{"id":3432,"date":"2019-05-31T14:57:52","date_gmt":"2019-05-31T12:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/?p=3432"},"modified":"2019-06-01T23:49:32","modified_gmt":"2019-06-01T21:49:32","slug":"notes-on-non-existing-national-traumas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/idrottsforum.org\/forumbloggen\/notes-on-non-existing-national-traumas\/","title":{"rendered":"Notes on non-existing national traumas"},"content":{"rendered":"

To what extent should scholars of sport be involved with journalists, be they tabloid hacks or senior editors of respected media outlets?<\/p>\n

As a rule, academic deliberation mixes uneasily with feverish scoop hunting. Of course, most scholars wouldn\u2019t mind their, or our, epoch-making discoveries being disseminated by the media, and some journalists do have a keen eye for academic discussions. Yet the risk of abuse is always there, as I recently learnt (though not for the first time).<\/p>\n

A youngish Estonian radio journalist asked me to comment on the case of two Estonian athletes. In the wake of the skiers\u2019 illicit, self-confessed blood manipulation, the entire nation had suddenly plunged into the depths of \u2018national trauma\u2019 \u2013 or so I was told.<\/p>\n

According to this line of thought, Finland had undergone a similar trauma in 2001<\/a> and Finnish scholars could therefore show the way forward to the grief-stricken people of Estonia. What ensued was an incoherent, more than slightly frustrating phone interview conducted in halting English. Whether a single snippet was actually broadcast the following day is something I prefer not to know.<\/p>\n

You see, my only contribution to the sports-related \u2018trauma\u2019 debate has been a negative one. War, famine, torture and terrorism lead to traumas, not foul-smelling urine samples or suspiciously elevated blood values. In the latter case only personal trauma might occur, a trauma largely caused by irresponsible and plain sensationalist media coverage.<\/p>\n

Soon after hanging up I realized that the Estonian journalist had never acquainted himself with my musings on the use of drugs in sport. Most probably, he had carried out a simple web search and come across my name, thinking that I should be able to provide ’expert’ advice or even alleviate the Estonian people\u2019s collective pain.<\/p>\n

The lesson I learnt from the radio incident is not a new one, but as I shamefully and of my own free will stumbled into a familiar trap, let me repeat it with capital letters. Beware of Friendly-Sounding Journalists! Verify their credentials, ask what they actually need you for, find out whether they have done their homework or not.<\/p>\n

If they only seek to advance their own agenda, politely excuse yourself, get back to the ivory tower and enjoy the loneliness of the detached observer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To what extent should scholars of sport be involved with journalists, be they tabloid hacks or senior editors of respected media outlets? As a rule, academic deliberation mixes uneasily with feverish scoop hunting. Of course, most scholars wouldn\u2019t mind their, or our, epoch-making discoveries being disseminated by the media, and some journalists do have a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3455,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-okategoriserade"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t