Sports journalism conditioned by the communicative management of football clubs: the case of FC Barcelona

Abstract

Relations between press offices football clubs and sports journalists are part of the model Gieber and Johnson (1961) by the fact that both share common goals, where communication cabinets need the media to print certain information and news reporters need to publish results in loss of independence on the part of journalists, as they need to those departments as sources. Currently, the departments of Communication football clubs such as FC Barcelona, have become gatekeepers. This has accentuated the historical differences between journalists and corporate communications professionals, plus the information control of these departments causing ongoing tensions between the two.