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In this paper we report findings from a study of what we are calling ‘sports media activism’ (or ‘SMA’). We were interested in how, why, and for what purposes a range of sport media activists are engaging with sport-related social issues through different media. This research contributes to a limited body of literature on sport-related activism, and especially to thinking about the role of media in sport-related activism. By ‘taking sport seriously’ in this paper, we consider what might be learned by focusing on the experiences of those creating and contributing to sport-related activism and alternative media. Also, by assessing a range of projects that we include under the sport media activism umbrella—each with their own goals and intentions for change—we think there is room to inform thinking about ‘alternative’ media more broadly.

HIV/AIDS education and prevention are often described as one way that SDP can contribute to international development, yet there has been little critical analysis of how discourses legitimize particular conceptions of HIV/AIDS and constructions of life skills. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to conduct a critical discourse analysis, guided by the concept of biopedagogies, of the Live Safe Play Safe (LSPS) manual that Right to Play (RTP) has used to train facilitators for its HIV/AIDS prevention program. The findings demonstrate that discourses of risk, individualism, and deficiency constructed life skills in a way that aligned with neoliberal approaches to health promotion and development; emphasizing risk management and individual responsibility, while glossing over the broader social and political factors influencing HIV transmission.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 2015 Calls to Action identified societal measures necessary for a successful reconciliation process between Indigenous peoples and settlers in Canada, five of which were specific to sport. Half a decade after the Calls to Action were published, the response by national sport organizations in Canada has escaped scholarly attention. Through a lens informed by settler colonial studies, the authors employed summative content analysis to examine the ways, if any, in which national sport organizations in Canada have implemented relevant Calls to Action. The results indicate a lack of response by most national sport organizations which, we argue, represents settler silence.