Organizational gatekeeping in Australian sports journalism: A longitudinal study of three newspapers.

This article examines changes in sports journalism within three major Australian newspapers—The Australian, the Herald Sun, and The West Australian—between 2011 and 2021, as part of the International Sports Press Survey. It finds a decline in the total number of print sports stories, increased homogeneity of content, and reduced diversity and depth, influenced by organizational and social-institutional gatekeeping factors such as economic pressures, staffing cuts, and the growing control of sports organizations over access to sources. While coverage of women's sports has modestly increased, female authorship remains low, with approximately 90% of sports articles written by men. The study highlights a stronger national focus in sports reporting, fewer sources per article, and a rise in reliance on corporate spokespeople, reflecting broader shifts in the Australian newspaper industry amid digital transformation and market challenges.