Enhancing #TdF2017: Cross-media controversies and forensic fandom during live sports events

This article considers the cross-media dynamics related to controversies surrounding the Tour de France 2017. It posits sports controversies are prime cases for studying how mainstream media and online platforms impact each other. Based on a large data set of tweets and combining a digital methods approach with a close reading of tweets, we show how the often discussed potential of sports’ live events to synchronize different media becomes intensified in case of controversies, which trigger an influx of users and spawn additional moments of shared attention. Additionally, controversies in sports incite visual activities of fans using and augmenting material from different sources to support their take on the issue. We suggest to understand this as an example of ‘forensic fandom’ and show how it entangles different temporal and visual affordances: the liveness of television, the ad hoc publics of Twitter and the archival function of YouTube. Adding to prior cross-media and cross-platform research, we argue that media (including their seemingly specific temporal and visual qualities) are always dependent on and shaped by particular cultural practices, topics and events that trigger connections between different media and platforms.