Some views of elite athletes on cooperation with the media and the media's influence on sports and private lives

BACKGROUND: Today, sport represents an element of the quality of life as it is often an indicator of a country's civilisational, societal and economic development. The public is mostly interested in elite sport which has effects for both society as well the lives of individuals as the public is not only interested in sports achievements but also in athlete's private lives. The border between the public and private is difficult to establish. The interlinked work of elite athletes and the media often results in misunderstandings as the media intrudes on the private lives of athletes, which in turn impacts both the private and professional lives of athletes. OBJECTIVE: The study's main purpose was to identify the attitude of elite athletes to the media and the influence of the media on the private and professional lives of athletes. The study also evaluated the qualities of an ideal journalist in the eyes of athletes. METHODS: Differences between more and less experienced elite athletes were studied on a sample of 67 Slovenian athletes from team sports. The data were collected through a questionnaire. The findings were further interpreted in line with the opinions of ten leading athletes from individual sports, which were collected through a semi-structured interview. RESULTS: Differences between groups of more and less experienced athletes were detected in answers to the question, "When do athletes decide to cooperate with the media?" and "Have you already been offended by the media?". Elite athletes like to cooperate with the media and usually give information away freely. Similarly, journalists largely understand that athletes desire peace and quiet prior to a competition. Athletes perceive precision and verification of information as the most important qualities of journalists, while they consider some personal qualities and materialistic characteristics as less important. CONCLUSIONS: The study's results show that in the future athletes would like journalists to write articles that offend them less, regardless of whether the published information is about their sports achievements or private lives.