Sociology of Sport VI Essay

Sport in Society:

Issues and Controversies

Chapter 12

Sports and the M edia:

Could They Survive

Without Each Other?

We use media images and narratives as we evaluate

ourselves, give meaning to other people and events, form ideas, and envision the future.

Media permeate our lives, and sport is a focus for much media programming.

Photo by Jay Coakley

Traditional distinctions between

media are now blurred

 Print m edia: words and images on paper

 Newspapers, magazines and fanzines, books,

catalogs, event programs, and trading cards

 Electronic m edia: words, commentary, and

images transmitted by audio and/or video devices and technologies

 Radio, television, film, video games, the Internet, and online publications

The media provide

 Information

 Interpretation

 Entertainment

 Opportunities for

interactivity

Media content

. . . is always edited and “re -presented” by those who control media organizations

Editing decisions are based on one or more of these goals:

 M aking profits

 Influencing cultural values

 Providing a public service

 Enhancing personal status and reputation

 Expressing self in technical, artistic, or personal ways

Media sports, like other

aspects of culture, are

social constructions.

Photo by Jay Coakley

M edia representations

of sports are carefully edited to highlight dramatic action.

M edia representations are shaped by camera people and

editors who select images from various cameras.

Photo by Jay Coakley

Media and power

Those who control media decide which

sports and events to cover AND the images and commentary presented in the coverage.

 W hen they do this, they play an important

role in constructing the frameworks that media consumers use to define and incorporate sports in their lives.

 As they make programming decisions, they see audiences as collections of consumers that can be sold to advertisers.

Media usually serve the interests of those with power & wealth in society.

 As corporate control of media has become

more concentrated, sports programming highlights action, competition, aggression, hard work, individual heroism and

achievement, playing despite pain, teamwork,

competitive outcomes, and through

commercials, consumerism.

. . . And these things are presented as if they were natural and necessary in society

The X Games were

created by ESPN, which is owned by ABC, which is owned

by Disney.

The people who control the X Games don’t promote a

noncompetitive, expressive culture in

alternative sports— it’s not in their

interest.

Photo by Becky Beal

What if . . .

 All TV documentaries were sponsored by environmental groups, labor organizations, or women’s groups?  W ouldn’t we ask critical questions about the content

of those programs and think about why we see and hear what we do?

 99% of all sports programming in the media is sponsored by capitalist corporations.  Should we ask critical questions about program

content, whose interests it serves, and why we see and hear what we do? Shouldn’t schools teach this?

Characteristics of the new media

 Extend and radically change (potentially) our

connections with the world

 Are not limited to sequential programming

 Enable each of us to be the “editors” of our own media experiences, if we wish

 Give us the potential to create our own sport realities

and experiences as spectators and virtual athletes

 Young people now re-present their own sports in m edia form s.

 Fantasy leagues change m edia experiences related to sports.

New media consumption of sports

 Should the new media be available to

everyone, like public roads, or should they be toll roads?

 New media allow people to control

when and how they consume sports content, but this in itself changes little from when content was created by a

limited number of powerful sources.

New media production

 Will the new media democratize social

life or will they become tools to expand corporate capital, increase consumption,

and reproduce dominant ideologies?

 People can use new media in personally transformative ways, but most often they are used to complement or create

informational and interpretive content related to sports covered mainstream

media.

Fantasy sports

 Fantasy sports reposition fans relative to players

 Fantasy league players feel empowered by their

“ownership” of teams and players— but . . .

 Sport leagues and media companies now use

fantasy sports to generate new revenue and “re -

enchant” the spectator experience for a key

demographic:

 College-educated white men, 18-50-years old

with higher-than-average incomes and a

willingness to spend over $4 billion annually to

obtain data about players and compete in

organized fantasy leagues.

Video games as simulated sports

Research indicates that

 Gamers generally committed considerable time to

their activities

 Gamers create their own narratives and stories

when they play sport-themed video games

 Social relationships are formed and nurtured

through video gaming

 Gaming involves a diverse range of experiences,

feelings, and interpretations

 Sport-themed video games provide different

experiences than consuming televised sports.

Video games and virtual sports

Research is needed to help answer questions such as:

 W hat are the dynamics of playing video sport games and virtual sports, and how do they differ

from other sport-related experiences?

 How are video sport game experiences linked with other sport experiences?

 W hat ideological themes are structured into the

images and actions in video sport games?

 W ill virtual sports complement or replace sports as we know them today?

It’s becoming more difficult to distinguish simulations

from media representations of sports

Video games as simulated sports

 The graphics and images in video games nearly match images in televised sports.

 TV producers now use special filters to make the action in televised games look like video games.

 Some athletes use video sport games to train.

 Some children today are introduced to sports through video games.

 Being good at playing video games is a source of status among many young people.

Virtual sports— discussion issues

 Will the grandchildren of today’s college

students go to virtual sport complexes instead

of playing what we define as sports today?

 Virtual sports offer a range of experiences that

current sports do not.

 Will communities use tax money to fund virtual

sport complexes instead of parks?

 Is the Wii gaming console a small step in the

direction of virtual sports, and are there other

examples?

Do sports depend on the media?

 No, not when they are organized by and

for the players themselves

 Yes, when they are organized as forms

of commercial entertainment

 Media coverage attracts attention to sports

and provides news of results.

 Television coverage remains a key factor in

the growth and expansion of commercial

sports.

M edia com panies pay increasingly high rights fees to broadcast sports, because

advertisers know that viewers watch them live and don’t edit out commercials.

The media enable some athletes to become global celebrities and

benefit from windfall income related to their popularity.

Have commercial sports

sold out to the media?

Probably not— for two reasons:

 The changes often thought to be a direct result of

media would have occurred to boost live attendance, gate receipts, and venue revenues.

 General commercial interests exist without the media,

although the media usually intensify them.

 M ost changes associated with television coverage have been made willingly by sport organizations.

 M ost (not all) athletes are willing to m ake trade -offs in

exchange for the benefits of media coverage.

The primary goal of commercial television sports is to hype events and entertain audiences.

Photo by Dennis Coakley

Have media corrupted sports?

Probably not— for two reasons:

 Sports are not shaped primarily by media

 Sports are social constructions that em erge in connection with

m any social relationships.

 M edia, including TV, do not operate in a political and

economic vacuum.

 M edia are regulated by governm ent and m arket factors, which

influence and set lim its on m edia coverage and content.

NOTE: The relatively homogeneous collection of white men from post-industrial nations who control media coverage

certainly influence sports, but do they corrupt them?

Do media depend on sports?

 M ost media do not depend on sports.

 Daily newspapers depend on “sports sections” for circulation and ad revenues.

 M any television companies depend on sports to fill programming schedules and attract male viewers and sponsors that want to reach them.  M any sport events have audiences with clearly

identifiable “demographics,” which is of great value for sponsors (pro golf is an example).

 M edia organizations focused on sports programming ARE dependent on sports— such as ESPN.

Digital media are especially invasive technologies.

Everyone with a smartphone can create media content. This alters the relationship between fans & athletes

Photo by Jay Coakley

Estimated cost per pay-TV subscriber

per month (2016) Channel M onthly cost Nick/NAN $0.75

ESPN2 $0.80

TBS $1.00

USA $1.00

Fox News $1.05

Disney $1.40

TNT $1.95

ESPN $8.30

Source: Forbes, http://www.forbes.com/sites/frankbi/2015/01/08/espn-

leads-all-cable-networks-in-affiliate-fees/#2177f34ee60c

When paying cable & satellite bills, those who

don’t watch sports subsidize those who do

There are many commercials during NFL games, because

there is less than 13-minutes of actual playing time during the 210 minutes of television time devoted to a game.

Photo by Jay Coakley

As people use electronic media to consume professional

sports, local newspapers focus on local school sports.

Photo by Jay Coakley

Trends in televised sports

 Rights fees have skyrocketed since the 1960s.

 Sports programming has increased dramatically.

 As more events are covered, ratings for particular events have decreased.  Audience fragm entation has occurred.

 Television companies use sports events to promote other programming.

 Television companies are parts of conglomerates that now own teams, sport events, and other businesses that benefit from sports coverage and its commercials.

The sports-media relationship

. . . is very strong for commercial sports at this

time, but other sports are uncovered by the

media

. . . is generally business based, but it also exists

for promoting lifestyles based on consumption

and the ideologies that support such lifestyles

A few powerful global media companies control most of the

media representations of sports worldwide. This monopoly has serious implications for what sports we see or don’t see

Other aspects of the

sports-media relationship (I)

1. Corporations selling alcohol, tobacco, and food with questionable health value use sports to promote products

in connection with activities that people define as healthy.

2. If these corporations cannot sponsor televised events, they put signage on

people, equipment, and facilities that are viewed during television coverage.

(continued)

Other aspects of the

sports-media relationship (II)

3. Decision-making power in large media companies

rests with many male executives who love sports.

4. The values and experiences of men are deeply

embedded in the cultures of these companies.

5. W hen sports emphasize competition, domination,

and achievement, many male executives feel that

these are crucial factors in their companies.

Therefore, they are willing to use corporate money to sponsor sports.

Images & narratives in media sports:

Coverage of athletes with a disability (I)

M edia coverage is constructed around specific themes and messages. For athletes with disabilities, the coverage usually fits in one of these categories:

Patronizing/curiosity/tragedy/inspiration/

mystification/pity/surprise

The irony: As the athletes disrupt and challenge stereotypes about disabilities, the media coverage creates others, such as the “heroic supercrip” and the “courageous victim.”

(continued)

Images & narratives in media sports:

Ideological themes (II)

Media coverage is constructed around specific ideological themes and messages:

 Success

 Emphasis on winners, losers, and final scores

 Emphasis on big plays, big hits, and sacrificing self for team success

 Consumption

 “This game is brought to you by . . .”

 “This is the [ . . . ] half time report”

 “This is the [ . . . ] pre -game show”

(continued)

Images & narratives in media sports:

Ideological themes (III)

 Gender  M asculinity rules in media sports: Coverage

privileges men over women by nearly 6 to 1.

 Heterosexuality is assumed; homosexuality is erased or ignored.

 Coverage reproduces dominant ideas about

manhood, but may challenge ideas about femininity.

 M edia organizations are gendered; they’re male - dominated/identified/centered.

(continued)

Images and narratives in media sports:

Ideological themes (IV)

 Race/ethnicity/nationality  M edia images and narratives based on explicit

racial ideology and stereotypes are rare today, but they were common through the 1980s.

 Coverage today pretends that race and ethnicity

don’t exist; nationality is often a focus in international events.

 This allows media people who are ignorant of

racial & ethnic perspectives and experiences to claim expertise when they know little about what and who they cover.

(continued)

Images and narratives in media sports:

Ideological themes (V)

 Race, ethnicity, and nationality (continued)  Subtle stereotypes about nationality sometimes

influence narratives in media coverage: Germans may be described as organized, Chinese people as

self-disciplined and secretive, Brazilians as flamboyant and passionate, Nigerians as undisciplined and unpredictable, etc.

 M edia organizations have few directors, editors, assistant editors, reporters, camera people, etc. who represent ethnic backgrounds and experiences.

Violence and conflict

are frequently given priority in media coverage, even though it disrupts action in games and matches.

“If it bleeds, it leads”

in commercial

broadcasts of local

news and sports.

College football now attracts large media rights fees

due to its popularity among younger males with high levels of education and higher than average incomes.

Photo by Bobak Ha’Eri

As outdoor screens are used to televise sport events, there

are new social dynamics associated with media consumption.

This is yet to be studied in the sociology of sport.

Photo by Jay Coakley

Experiences and consequences

of consuming media sports (I)

 Research is rare on audience experiences, but it appears that watching television sports is positively integrated into social relationships and social networks.  Identities are connected with the experience of

watching sports, and those identities can be linked with varying relationships and groups.

 Couple who cohabitate often watch sports together, and over time most partners accommodate each other’s viewing habits.

(continued)

Experiences and consequences

of consuming media sports (II)

 Active participation in sports

 A positive link exists only for those who are already

strongly committed to participation in a sport.

 Attendance at sport events

 M edia consumption of sports is positively linked with attendance at elite events, but it may decrease attendance at less elite events— research is needed.

 Betting on sports

 The Internet provides easy access to opportunities.

 Betting creates interest in sports but threatens them if

it inspires gamblers to “fix” events.

Big-screen technology has created new spectator

contexts that have yet to be studied.

Photo by Jay Coakley

The profession of sports journalism

 Sport journalists are not all the same — some focus on

entertainment, some focus on information.

 The work of sports journalists does matter when it comes to cultural ideology and public consciousness.

 Tensions between players and sportswriters have

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.

Media differences in traditional

media coverage of sports

Newsp a p er/m a g a zin e covera g e

 Emphasizes information and interpretation primarily

 Offers previews and summaries of events

 Provides written representation of events

 Success depends on credibility

 Highlights facts and dominant ideology

 M ay criticize sport personalities and organizations

Radio /televisio n covera g e

 Emphasizes entertainment primarily

 Offers play-by-play images and narratives

 Provides real-time representations of events

 Success depends on hype and visual action

 Highlights heroic plays and dominant ideology

 Usually supports sport personalities and organizations

Tensions between athletes and sport journalists are common.

Now that athletes have social media to reach fans, some have little patience for journalists.