a one-month time frame were analyzed.

Neuendorf (2002) defined content analysis as the systematic, objective, quantitative

analysis of message characteristics (p. 1). Babbie (2009) defined a manifest content

analysis as the study of the content itself, rather than any interpreted meaning.

Sample

The unit of analysis for this study was a post toDeadspin, and the recording unit

was a sentence. The posts being analyzed were written during the month of May, 2010.

That month was selected because of its placement in the sports calendar. Three of the four

major sports in the United States are active (Major League Baseball, the National

Basketball Association, the National Hockey League) during that month, with the NBA

and NHL playoffs underway. The month was selected in part because there are no major

events during the month that could skew the sample toward one sport. The Kentucky

Derby and Indianapolis 500 do take place in May, but those events are far less popular

than, say, the World Series, the Super Bowl or the NCAA mens basketball tournament.

A total of 493 stories were posted toDeadspin in the month, and 200 were selected at

random using a systematic sampling design, in which a post was randomly selected as the

starting point (using the random number generator at http://www.random.org), and every

third post was selected for study. This allowed every post an equal chance of being

selected.

Analysis


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Posts were coded for source, topic, valence and frame, all of which were coded as

nominal variables. The first is source, which was measured as defined above where as

1=mainstream source and 2=non-mainstream source. The second is item type, as defined

earlier where 1=on-field and 2=off-field. The number of sentences in each post will be

counted as part of the measure of item type. Valence is the third variable, which is being

measured as defined above where 1=negative, 2=neutral and 3=positive. The fourth and

final variable is frame, which is being measured as defined earlier where 1=critical,

2=supportive, 3=statistical and 4=celebrity.

Reliability tests were run on all variables to show the dependability of the coding

scheme. Krippendorfs Alpha was recorded at greater than the 0.8 level for all variables,

indicating an acceptable level of reliability. Reliability measured at 1 for source; 0.896

for topic; 0.832 for valance and 0.928 for frame.


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Results

A total of 200 blog posts were studied for four variables (see Table 1). Of the 200,

102 came from mainstream sources and 98 came from non-mainstream sources. Off-field

stories resulted in 129 of the posts, compared to 71 on-field stories. In terms of valence,

78 posts were negative, 82 were neutral and 40 were positive. With regard to framing, 72

posts were found to represent a critical frame, 65 were found to have a straightforward/

statistical frame, 32 were found to have a supportive frame and 31 were found to have a

celebrity frame (see Table 2).

Examples of mainstream news sources include stories from ESPN.com, The New

York Times and The Philadelphia Inquirer. Non-mainstream sources include videos from

YouTube either posted by or found by readers, fan blogs, original writing byDeadspin

contributors that did not include links to an outside story, or e-mails from readers (several

posts were mailbags that consisted of emails from readers that a contributor answered).

On-field news stories included references to games, including, but not limited to,

the NBA and NHL playoffs or early season Major League Baseball games. Off-field news

stories ranged from posts about fan behavior, including the tasing of a Philadelphia

Phillies fan who ran on the field during a game at Citizens Bank Field, to several high-

profile arrests, including that of NFL Hall of Famer Lawrence Taylor on rape charges and

of a University of Virginia lacrosse player for the murder of his girlfriend, also a lacrosse

player.

Examples of posts with a negative valence include one about the Ohio State pep

band that compared the group to the TV show Glee in a derogatory fashion, and one


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describing of a fans bad experience at the New York Jets draft party. Neutral valence

posts included several daily round-ups, which featured one-line references to games and

news items from the night before. These references, while sometimes humorous, were

neither positive nor negative. Examples of positive valence posts include one about

ESPN.com columnist Bill Simmons decision to return to the network and one describing

the Argentina National Soccer Team doctor saying that players would be allowed to have

sex during the up-coming World Cup.

In terms of frame, examples of a critical frame include one criticizing sports

writers who wrote stories complaining about the NFLs decision to hold the 2012 Super

Bowl in New Jersey and one mocking a Philadelphia Flyers fan for cursing during the

live call-in portion of a post-game television show. Examples of a supportive frame

include a description of Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortizs long home-run trot and a

post about the career of professional wrestler Junkyard Dog. The celebrity fame could be

seen in posts about New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez dating a model, one of

Tiger Woods alleged mistresses and several posts about ESPNs Chris Berman getting a

star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The straightforward/statistical frame was seen in

posts about the death of Jose Lima and in cyclist Floyd Landis accusations that former

teammate Lance Armstrong had used performance-enhancing drugs.

With regard to post topic, 80 of the posts from non-mainstream sources dealt with

off-field news items (40 percent of the total), while only 49 posts drawn from mainstream

sources dealt with off-field news items (24.5 percent of the total). This finding was

statistically significant (p


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For valence (Hypothesis 2), posts drawn from non-mainstream sources had a

negative valence 33 times (16.5 percent of the total), compared with 45 posts with

negative valance from mainstream sources (22.5 percent of the total). This finding

approached statistical significance but did not meet the appropriate level (p


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Discussion

Like many blogs,Deadspin is often portrayed as the snarky, critical outsider

poking traditional sports figures and sports coverage in the eye. This is often the case in

both the sites self-promotion and in the way it is written about in the popular press

(Cowlinshaw, 2010). This study shows that while there is some truth to that depiction,

Deadspin is in many ways a well-rounded blog. Posts come from a balance of

mainstream and non-mainstream sources (nearly a 50-50 split). The valence and frames

were split between negative and neutral (for valence, accounting for 80 percent of the

posts between them) and critical and straightforward statistical (68.5 percent of the

posts). This suggests thatDeadspin is not the overtly negative blog that it is often

perceived as being but is instead fairly well-balanced.

In terms of topic, posts toDeadspin are more likely to involve off-field stories

than on-field ones. Of the 200 posts studied, nearly two-thirds of them (129) involved

off-field stories. The most telling finding is the overwhelming number of off-field stories

that came from non-mainstream sources. A total of 81.6 percent of the non-mainstream

stories were about off-field topics. This finding suggests a strong, second-level

gatekeeping influence the site has. Much like the second-guessing theory of Hewes and

Graham (1989), Deadspin editors (and sometimes, the readers themselves) are

reinterpreting the messages from mainstream media sources or, in some instances, find

new stories not covered by the more traditional media outlets.

One of the more surprising findings is that the celebrity frame which was

hypothesized to be would be one of the most dominant frames in posts toDeadspin was


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in fact the least prevalent of the four frames studied, with only 31 of the 200 stories

reflecting this frame. While this could possibly be explained away by sheer luck (there

were no high-profile, off-field scandals during the sample period), it indicates that the

celebrity aspect ofDeadspin is not as prevalent as often suggested. Mainstream media

stories aboutDeadspin have focused on this celebrity frame, but this study shows that

posts reflecting this frame are the rarest kind on the site.

Overall, this study suggests thatDeadspin is not the overall purveyor of sex,

sleaze and gossip that it is sometimes perceived as being. Nor is it completely an

alternative source of sports news as it promotes itself. Rather, it acts as a kind of second-

guesser, taking stories that are already in the marketplace of ideas and reinterpreting them

in an entertaining way. The second-guessing model is an interesting one to use in

studying blogs and their relationship to both mainstream media and to readers.

There were some limitations to this study. One of the challenges is the fact that

not all posts toDeadspin are about sports news. Some of them deal with celebrity news

(one post in the sample dealt with the death of actor Gary Coleman). The lengthy reader

mailbags referenced earlier did not deal at all with sports. This made coding a challenge,

since the codes were developed in reference to sports news. However, these posts are a

part of the site and so needed to be studied.

Another limitation is the fact that humor was not coded for. In interviews,

Deadspin editors have said that a main reason for the site is to have fun and to poke fun

at sports news and sports figures (Deitsch, 2008). However, the author believes that

trying to code for humor is too difficult to accomplish with any reliability. Humor is


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subjective, as is determining whether or not writing is intended to be humorous. What

one person sees as a clear joke may go over the head of another reader. Certainly, an area

for future research would include codingDeadspin posts for humor, to determine how

important that is to the site.

Future research could include coding for different variables than this study did,

such as expanding the study of topic to include individual sports. Then, it could be

examined whether or not a sport is covered onDeadspin more or less during its regular

season. It would be interesting to compare stories covered onDeadspin with the stories

covered in mainstream sources like ESPN or the New York Times, to see if the blog has

any agenda setting influence over the more traditional outlets. Additionally, it would be

interesting to study other sports blogs and see what, if any, agenda-setting power

Deadspin holds over these sites.


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International Association for MediResearch, Stockholm, Sweden.

Bass, A. (1969). Refining the gatekeeper concept: A UN Radio case study.Journalism

Quarterly, 7, 16.

Beer, J. (2006, October. 17). Not your dads sports page. The Toronto Star. p. E3.

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Table 1 Means and standard deviations for source, topic, valence and frame

variables

Variables Mean SD N

Source* 1.49 .501 200

Topic** 1.65 .480 200

Valence*** 1.81 .746 200

Frame**** 2.44 1.275 200

* Responses coded 1 = mainstream media, 2 = non-mainstream media

** Responses coded 1 = on-the-field story, 2 = off-the-field story

*** Responses coded 1 = negative, 2 = neutral, 3 = positive

**** Responses coded 1 = critical, 2 = supportive, 3 = celebrity,4 = straightforward/statistical


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Table 2 Percentages for source, topic, valence and frame variables

Variables %

Source

Mainstream 51.00Non-mainstream 49.00

100.00%

(N=200)

Topic

On-the-field 35.50

Off-the-field 64.50

100.00%

(N=200)

Valence

Negative 39.00

Neutral 41.00

Positive 20.00

100.00%

(N=200)

Frame

Critical 36.00

Supportive 16.00Celebrity 15.50

Straightforward/statistical 32.50

100.00%

(N=200)


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Table 3 Cross-tabulation of topic by posts source.

Post deals with on-the-field news Source

or off-the-field news? Mainstream Non-Mainstream

On-the-field 52.0 % 18.4%Off-the-field 48.0 81.6

100.0% 100.0%

(N=102) (N=98)

X2 =24.663, df=1, p


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Table 4 Cross-tabulation of valence by posts source.

Post has a valence that is negative, Source

neutral or positive? Mainstream Non-Mainstream

Negative 44.1% 33.7%

Neutral 42.2 39.8

Positive 13.7 26.5

100% 100%

(N=102) (N=98)

X2 =5.564, df=2, p


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Table 5 Cross-tabulation of frame by posts source.

Post reflects a critical, supportive, Source

celebrity or straightforward/statistical frame Mainstream Non-Mainstream

Critical 38.2% 33.7%

Supportive 8.8 23.5

Celebrity 15.7 15.3

Straightforward/statistical 37.3 27.5

100% 100%

(N=102) (N=98)

X2 =8.442, df=3, p

without access, favor or discretion': the gatekeeping practices of deadspin

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