Sport in Society: Issues and Controversies

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Sport in SocietyIssues and Controversies

• Chapter 12
• Sports and the Media
• Could They Survive
  Without Each Other?

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Characteristics of the Media

• Print media words images printed on paper
• Newspapers, magazines fanzines, books,
  catalogues, event programs, trading cards
• Electronic media words, commentary, images we
  receive through audio and/or video devices
• Radio, television, film, video games, the
  internet and computer publications

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The Media Provide

• Information
• Interpretation
• Entertainment

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Media Content

• Media content is always edited and
  re-presented by those who control them
• Editing decisions are based on one or more of
  these goals
• Making profits
• Shaping values
• Providing a public service
• Building artistic and technical reputations
• Expressing self

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Media and Power

• The media often serve the interests of those
  with power and wealth in society
• As corporate control of media has increased
  become more concentrated, media content
  emphasizes
• Consumerism
• Individualism
• Competition
• Class inequality
• as natural and necessary in society

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What If . . .

• All television documentaries were sponsored by
  environmental groups, or by womens
  organizations, or by labor organizations?
• Would we ask questions about the content of those
  programs, why we see what we see, why we hear
  what we hear?
• 99 of all sports programming in the media was
  sponsored by capitalist corporations?
• Should we ask questions about the content of
  those programs and whose interests they might
  serve?

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Characteristics of the Internet

• The Internet
• Extends and radically changes our connections
  with the world
• Is not limited to sequential programming
• Enables each of us to be the editors of our own
  media experiences
• Gives us the potential to create our own
  spectator sport realities and experiences

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Video Games Virtual Sports

• Research is needed to
  help answer questions such as
• Do video games replace time spent watching media
  sports?
• What are the dynamics of playing video sport
  games and virtual sports?
• What are the differences between playing a video
  sport game and playing in organized sports or in
  informal games?

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Do Sports Depend on the Media?

• No, when they exist for the players themselves
• Yes, when they are forms of commercial
  entertainment
• Media coverage attracts attention and provides
  news of results
• Television has been a key factor in the growth
  and expansion of commercial sports
• Television expands commercial value of sports

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Have the Media Corrupted Sports?

• This is not likely because
• Sports are not shaped primarily by the media in
  general or TV in particular
• Sports are social constructions that emerge in
  connection with many different social
  relationships
• The media, including TV, do not operate in a
  political and economic vacuum
• Government regulates the media, and economic
  factors set limits to control

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Do the Media Depend on Sports?

• Most media do not depend on sports for content or
  sales
• Daily newspapers have depended on sports
  sections to boost circulation and advertising
  revenues
• Many television companies have depended on sports
  to fill program schedules, attract male viewers
  and the sponsors that want to reach them
• Many sport events have audiences with clearly
  identifiable demographics

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Trends in Televised Sports

• Rights fees have escalated rapidly since the
  1960s
• Sports programming has increased dramatically
• As more events are covered, ratings for
  particular events have decreased
• Audience fragmentation has occurred
• Television companies use sports events to promote
  other programming
• Television companies increasingly own teams and
  events

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Global Economic Factors in the Sports-Media
Relationship

• Global economic factors have intensified the
  sport-media relationship because transnational
  corporations have needed vehicles for developing
• Global name recognition
• Global cultural legitimacy
• Global product familiarity
• Global ideological support for a way of life
  based on consumption, competition, individual
  achievement, and comparisons of status and
  material possessions

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Alcohol Tobacco Sponsorships

• Corporations that sell alcohol and tobacco see
  sports as a key vehicle for promoting their
  products in connection with activities defined as
  healthy by most people
• If they cannot sponsor televised events, they
  will put signage on people, equipment, and
  facilities to be seen during television coverage

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Corporate Executives Television Sports
Sponsorships

• Many male executives of large media corporations
  love sports
• Masculine culture is deeply embedded in these
  corporations
• When sport emphasizes competition, domination,
  and achievement, executives feel that these are
  crucial factors in their companies
• They will pay big money to hire coaches to
  motivate employees around these themes

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Images and Messages in Media Sports (I)

• Media coverage is constructed around specific
  themes and messages
• Success themes
• Emphasis on winners, losers, and final scores
• Emphasis on big plays, big hits, and sacrificing
  self for team success
• Masculinity and femininity themes
• Coverage privileges men over women
• Heterosexuality is assumed homosexuality is
  erased
• Coverage reproduces dominant ideas about manhood

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Images and Messages in Media Sports (II)

• Race and ethnicity themes
• Racial ideology has influenced coverage of black
  athletes
• Whiteness is erased in coverage it is assumed as
  the standard
• Nationalism
• We - They distinctions are common
• Individualism
• Mental and physical aggression

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Media Impact on Sport-Related Behaviors

• Active participation in sports
• Some negative, some positive effects
• Attendance at sport events
• Generally increase attendance at elite events,
  but may decrease it at local events
• Gambling on sports
• Media are indirectly linked to gambling
• Internet may change this to direct link

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Audience Experiences With Media Sports

• Research shows that
• Watching television sports is not a major
  activity in the lives of most adults
• Football widows and men who just sit in front of
  the TV watching sports are not as common as many
  people think
• Men and women who live together often share the
  experience of watching sports
• Most partners in couples accommodate each others
  viewing habits over time

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The Profession of Sports Journalism

• The work of sports journalists does matter when
  it comes to cultural ideology and public
  consciousness
• Tensions between players and sportswriters has
  intensified as differences in their salaries and
  backgrounds have become more pronounced
• Ethical issues have become increasingly important
  in sports journalism because the stakes are so
  high for teams, athletes, coaches, owners, etc.

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Comparison of Sportswriters and Announcers

• Sportswriters
• Work behind scenes
• Seldom recognized
• Low salaries paid by publications
• Low regulation by sport management
• Job focuses on providing information

• Announcers
• Celebrity status
• Public recognition
• High salaries often paid by management
• Comments regulated by management
• Job focuses on selling the sport

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