In the words of Poynter blogger Steve Klein, "politics has become the new sports in terms of online media innovation."

Sports used to be on the forefront; lately, however, the sports section seems to be languishing, its print and web integration hobbling in the backstretch. In examining the sports sections of The Washington Post and USA Today, Klein concluded that the papers "aren't doing much to direct readers and users to where sports news can be both complete and timely: online."

Among his observations for The Post sports section:
 
- the Post's sports URL is not obviously printed anywhere in the 16 page section. Only the general washingtonpost.com address is printed on page 14

-links to other media are hard to find. The "on the air" box was on page two, and an "on the internet" section was left out entirely

-URLs are missing for schedules, statistics, and blogs. Although ceratin columnists include emails, Klein didn't see an email address listed for any of the "32 staff-written stories and features"

In its recently debuted Page 3.0, USA Today similarly omits some URLs and email addresses.

Klein says that he is "genuinely concerned" about the lack of "cross-platform integration." And while nobody is arguing integration is the future, Klein contests that "the integration of "full online and print copy-desk operation" should be the present.
 
There is also another reason for sports sections in particular to focus on innovative ways to attract and retain readers. Even respected conferences such as the Journalism Leaders Forum are discussing threats to sports reporting from digital media.

Source: E-Media Tidbits,  Vegan Momma (photo)