From Political Tool To National Revelry

Since the reform and opening up, sports journalism developed quickly and maturely along with other undertakings. Looking back on this period, from the five successive championships of our women’s volleyball team in1980s to the first time participation in the Olympic Games in1984, from China’s first hosting the Asian Games in1990to the Beijing Olympic Games in2008, we can find that the development of the sports journalism was closely related not only with the external environmental factors, such as national policy and sports, but also with the progress of the media itself. People’s Daily, as the authority of Chinese national media, witnessed, recorded and affected the sports undertaking with its sports news. People’s Daily constantly adjusted and reformed its reporting ideology, styles and contents in order to keep pace with time. This paper is trying to figure out the evolution of sports communication ideology, and the notable features of each period.By analyzing some representative sports events’reports in terms of reporting style, tendency and scale and other quantitative indicators, it is easy to track the evolution of the sports ideology of People’s Daily. This dissemination analyzed the sports coverage of major sporting events from1978to2008, including the Olympic Games, Asian Games, as well as some important single events, by means of studying some quantitative indicators.The conclusion is that in1980s,specialism gave way to political appeal as for sports news; in1990s, great importance was attached to news specialism with the development of market economy and sports reform; in the21st century, the sports news coverage of People’s Daily have become more and more specialized, humane, and mature influenced by the Beijing Olympic Games. Based on the merits and demerits of its news coverage, the article is digging out the post-Olympics reports tendency of People’s Daily as the London Olympic Games is around the corner.