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Managing Social Media Content During a Global Crisis: Interview With Ben Read, Social Media Manager at World in Motion

Charles Mountifield and Stirling Sharpe

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The Social Media Response From Athletes and Sport Organizations to COVID-19: An Altruistic Tone

Stirling Sharpe, Charles Mountifield, and Kevin Filo

The global coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has resulted in restrictions on gatherings of large crowds, the suspension of live sport events across the globe, and the relegation of topical televised sport to broadcasts of past events and competitions. Consequently, there has been a shift in focus from the entertainment aspect of sport to the health and well-being aspects of sport. As athletes, teams, and sport organizations have become subject to government legislation concerning physical distancing, self-isolation, and lockdowns, the resultant spare time has presented the opportunity for individual athletes and sport organizations to pursue an approach to social media that includes viral challenges, fundraising, and socializing online. This paper provides a commentary on select high-profile athletes’ and sport organizations’ social media behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has adopted an altruistic tone.

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Media Strategies to Engage Stakeholders and Navigate Crises: An Interview With Paul Glover, Media Manager of the ACT Brumbies Super Rugby Franchise

Olan Scott, Anthony Beaton, Thilo Kunkel, and Stirling Sharpe

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Managing Digital Content for a Professional Sport Team: An Interview With Bill Yole, Social Media Coordinator and Webmaster of the ACT Brumbies Super Rugby Franchise

Stirling Sharpe, Thilo Kunkel, Olan Scott, and Anthony Beaton

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Unfair, Innocent, Flamed: Examining How the Chinese Public Perceived Sun Yang’s 8-Year Doping Sanction

Bo Li, Olan K.M. Scott, Stirling Sharpe, and Qian Zhong

International sport has always been associated with nationalism. The purpose of the study was to explore how Chinese media and the general public perceived the doping scandal of their national sports hero, Sun Yang. Through analyzing 11 Chinese media outlets’ coverage on Chinese social media Weibo, the results revealed that Chinese media covered Sun and his team’s reaction and perspectives on this issue more when compared with other news. The general public’s perceptions toward this scandal tended to be favorable toward Sun, with 55.5% of selected Weibo comments defending Sun after his 8-year ban for doping was handed down. The analysis of these social media comments posted by sports fans showed that the general public’s perceptions might have been impacted by their nationalism, international relations, and media coverage. In addition, the study revealed the Chinese public’s perceptions toward current antidoping regulations.

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“Clean Athlete” or “Drug Cheat and a Jerk”? A Comparative Analysis of the Framing of an Athlete Conflict in Australian and Chinese Print Media

Bo Li, Olan K.M. Scott, Stirling Sharpe, Qingru Xu, and Michael Naraine

Media coverage in China and Australia examined a conflict between 2 Olympic swimmers, Chinese Sun Yang and Australian Mack Horton, during the 2016 Rio Olympic Games. While both swimmers performed well, there were several conflicts between the 2 leading to both nations’ media coverage portraying the foreign athlete negatively. An analysis of 398 print-media articles revealed there were sharp differences between the 2 nations in both the amount of coverage and the valence of the information sources. From a theoretical perspective, the framing of this conflict showed an “us vs. them” dichotomy, suggesting that both countries’ coverage was strongly influenced to protect the reputation and honor of the home athlete. Coverage in both nations was markedly different, suggesting a home-nation favoritism. Implications for sport communicators are discussed.