Sports are always a crowd-pleaser, but do the interest levels differ depending on who’s playing? And what impact does this have on the media coverage that surrounds them? A team of researchers analyzed more than 311 hours of broadcasts of men’s and women’s sports to see if they were being framed in a way that promoted hegemonic masculinity or not.
They looked at the total amount of time that was devoted to each sport, how many women’s teams were covered, and what kinds of sports got more coverage than others. They also analyzed how much time was spent on individual athletes, and whether non-athlete sources (coaches, reporters, commentators) were male or female.
Their results showed that the amount of airtime devoted to both men’s and women’s sports increased from 2021 to 2022. And for the first time, more than 20% of all streaming hours were dedicated to women’s collegiate and professional sports. However, it’s important to note that this is still a very small percentage of the overall amount of broadcast hours.
Interestingly, when they looked at power- and high-contact sports, it was clear that coverage leans toward men’s sports more than women’s. But when they looked at more traditional team sports, like basketball, soccer, field hockey, and rugby, women’s sports received more than men’s in terms of the total number of hours of coverage.
It’s not a secret that some sports journalists are fans of the teams they cover, and sometimes their fandom can creep into their writing. But it’s also important to remember that when you’re covering a sporting event, you’re there as an impartial journalist. This means you’re not supposed to cheer or boo, don’t wear team gear, and you should never refer to yourself in the third person.
One example of this was when the Milwaukee Bucks walked off the court before their game to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake. This was a huge moment for players, and sports journalists, to take a stand on social issues, and the Bucks’ decision was a reminder that athletes aren’t simply objects of our fascination. Get all the info you need from 해외스포츠중계.
When it comes to social justice, it’s important for sports journalism to go beyond just reporting on a specific issue and to focus on the bigger picture. Fortunately, this is happening more and more frequently. Outlets like ESPN and NPR have been able to feature interviews with athlete-activists such as Renee Montgomery, who talked about her experiences in the NFL as well as her work advocating for change. Other outlets have focused on the emotional toll of the high-stress environments created in professional sports when they interviewed Naomi Osaka after her withdrawal from the 2020 U.S. Open. This is just the beginning, and it’s a good sign that media coverage of sports is starting to change for the better.