There have been ethical issues dealing with sports athletes for sometime. Ever since investigative journalism evolved, they have been in the spotlight more and more. When researching athletes for a report, ad or press release, should we research their sports performance or their private lives?
Since athletes have become more like celebrities, people are more concerned with what happens off the field than how well they're performing at their particular sport. For example, Tiger Woods has been all the news this past year. Not for winning a golf tournament, but for matters involving his personal life. There was once a time when athletes had two separate lives. Sports agents and publicists would only focus on researching the game stats and how well the athlete did in the game, now as PR people we must research what things are being said involving his or her life off the field. There are areas in Sports PR that are becoming more and more like Entertainment PR. Even sports networks, like ESPN, have reported on athletes' personal lives.
In just the last few years, really, this has changed dramatically.
There are more stories of all manner of high-profile athletes involved in affairs, rape allegations, steroids scandals, and speeding tickets.
Do we have the right to research these athletes' personal lives and make things public? What if these stories are inaccurate and thus damage the name and credibility of the athlete? Should we focus more on researching their performance on the field?
Another example can be what if a PR person wants to do focus groups or interviews using athletes and finds out something during their research that can harm the players reputation. Do you as a PR person still use them in your research report? According to PR research ethics they have a right to privacy, but does this change since their lives are so public?
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