Sports Communication 2011 Abstracts
Expressed, Written Consent: The Broadcast Industry and Sports Anti-Trust Legislation, 1953-1961 • Thomas Corrigan, Penn State • Though NFL Commissioner Rozelle undoubtedly facilitated the Sports Broadcasting Act’s quick passage and signing, these accounts tend to remove the bill from nearly a decade of relevant Congressional, legal and industry context. This paper attempts to shore up some of these gaps by closely examining the interests of and actions by broadcasters in the lead-up to and debate over the legislation. In light of the SBA’s long-term industry implications, the view of broadcasters and the NAB is an important side of the act that—up to this point—has received scant interest.
Can Visual Complexity Impede Appreciation of Mediated Sports? • Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University College of Mass Communications • Sports telecasts are frequently the showcase and testing ground for innovative broadcast technologies. One particularly novel example of this is ESPN’s coverage of college athletics via its multiscreen or mosaic format. This experiment demonstrates that although this format does not impede appreciation of game play, viewers nonetheless reported a more negative evaluation of this technique compared to a traditional broadcast. However, tentative evidence hints that appreciation of dull game play is enhanced by this format.
The Ochocinco Brand: Social Media’s Impact on the NFL’s Institutional Control • Jacob Dittmer • The National Football League is mockingly dubbed the “No Fun League” by sports fans and critics who view the league’s hyper-regulatory nature as prohibiting expression and limiting player and fan choice. Chad Ochocinco has broken free of the league’s controls by developing a brand persona and identity that embraces his NFL player status and deploys social media in its construction. This paper examines the emergence of the “Ochocinco brand,” its development through mediated platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Reality TV), and its commodity forms (t-shirts, smart phone apps, cereal). By examining the political economy of the NFL institution and aspects of digital culture exemplified in social media, this paper explores the conflicts between old institutions of control and individual brands developed through social media.
“They never do this to men”: College women athletes’ responses to sexualized images of professional female athletes • Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Jenny Mumah, University of North Texas • This study examined the reactions of college women athletes to mass media images of nude and scantily clad professional female athletes. Employing a qualitative process, the study sought to find how 18- to 22-year-old female athletes felt about the pressure on women to pose for sexualized photographs. This research is important because of the lack of media coverage of women’s sports and the mass media’s sexualization of women’s bodies. Using a feminist framework, the study found that such photos revealed athletes’ impressions of their own and others’ femininity, sexuality, gender differences and body image. The study found that college female athletes are well aware of the notion that “sex sells” and the commodification of women’s bodies in American society. Many were uncomfortable with this phenomenon and said it is unfair and perpetuates double standards for men and women. Others said sexualized images lead to negative body image and, perhaps, eating disorders. Some college athletes embraced the nude photos, maintaining they empowered women and showed off their femininity.
An Everyday Issue: Examining race in baseball journalism • Patrick Ferrucci, U of Missouri; Melanie Buford, University of Missouri; Ashley Douglas; David Herrera, University of Missouri • Philomena Essed’s theory of everyday racism suggests that racism in America occurs subtly, even unnoticeably, but still affects our society in the same way overt racism does. This experiment examined whether everyday racism exists in baseball journalism. The findings suggest that everyday racism lurks in baseball journalism and that news consumers may not detect its presence or effects.
Gender and Racial Source Bias in Sports Illustrated Kids, 2000-2009 • Ashley Furrow, Ohio University • Most studies of daily news reports have found evidence of substantial source bias, especially in the form of heavy reliance on European male societal elites for information (Brown, Bybee, Wearden, & Straughan, 1987; Hackett, 1985; Lasorsa & Reese, 1990). Source bias refers to the extent that journalists seek information from particular groups, which results in a limited range of perspectives and opinions about the news item or event. Such bias exists when people holding different points of view have limited or no opportunity to express those views or become part of the news process (Gans, 1979; Lee & Solomon, 1990; Sigal, 1973). This study conducted a content analysis of sources in feature articles (N=315) in Sports Illustrated Kids to determine whether the sources reflect actual participation rates in athletic competition based on gender and race. This study found that women continue to be vastly underrepresented within the magazine’s pages as dominant subjects and sources. Articles using men as sources vastly outnumber those using women as sources by a ratio of more than 5 to 1 (84.1% to 15.9%). Only 21.1% of feature articles were stories for which the dominant subject(s) were female athletes or female-specific sports teams, whereas men accounted for 78.9%. As far as a racial difference, only 30.9% of articles featured racial minority athletes as the dominant subject.
Framing the concussion issue in the NFL: A content analysis of New York Times Coverage from 2001 to 2010 • Vernon Harrison, University of Alabama; Kenon A. Brown, The University of Alabama • The increase of concussions in the NFL has become a serious issue for not only the league, but for college and youth football programs as well. Using framing theory as the theoretical lens, this paper will examine the framing of the concussion issue in NFL. A content analysis was conducted of New York Times coverage of the issue from May 2001 until October 2010. Results show that the increase of concussions in the NFL has been identified, and possible causes and solutions have been given in the last two years. Results also show that the issue is being framed increasingly more as an organizational issue that needs to be addressed.
Baseball’s digital disconnect: Trust, media credentialing, and the independent blogger • Avery Holton, University of Texas-Austin • Non-media affiliated sports blogs represent the largest contingent of sports blogs today, yet bloggers continue to face accessibility problems when it comes to coverage. Most professional sports teams employ media relations personnel who serve as gatekeepers, deciding who receives access and who does not. Such choices are often based on the abstract concept of trust, which this study focused on. The survey results from 126 professional baseball gatekeepers reinforce the fact that accessibility is most likely to restricted for bloggers, especially those not connected with a media outlet. However, this study sought to determine the differences, if any, between the levels of trust gatekeepers place in traditional news media and bloggers as well as how such disparities might impact accessibility.
Antapologia on Steroids: How Newspapers Covered Andy Pettitte’s Apology and Roger Clemens’ Denials, 2007-2008 • Paul Husselbee, Southern Utah University; Kyle B. Heuett • This paper analyzes newspaper antapologia and valence in response to Andy Pettitte’s apology and Roger Clemens’ denials after both New York Yankees pitchers were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in the 2007 Mitchell Report. Findings suggest that newspapers were more favorable or neutral toward Pettitte after his apology, but they were more unfavorable toward Clemens throughout his repeated denials. Thus, Pettitte’s strategy of mortification was more successful than Clemens’ strategy of defeasibility and blame-shifting.
“What’s Wrong With Baseball?”: The Press and the Beginning of the Campaign to Desegregate Baseball” • Chris Lamb, College of Charleston • On February 5, 1933, columnist Heywood Broun of the New York World-Telegram called for the end of baseball’s color line in a speech at the annual meeting of the all-white New York Baseball Writers’ Association. This article examines newspaper coverage of Broun’s speech in black and white newspapers. The response to Broun in the black press is significant because it provides what is perhaps the beginning of the campaign to desegregate baseball. The Pittsburgh Courier, which published a series of articles on the issue of the color line in the weeks following Broun’s speech, became ground zero in the campaign to desegregate baseball. The newspaper’s interest in baseball was part of a larger crusade for racial equality in America. Behind the leadership of editor Robert L. Vann, the newspaper achieved prominence by condeming racial discrimination and reporting hate crimes against blacks. Vann’s formula, according to historian Roland Wolseley, was to confront racial discrimination whenever and wherever it appeared. “These campaigns were against Jim Crowism and discrimination against blacks in major league baseball,” Wolseley wrote, “two of the classic targets of papers out to fight for black rights.” Between 1933 and 1945, the newspaper’s circulation increased from 46,000 to more than 260,000–more than a hundred thousand over its nearest rival, the Chicago Defender”
Marion Jones and Michael Vick: Press Coverage on Their Journey of Redemption and Renewal • Pamela Laucella, IU School of Journalism; Kathryn Shea • Michael Vick and Marion Jones were elite football and track athletes at the pinnacles of their sports. Both lost reputations and respect and served prison time, before restoring their tarnished images and athletic careers. This research studies press coverage of both, beginning with Vick’s dogfighting charges and Jones’ charges for lying to federal prosecutors about doping and knowledge of a check-fraud scheme. It offers a longitudinal and comparative analysis with their comebacks in the NFL and WNBA, and elucidates the scandals and the intersecting worlds of sport, media, race, and gender. This research adds to work on the cultural impact of media and sport, reinforces the criminal-athlete discourse, and examines journalists’ use of master myths in describing athletes and events.
Selling Sports Culture: A Narrative Analysis of Nike’s “Just Do It” Campaigns in the United States and China • Bethany Ray, University of Alaska Anchorage; Joy Chavez Mapaye, University of Alaska Anchorage • The advent of globalization, advancements in technology and mass communication, and an influx of consumerism have revolutionized strategic marketing and corporate communications. Consequentially, corporations face the challenge of adapting general branding messages to specific cultures and societies. This study explores elements of consumer psychology by applying a comparative narrative analysis to selected advertisements from Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign that aired in the United States and China during the last 5 years. Nike’s campaign employed hybridization tactics to integrate its corporate brand with cultural traits. The study found that by altering narrative structure and components, Nike was able to successfully market the “Just Do It” to both audiences, thus selling sports culture.
I’m a Big Fan: Studying Media Dependency Among Fantasy Football, Baseball, and Basketball Owners • Greg Armfield, New Mexico State University; John McGuire, Oklahoma State University • This research study examined media dependency among fantasy sports owners (n=333) involving three popular U.S. professional sports (football, basketball and baseball). Results showed that fantasy football and fantasy baseball owners that desired to be successful (i.e., win their league) were found to have a high level of media dependency. Another finding showed that media dependency was high among fantasy football owners who wanted their own team to win even more than their favorite NFL team.
Sports Department vs. News Department: Editorial Control in Television Newsrooms • Ray Murray, Oklahoma State University; Stan Ketterer; Mike Sowell, Oklahoma State University • This exploratory research study examined the attitudes of television sports directors (n=108) concerning editorial judgments made in covering local sports and how such judgments are supported by or come into conflict with other newsroom personnel. Findings included sports directors (a) believed their editorial judgments on stories were frequently questioned, and (b) had sports stories regularly reassigned to news personnel.
John L. Griffith and the Commercialization of College Football Broadcasts in the Depression Era • Kathleen O’Toole, Pennsylvania State University • This study found that John L. Griffith, the first full-time commissioner of the Big Ten Conference, played a pivotal role in the expansion, commercialization and commodification of intercollegiate athletics in the Depression era. Echoing the “American Way” rhetoric of the radio industry in its battle to control broadcasting, Griffith positioned college football as a bulwark of capitalism and the antithesis of the emerging social welfare policies of the New Deal. Once the commercial radio industry successfully squeezed from the airwaves the educational broadcasters that had carried their own sports coverage, Griffith sought to forge a lucrative partnership between his conference and a national network. In aligning football’s interests and ideals with the competitive corporate ethos rather than the public service mission of public universities, Griffith helped to justify the commercialization of college football into the television age. In doing so, he also sowed the seeds for 21st century corporate/academic partnerships such as the Big Ten Network.
Exploring Perception of Online Sport Commentary: An Affective Disposition Approach • Po-Lin Pan, Arkansas State University • This study aimed at examining whether exposure to the positive/negative comments on the win/loss of their favorite team would activate readers’ dispositions toward their favorite team and whether such disposition effects would dominate reader’s perceptions of online sport commentary. A two (the win of favorite team versus the loss of favorite team) by two (the positive commentary versus the negative commentary) within-subjects repeated measures experiment was designed to examine readers’ perceptions in terms of quality, credibility, representativeness. Results showed that the positive/negative commentaries on readers’ favorite team would be a stronger factor that impacted readers’ quality and credibility perceptions than the win/loss of readers’ favorite team. However, the positive/negative commentaries and the win/loss of the favorite team both did not lead readers’ representativeness perceptions.
Public Relations Responsibility within NCAA Division I Athletics Departments: Understandings of Athletics Directors • Angela Pratt, Bradley University • The purpose of this paper is to address intercollegiate athletics directors’ understandings of responsibility for public relations within their departments. For this study, a qualitative approach was used: Twelve NCAA Division I ADs were interviewed, and their transcripts were analyzed using comparative analysis procedures. The findings show that the overall understanding of public relations to the participants is integrated impression management. Their overall understanding of public relations translated into a range of responsibility within their organizations for public relations.
American News Magazine Framing of China and the 2008 Beijing Olympics • Sean Sadri, University of Florida • A content analysis was conducted to examine the coverage and framing of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in two news magazines, Time and Newsweek. Athlete/team profiles and the impact on China were the most common story topics. However, articles about the impact on China or its government were much more negative in tone. Additionally, articles with an American agenda frame were predominantly positive in tone, while articles that framed China were primarily negative.
Ambivalence on the front lines? Attitudes toward Title IX and women’s sports among Division I sports information directors • Marie Hardin, Penn State University; Erin Whiteside, University of Tennessee; Erin Ash, Penn State University • In light of the continued research assessing how dominant ideology is communicated via mediated sport, this study assess the attitudes of sports information directors (SIDs), arguably initial “gatekeepers” and thus critical players in shaping sports media messages. A random sample of Division I SIDs was surveyed on questions clustered around gender and sexuality issues. The results showed that Division I SIDs are likely to help gay athletes stay in the closet, although they express more progressive attitudes toward sexuality than sports journalists, who were similarly surveyed in 2009. The results also showed mixed support for women’s sports and Title IX, and strong support for a gendered division of labor that could be problematic for the future prospects of women in the profession. The authors use the survey to question assumptions that female SIDs will advocate on behalf of women’s sports, Title IX and other related issues.
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