The (Re)Shaping of the Israeli Sport Media: The Case of Talk-Back

<jats:p>From its explosive development in the last decade of the 20th century, the World Wide Web has become an ideal medium for dedicated sports fanatics and a useful resource for casual fans, as well. Its accessibility, interactivity, speed, and multimedia content have triggered a fundamental change in the delivery of mediated sports, a change for which no one can yet predict the outcome (Real, 2006). This commentary sheds light on a process in which the talk-back mechanism, which enables readers to comment on Web-published articles, is (re)shaping the sport realm in Israeli media. The study on which this commentary is based involved the comparative analysis of over 3,000 talk-backs from the sports sections of 3 daily Web news sites (Ynet, nrg, and Walla!). The argument is made that talkbacks serve not only as an extension of the journalistic sphere but also as a new source of information and debate.</jats:p>