ABSTRACT
This study incorporates in-depth interviews with 43 journalists from the digitally native, venture-capital-backed sports journalism organization the Athletic. Through the lens of gatekeeping and utilizing the concept of market orientation, findings illustrate how having a somewhat strong market orientation could positively impact gatekeeping processes. Data illustrated that, during the pandemic, journalists at the Athletic collaborated more and included more diversity in content. This positive result, which led to a subscription increase, is primarily due organization-level influences on gatekeeping. This study concludes with analysis on how these findings can affect journalism in general and sports journalism specifically now and after COVID-19. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Newspaper Research Journal is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)