Measuring Balance and Bias in Sports Journalism: Analysis of Fair and Consistent Australian Rules Football Reporting

Sport reporters strive for objectivity to legitimize their work, yet acknowledge their subjectivity in creating entertaining narratives. This objectivity–subjectivity tension has importance consequences for sports journalism, and in turn sporting organizations’ cultural and commercial success. This study examines Australian Rules Football reporting about home-team rivals Adelaide and Port Adelaide by South Australia’s only major newspaper, The Advertiser . We identify bias toward Adelaide across three levels of analysis and argue this bias is caused by commercial and ideological subjectivity. These findings are discussed in relation to the broader implications of structural bias in journalism and its political, economic, and societal consequences.