Year: 2025 Volume: 27 Issue: c

Abstract:

The development of big data has brought changes to the forms and narratives of sports journalism, while data journalism has introduced visualizations into article production. The data become part of the journalistic product, leading to «data storytelling». Thanks to visualization techniques, data and text are transformed into a visual presentation, making articles more accessible and readable. Today, major sports media outlets worldwide combine the value of intensifying sports data, narrative ability and visualization technologies, creating a new model of sports journalism. The aim of this study was to examine whether five Greek sports websites (Sport24.gr, SDNA.gr, Sport-Fm.gr, Gazzetta.gr, Sportal.gr) adopt data visualization in the production of their articles. Using content analysis, the study explored in which cases and through which visualization practices these websites applied such techniques in articles published during the period of November–December 2024, specifically regarding Super League teams. The results showed that they did not use either big data or data visualization techniques in article production. Although big data were identified in sections related to betting content, they weren’t present in the main editorial content of the websites. The only exception was Sportal.gr, where a dedicated “Statistics” section was found within its main article content.