"How Can They Like Doing That?" The Ambivalent Definition of Legitimate Work in Sports Journalism

This paper investigates the opposing definitions of legitimate journalism between female and male sports reporters in the Swiss daily press, observable through the tensions in the division of work, task hierarchies, and contradictory definitions of what is perceived as distasteful or undesirable. It aims to adopt an inclusive approach that avoids being judgemental towards male perspectives or adopting a cynical view of female journalists, to better understand both male and female journalists' experiences of interaction of work and professional recognition, and identify obstacles to greater gender equality in sports journalism. The analysis relies on the notion of "dirty work" developed by Hughes and Bourdieu's theory of field and habitus that offers a new way to investigate the links between tasks, roles, moral divisions, and power relations. Our detailed observations and 25 semi-structured interviews conducted with female and male sports journalists revealed the co-existence of two opposed professional styles. Overall, the men control the prestigious tasks and the doxa of this speciality. The women interviewed spoke of resisting, adapting, and finding satisfaction with the work that their male colleagues consider distasteful, as while their work is recognised by their superiors and non-sports colleagues as noble in general journalistic norms.