The Gordian Knots of the Contemporary Russian Sports Press

The article examines the current state of professional ethics in Russian journalism in such a popular sector as sports journalism, classifies common ethical violations, analyzes the materials of on-line and off-line sports press, traces the influence of political and economic factors on the style of sports journalists' work, and also studies the influence of the press on sports fans' behavior. In the author's opinion, despite all the attention paid to sports today, sports journalism does not always adhere to the principles of professionalism and responsibility; it has a variety of cases of ethics violations: Firstly, it is disregard for the norms of the standard language, including the use of vernacular and other forms of low, coarse words. This distorts the picture of reality and creates distrust to the message. Secondly, it is the use of obscene words. Thirdly, it is the widespread use of centaur words with a foreign root system and Russian prefixes and suffixes. Fourthly, it is the use of a militaristic style, which hides aggression. It is noted that the language of sports stands, previously tabooed in the media, comes to the press. It has become a common way of communication between sports press and social media groups dedicated to the sport. This not only reflects the level of fans' thinking, but also the level of our entire society's sentiment. Latent mental tendencies are visualized in both fans' language and their behavior: incorrect attitude to judges, athletes, dissenting spectators, and rules of public order; hooliganism and acts of vandalism. Increased anger, fueled by the media that switched to fraternal relations with readers, contradicts the educational and cultural functions of the media and carries significant social risks. The solution can be both the creation of the Guild of Sports Journalism and the development of general rules governing the norms of sports journalism.

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