Sports media and the use of audiovisual technology in soccer: Media coverage of video assistant referee use during the 2018 and 2019 FIFA World Cups

This article looks at how the French printed press covers the use of audiovisual technology by soccer referees. More precisely, we analyze journalists’ social responsibility by examining the newspaper L’Équipe (France’s main sports daily paper)’s coverage of video assistant referee (VAR) use during the two most recent FIFA World Cups, Russia 2018 (men) and France 2019 (women), the first in which VAR was allowed. Soccer governing bodies had in fact long been opposed to the use of VAR, a tool that uses digital images and whose introduction goes hand in hand with the advent of soccer as a spectacle. Our aim then is to assess whether the information produced by L’Équipe on the issue is quality-oriented, complete, free, independent, and pluralist. A socio-discursive analysis of L’Équipe’s articles during these two tournaments reveals the “knowledge-power” games played out between the media and technology.
L’Équipe’s judgment on VAR, favorable at first, gradually changed after the technology had several hiccups and caused controversy.