Ch 13 The Media Industry

1. Ch 13 The Media Industry N Bailey Professor PEAK CSUB Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

2. Quick Facts • 15% of all sports media coverage is devoted to women’s sport • Women’s Final Four biggest annual women’s sports TV event • ESPN’s Sports Center: less than 5% devoted to women’s sport • Women have outnumbered men in college journalism and mass communications since 1977 Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

3. Media’s Three Important Services • Timely reporting of current events • Interpretation of social, political, and economic conditions • Entertainment for the masses • Requires responsible selection of content Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

4. Boutillier and SanGiovanni (1983) Regardless of what is actually happening, it is the media’s interpretation of that event that shapes our attitudes and perceptions about the world. Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

5. Wire Services for Newspapers & Designer TV • Why send a reporter? AP, Knight, Reuters, and intra-newspaper wire service are cheaper • TV uses host broadcaster to provide clean video-audio feed from an event; national service may add its own commentary Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

6. Computer Technology • No single media format has revolutionized the electronic media so dramatically. • Millions have access to the World Wide Web on-line daily updated information. • Search engines serve as indexes or as an entire library • Result: rethinking traditional communications objectives ands strategies. Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

7. Sport and Media & U.S. • Symbiotic relationship: sport institution and media industry • As commercial value of sport increased so did value of sports reporting. • Changing from “soft news” sports department “Toyland” into hard news. Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

8. Spiraling trend toward monopolistic status • ESPN, ESPN2, satellite services, escalated viewer interest & advertising directed toward male interests. • Radio and TV talk shows promoted a following and created a new breed of sports junkie. • Ted Turner and Time Warner, where Atlanta Braves are featured Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

9. Conservators of Convention • Sport and the media have a symbiotic relationship • Reinforce traditional values rather than challenge or lead the transformation to more enlightened thinking Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

10. Media’s Traditional Role • Challenge convention, ask questions, and take on the power elite over issues of social consequence and political hegemony • Disappointingly, the media has all but ignored the revolution in the women’s sport movement • Finally in 1995 the coverage of women’s athletics exceeded that of dogs or horses. (D. Lopiano) Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

11. Sports Coverage • Creates interest and demand for sport • Promotes athletes • Develops heroes and heroines. • Sell newspapers and magazines • Attract corporate sponsors, and boosts TV ratings Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

12. Virtual Sport Opportunities Uncharted • The internet, cyber sport, offers online access without filtering by traditional media genre. • Direct links and access • Ability to inform and mobilize thousands quickly revolutionizes political strategies and activists. • What will come of it for the sports world? Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

13. Male Preserve & Hegemonic Masculinity • Traditionally masculinity was proven via athletic prowess. • Sports success brings status in the culture and reinforces male privilege. • Athleticism = virility , machismo, male heterosexuality. • Sport and the military are the last bastions of male turf. Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

14. When Women Demonstrate Excellence in Sport • Ambivalence toward female athletes expressed via symbolism • When Female athletes are featured they note: physical appearance, style of dress, her life as a heterosexual wife, mother, or girlfriend • Power, strength, endurance, struggle and strategies in competition are downplayed or ignored. • Sexist references remain problematic. Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

15. Commentators & Covert Sexism • When women miss, they say, “She missed,” or “she missed the shot.” • When men miss, they say, “too strong,” “unbridled power,” or “Smith is not giving up.” Errors are linguistically converted into successes. • For men, mitigating circumstances used to explain errors. For the women’s game: “She missed.” Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

16. Another Linguistic analysis • Male errors are reported as unavoidable or other factors, or failing to meet his true skill • Women’s misses, “she missed.” • Unidentified when male misses • Women are named, given explicit attribution:”Kirkland misses a three pointer,” “Jarrard grabbed the shot away, but missed.” Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

17. Gender Marking • For men, it’s the NCAA Tournament • For women, they call it the women’s NCAA tournament. • Feminine signifiers used for women’s sport • Masculine signifiers not used for men’s sport • Results in the symbolic dominance of men’s sport Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

18. Mascots and the Hierarchy of Naming • Reinforces the marking of female athletes as subordinate, or invisible • Bearcats vs. Bearkittens • Lady Rams vs. Rams • The word, squaw, means prostitute in some native languages, but is disregarded by the power elite. • Groups organize to change this. Other groups organize to reinforce the racist, sexist hegemony. Amazing! Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

19. Lesbian Presence • American LGBT Crossroads: out of the closet visibility has increased dramatically • At the same time, Homophobia is alive and well as the dominant cultural value • Sanctity of the male sport establishment is threatened by the presence of lesbian and gay men in sport Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

20. Homoerotic Underpinnings of Male Sports Establlishment • Gay men’s presence is critical to the maintenance of hegemonic masculinity • Notions of “manly man” are fragile constructs • The ideals are contradicted by reality • Therefore, they require consistent and aggressive affirmation and reinforcement (Sabo & Jenson p.214) Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

21. Forcing Images to Conform • Homophobia forces worried women (gay or straight) to create images that conform to traditional notions of femininity. • The “image problem” is a euphemism for “suspected lesbian”. • Sports federations, university administrators, coaches, and sports agents enforce compulsory heterosexuality for “the athlete’s own good”. Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

22. Erasure • Coverage of team sports is nominal • That amounts to a symbolic erasure of women playing ice hockey, rugby, and softball • It works like this according to Kane & Lenskyj: • Women play team sports using skills that are interpreted as masculine • Women playing masculine sports = not real women = lesbians Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

23. Heterosexy Images Not Working • Why not simply say: Lesbian presence in sport is no different than Lesbian presence in other aspects of life? • Why not simply show strong images of women athletes and make no apology for it? • Why are closeted Lesbians, and straight women who might be perceived as Lesbian, in sport threatened with public vilification? Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

24. Women’s Struggle in Sorts Reporting • In 1920’s, five women wrote sports columns for notable papers • By 1929, 15 women reporting sports in Philadelphia, formed the Women’s Sports Witer’s Association • Depression and War: the usual patterns of employment for women • The 70’s second wave of feminism: locker room reporting, (equal protection and due process) Lead to equal access • The struggle continues Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

25. Five categories of Women’s Sport Books • Elite Athletes personal stories • How to books • Dramatic accounts of team’s good season • Adventure of mountain climbing, etc. • Textbooks on social, psychological, historical and philosophical issues Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

26. TV Control of Sports a Bad Thing • X Games sports began with esthetics being emphasized. • The sports are mutating under the auspices of ESPN • Women under-represented • Were alternatives to mainstream sports where competition was the reason for being Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

27. Media Hype vs. Reality • Hype the women, but portray mostly socially accepted sports: gymnastics, swimming, diving • Not much seen of basketball, soccer, gymnastics • Analysis of air time: nonsignificant gains for women • Actual coverage continued to favor men Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

28. Transformation? • Scholarship that focuses on how issues of race, class, gender, and sexuality are encoded in media sports representations will be critical in making positive change. • Cybersport will be impacted by a global perspective • This is uncharted territory. Maybe one day this chapter will not be relevant Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

29. What do you think? • Does the internet portray female athletes differently from the traditional media? How so? • Are you optimistic about positive changes in television and newspaper portrayal of female athletes in the near future? • Can you make a case for eliminating the sexist or racist mascots? Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

30. That’s All Folks Have a good week end Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

31. Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

32. Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.

33. Sport Coverage Also Notes from Women In Sport, Cohen, Ed.