Cancel Culture and Journalism: A Conversation With An Editor

Above: Matt Skilton, Editor at Ministry of Sport

Matt Skilton was once a university student the University Campus of Football Business (UCFB), one who simply dreamed of working as a sports journalist. He volunteered as a student content creator, writing about his biggest passion: basketball. To be more, specific, the NBA, I discover, as I scour through his articles.

Now, back in his home state of Queensland, Australia, he is an Editor at the Ministry of Sport, a sports business news website with content focused on sporting decisions in law and economics.

Whilst not very political, the Ministry of Sport has a solid multimedia portfolio, including a podcast, videos and now even a NFT created by members at the company. And Matt, he does it all: edits stories, guides interns, publishes contents and verifies sources as well as creating other multimedia.

"I think in media, the only time you have to be wary of cancel culture is for transgender, sexuality and racial stories."

Matt, however, claims that only certain content, at least as far as sports journalism concerned, is subject to cancel culture, and it is not a common occurrence. He points out something I did not consider: that sometimes cancel culture can have legal repercussions as well as moral ones, and that only accuracy in the reporting and editing of content can prevent it.

He also tells me in his own work, preventing becoming a victim of cancel culture in sports includes knowing about Australia's transgender inclusion laws to ensure there is no underlying transphobia in their stories.

However, overall he says he is not worried about cancel culture simply because: "You can't make everyone happy, especially when you are writing for a mass audience."

Off the record, he talks to me about his interns, telling me how his ten-hour days are spent editing simple spelling mistakes and grammar. That, he doesn't seem to mind, but it seems to be the lack of verifying sources and information that makes him worry the slightest chance about being sued rather than cancelled.