Over the past couple decades, the sports media landscape has seen many dramatic changes — one of them being the introduction of celebrity sports journalists.

“Infotainers” are entertainers that present information. The key distinction between infotainers and journalists is that the former can operate more loosely. While infotainers get to insert their opinion and show bias, journalists must uphold their ethical responsibilities and prioritize facts.

“We have seen this push not just in the last 10 years, probably over the last 20, maybe 30 … towards not necessarily non-journalists but infotainers,” said Vincent Peña, assistant professor in sports communication and journalism at DePaul.

Figures who have eschewed the traditional journalism style, such as Stephen A. Smith and Pat McAfee, claim the title of sports journalist but have grown beyond doing just that. Smith started as a journalist, working for various different newspapers before he landed as a commentator on “First Take” on ESPN. The reception of this style — which features hot takes, debates, and heavy bias — is divisive.

“The one thing about sports that we love and that everyone loves to do is talking about them,” Peña said. “So really what we’ve seen is just a shift from that being on radio to being on TV.”

This shift has caused many sports networks to lay off sports writers. In the past few years, writers with long successful careers such as Zach Lowe have been laid off while big personalities are given contracts paying tens of millions of dollars a year. One of those people is ESPN’s Pat McAfee who signed a five-year $85 million contract to join the network.

The shift towards opinions over fact-based reporting has led to unique social media opportunities for the network. The ability to post clips from their various shows on social media has allowed for viral moments — such as Shaq prank calling into Stephen A. Smith’s show — that highlight their personalities and lead to increased engagement — but is that still journalism?

“They’re not journalists,” said Chris Bury, senior journalist in residence at DePaul and a former ABC news correspondent. “I think that by calling themselves journalists, they’re confusing the audience which is increasingly seeing a blurred line between fact and opinion.”

Another thing that comes with the gray area of celebrity sports journalists is the lack of journalistic standards applied to what they do.

“Everybody has a code of ethics, some sort of rule book they have to abide by,” said Gustavo Arriaga, a senior at DePaul and assistant program director of Radio DePaul Sports and Entertainment. “You see them go in there and start lying. You can’t just do that. If that was a regular journalist … they’d be fired.”

Outside of the increasing presence of big celebrity sports journalists, sports media has also shifted to be more lenient with what it expects from the journalists they do employ. Oftentimes reporters are reduced to providing their coverage on-air merely to provide talking points for the personalities.

“It undercuts the work that traditional journalists are doing in a number of ways,” Peña said. “It privileges those who are the loudest and most out there and most willing to be seen. They’re talking to the reporters who are doing the job to give them the intel that they get to take credit for.”

Peña said he has a hard time summing up the difference between traditional sports journalism and the world of celebrity sports journalists.

“I’m teaching my students the so-called ‘right way’ to do this and I say, ‘You should dress professionally,’ while Pat McAfee’s wearing a tank top on air,” Peña said.

The corrosion of journalistic ethics in sports media has led to multiple incidents in the past couple years. By reducing the standards by which these personalities operate, sports networks must live with the risks and damaged integrity that follow.

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