FIFA's World Cup, and why investigative reporting is the future of sports journalism

The Daily Mail did some interesting “sleuthing” today (if you want to call it that), snapping a photo of a post-match press briefing whiteboard after England’s friendly against Honduras. On display are all the pre-determined talking points: we could have been better in our use of the ball, there are no injuries, England had the best chances, we may face this kind of thing in Brazil, we showed a cool temperament, don’t talk about Italy.

England had all their answers ready before hearing a single question.

It’s easy to be cynical about this kind of press conference pantomime, in which the teams strictly control the message. Why bother with the post match conference at all, which as this example demonstrates, are often dictated press releases? Is this a good allocation of journalistic resources?

One could argue though it’s the press’ job to relay this team message: after all, they are literally called “media.” Yet if this is the case, why bother with interlocutors? An official team statement would be much more efficient.

However, the professional media stonewalling which began in politics and bled over into other, more trivial concerns like football may have also helped foster some excellent investigative reporting, as more and more reporters refuse to take the Official Line on anything. The Times of London’s report on bribery allegations involving Mohamed Bin Hammam and the Qatar 2022 bid for example has forced some World Cup sponsors to express concern over FIFA’s failure to take the matter seriously.

Theirs however is merely the latest in a series of damning reports on various aspects of FIFA corruption, much of which stem back to the work of Andrew Jennings’ 2006 Panorama investigation which first revealed the ISL scandal involving kick-backs to FIFA executive committee members.   

Then there is reporting on government audits in Brazil linking World Cup cost overruns to political contributions from construction firms, reporting on relocation of favelas ahead of stadium construction, reports on migrant worker conditions in Qatar. The entire basis of public outrage at FIFA is the direct result of international and local journalists doing the slow, dirty work of investigative news. It’s the future of sports journalism in a world drowning in obfuscation, noise and trivia, and the thin line separating the Official Line and the Ugly Truth.