Sports Communication 2014 Abstracts
Sports Draped in the American Flag: Impact of the 2014 Winter Olympic Telecast on Nationalized Attitudes • Andrew Billings, University of Alabama; Kenon Brown, The University of Alabama; Natalie Brown, University of Alabama • A total of 525 U.S. respondents participated in a survey of nationalized attitudes surrounding four qualities (patriotism, nationalism, internationalism, and smugness) and their relationship to Olympic media consumption. Four data collection points were used: three months prior to the Sochi Games, immediately before the Opening Ceremonies, immediately after the Closing Ceremonies, and one month after the Sochi Games. Results indicated that the amount of Olympic media consumption significantly heightened responses on all four qualities, but that these qualities were higher before the Sochi Olympics than after. Conclusions are offered regarding the potential mitigating role of Olympic success as it relates to the bolstering of national pride through consumption of international mediated sporting events.
I know you, therefore I share: Parasocial disclosures and sharing of sport news on Twitter • Jan Boehmer, Michigan State University • The present study investigates the effects of sports journalists’ self-disclosures on Twitter. More specifically, an online experiment was conducted examining whether being exposed to self disclosures posted on Twitter influenced the audiences’ perceptions of likability and credibility, as well as the desire to interact with the sports journalist. Results of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) show that self-disclosure had a positive effect on a personal dimension of likability, as predicted by Uncertainty Reduction Theory (URT). Contrary to predictions, however, self-disclosure did not affect the professional dimension of likability or credibility. In addition, the results of the present study show that the development of a stronger parasocial relationship between the sports journalist and his audience, as well as professional likability are the best predictors of participants’ intentions to share the encountered content.
Making Sports Exciting: Moment-to-Moment Analysis of Crowd Noise on Audience Perception of Play • Glenn Cummins, Texas Tech University; Zijian Gong, Texas Tech University • Despite its ubiquitous presence in mediated sports, the influence of mediated crowd response on at-home spectators has escaped inquiry. Considerable evidence from both within and beyond the context of sports suggests that a co-spectator’s behavior can generate “intra-audience effects.” In this experiment, mediated spectator response was systematically altered across game play while participants provided moment-to-moment evaluations of game play. Results demonstrate mediated intra-audience effects that yield inflated perceptions of the exiting nature of play as well as a sense of spatial immersion in the mediated environment. The effect was most pronounced when game events were not intrinsically exciting.
Opening the sports closet: Media coverage of the self-outings of Jason Collins and Britney Griner • Tracy Everbach, University of North Texas; Lori Dann, Eastfield College • This study examines coverage of the coming-out revelations of two professional athletes in major sports media. When Brittney Griner of the WNBA and Jason Collins of the NBA made their announcements within two weeks of each other in April 2013, sports media embraced both athletes by praising their courage and calling for tolerance. However, the media coverage adhered to the theory of masculine hegemony by treating Collins’ revelation as big news and Griner’s as routine. Other findings are that Collins’ announcement, which was a first for an active athlete in men’s professional team sports, was controversial to some who oppose homosexuality. Griner joined several high-profile female athletes who had come out as lesbian since the 1970s, and her announcement was given minimal coverage. Griner went on to a promising career in the WNBA while Collins went unsigned for the first four months of the NBA season before being picked up by the Brooklyn Nets on Feb. 23, 2014 and retained for the remainder of the season. Despite these gender-based differences, the study found there has been a significant shift in recent years in the amount and type of media coverage given to gay athletes.
Foul Ball: Audience-held stereotypes of baseball players • Patrick Ferrucci, Bradley University; Edson Tandoc, Nanyang Technological University; Chad Painter, Eastern New Mexico University; David Wolfgang, University of Missouri • This study experimentally tested whether participants held and/or applied stereotypes of baseball players. Participants were asked to rate White, Black and Latino baseball players based on stereotypes consistently identified in previous literature. Participants saw a photo of a player and an anonymous paragraph from a newspaper that highlighted a particular stereotype. They were then asked to rate the author’s credibility. Black players were rated as higher in physical strength and natural ability, consistent with previous literature concerning how athletes were described. However, White and Latin players were not stereotyped. But, participants rated White-consistent descriptions as credible and Latin-consistent descriptions as less credible. These results are interpreted through the prism of social identity theory.
“The Ghost of Len Bias”: Race, Memory, Narrative, and Basketball • Justin Hudson, University of Maryland, College Park • The death of Maryland basketball star Len Bias in June 1986 from a cocaine overdose would quickly become a seminal moment both in the war on drugs and the fight to reform college athletics. This paper demonstrates that even two decades after his death, Bias was deployed in the media as an obstacle on the road to Maryland’s first national championship and as a cautionary tale to justify the continued policing of black athletes.
Marketing a Lemon: Student-Fan Attendance at Home Games of a Losing College Basketball Team • L. Paul Husselbee, Southern Utah University; Whitney Baum, Southern Utah University • Research has identified winning as the most significant factor motivating attendance at collegiate and professional sports events. This study employed factor analysis to identify four significant components — Optimistic Leisure, Shared Experience with Friends, Basketball Enthusiasm, and Team Spirit — that contribute to student-fans’ decisions to attend home games of a college basketball team that had lost 26 consecutive games and was widely considered the worst NCAA Division I team in the nation during the 2013-14 season. It recommends an integrated-marketing campaign using a “Big Idea” with emphasis on social media to reach the target audience.
Promoting sports networks’ interests through hybrid messages: A study of Sportscenter and Fox Sports Live • Richard Johnson, Arizona State University; Miles Romney • In sports broadcasting, a dichotomy exists between a network’s financial interests and its journalism responsibilities. Many sports networks spend billions of dollars for the rights to broadcast live sporting events as part of their network programming. Typically, these live events produce high ratings and generate significant profit for the networks. However, this conflict between a sports network’s business and journalistic affairs raises a compelling ethical debate. Working under the theoretical model of hybrid messages—the assumption that news networks include promotional themes in their journalism programming that aren’t easily recognizable to the viewer—this introductory study analyzed 2,015 news packages from the two most prominent nightly sports news programs, SportsCenter and FOX Sports Live, to examine whether sports networks more heavily promote leagues with which they are contractually affiliated. The study found that sports networks self-promote by showing more in-depth coverage of games and leagues with which they have a financial interest while also filling a significant portion of the news program’s most prominent block with programming that serves their interests. However, the relationship that exists between sports networks and sports leagues makes it difficult to ascertain whether the sports networks are employing hybrid messages in their journalism programming or simply following journalistic practices.
The Use of Twitter in Sports Image Repair: A Case Study of Ex-Heisman Reggie Bush • Hannah Mason; Mia Moody-Ramirez, Baylor University • Broadening the application of Benoit’s image repair theory, this case study looks at the image repair tactics of NFL athlete Reggie Bush in three phases following the NCAA sanctions in which he lost the Heisman Trophy. This textual analysis adds a new perspective to IRT literature by analyzing how the athlete presented himself through his Twitter feed and how traditional newspaper articles framed the case. Findings indicate Bush used a variety of image repair tactics in his Twitter posts; however, his scatter-shot approach was ineffective as he rallied back and forth between positive and negative content and perhaps waited too long to demonstrate mortification. Newspaper articles did not mention Bush’s Twitter content. However, self-presentation through social media eliminated the need for a mainstream outlet to cover his preferred themes as he was able disseminate his own messages. Findings indicate Twitter provides a viable platform for athletes to repair a tarnished image; however, they must use positive image repair tactics in a consistent manner.
Going to WAR: Online Sports Media’s Treatment of the Sabermetric Argument in the Race for 2012 American League Most Valuable Player • Joshua Murphy, The University of Iowa • Sabermetric analysis has existed since the 1970s but has recently gained widespread attention in baseball. Despite the empirical process of sabermetrics, several media sources ignore it in favor of traditional methods. This paper uses the Gramscian model of hegemony and Barthes’ work on myth to analyze sports media discussion of the 2012 American League Most Valuable Player race to evaluate the process by which new methods gain media attention and legitimacy against the status quo.
Who is to blame? An examination of American sports journalists’ Lance Armstrong Hero narrative and post-doping confession paradigm repair • Sada Reed, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill • When journalism routines, like the practice of covering subjects “objectively” and not becoming personally involved with sources, result in erroneous reporting, journalists often engage in paradigm repair (Berkowitz, 1997). This is done by demonstrating that the written and unwritten rules of the paradigm really are reliable, but because of a particular reason or person, the paradigm’s rules were violated (Berkowitz, 1997). But does paradigm repair happen in the same way in sports journalism, a genre of journalism that traditionally has dual roles as watchdogs and “myth-makers”? This study examines this question in two parts: A content analysis was conducted in order to gather descriptive statistics confirming sports journalists’ reluctance to interrupt Armstrong’s Hero narrative. This analysis was done by examining the number of stories about Armstrong, published in the United States between July 25, 1999, when Armstrong first won the Tour de France, and Jan. 17, 2013, when Armstrong’s televised interview with Oprah aired, that also mention doping. The second part of this study explores the presence or absence of paradigm repair. Ethnographic content analysis was used to examine American sports journalists’ columns and editorials from Oct. 9, 2012, to Jan. 31, 2013, in order to assess how sports journalists responded to Armstrong’s “fall from grace.”
Twitter in the press box: How a new technology affects the gameday routines of print-focused sports journalists • Chris Roberts, University of Alabama; Betsy Emmons, Samford University • Sports journalists’ use of Twitter to cover live events raises questions related to institutional practices, branding of journalists, and the work patterns and work products of journalists on a gameday. Researchers analyzed 2,600 tweets sent by 51 print-focused journalists covering 11 college football games, and interviewed 10 journalists, to discern how beat writers and columnists use Twitter for gameday coverage. Results include a more opinion-based use of Twitter during live reporting.
“I hate you man!”: Exploring Maladaptive Parasocial Interaction Expressions to College Athletes via Twitter • Jimmy Sanderson, Clemson University; Carrie Truax, Clemson University • There has been an increasing trend of fans attacking college athletes via Twitter after athletic contests. These messages from fans often encompass hostile and vitriolic language that in many cases makes news headlines. The present study explored this behavior through the lens of maladaptive parasocial interaction (Kassing & Sanderson, in press) by investigating tweets sent to University of Alabama placekicker Cade Foster after Alabama lost their rivalry game against Auburn University on November 30, 2013. Using Radian6 software, a total of 939 tweets sent to Foster were analyzed. Analysis revealed that maladaptive parasocial interaction manifested in the following ways: (a) belittling; (b) blaming; (c) mocking; (d) sarcasm; and (e) threats. Interestingly and unexpectedly, a host of supportive comments were expressed to Foster as well. The results suggest that athletic department personnel must provide resources and education for college athletes on coping with these messages to mitigate potentially negative psychological effects. Additionally, the results also reveal that Twitter functions as a venue where fans discuss what it means to be a “true” fan with respect to directing abrasive comments at college athletes.
“Shit got cray cray #mybad”: An Examination of the Image Repair Discourse of Richie Incognito during the Miami Dolphins’ Bullying Scandal • Annelie Schmittel, University of Florida; Kevin Hull, University of Florida • This study examines the image repair discourse of Richie Incognito during the Miami Dolphins’ bullying scandal. Incognito conducted image repair utilizing Twitter and a traditional media outlet. Incognito’s tweets sent throughout the crisis, along with his television interview, were examined using mixed methods content analysis guided by Benoit’s image repair theory. Findings suggest Incognito used competing image repair strategies on the two platforms. We propose three new image repair strategies: blasting critics, context and self-deprecation.
Ignored by Traditional Media, Women Seek Sports Information via Social Media: A Uses and Gratification Analysis • Mary Sheffer, University of Southern Mississippi; Brad Schultz, University of Mississippi • As a follow-up to previous research, this study took a uses and gratification approach to more clearly define sports media consumption patterns among women. Based on survey data from more than 2,500 respondents nationwide, it was found that women use social media differently than men in regards to sports. Specifically, women more often use social media for information-seeking, personal/social reasons, and to access content not available in traditional media. Implications include the need for new approaches to reach a traditionally underserved audience.
Enjoyment in 140 Characters: Examining the Impact of Twitter on the Enjoyment of Football • Lauren Smith, Auburn University; Sally Ann Cruikshank, Auburn University • As sports fans increasingly turn to Twitter to experience events and receive commentary, it is imperative to understand not only why they do, but the effects that come from using social media. Using the theoretical grounding of disposition theory, this study employed a survey of sports fans who use Twitter to measure how the microblogging site influenced their enjoyment of viewing college and professional football, both on television and in person. Results found that the use of Twitter had more of an impact on fans’ enjoyment when watching a game on television than when watching in person. Additionally, variables such as age, gender, and level of Twitter use were found to have an impact on enjoyment levels. Practical and theoretical implications of the study are discussed at length.
I’m going to Instagram it!: An analysis of athlete self-presentation on Instagram • Lauren Smith, Auburn University; Jimmy Sanderson, Clemson University • Using Goffman’s notions of self-presentation and gender displays, the following study examines the Instagram feeds of 27 professional athletes to determine how athletes are using the visual social media site for self-presentation. A mixed methods approach examined the photographs and captions to determine what behaviors and themes emerged. Through content analysis, the self-presentation styles of athletes of both genders, as well as the main differences between them were examined, and significant differences emerged that confirmed the previously established gender norms. Through textual analysis, findings with respect to captions align with previous research on athlete self-presentation on social media. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research are discussed.
Tensions in the Press Box: Understanding Relationships between Journalists and Communications Professionals in Intercollegiate Athletics • Welch Suggs, University of Georgia • Recent events suggest that relationships between media organizations and the entities they cover are changing, particularly in the context of sports. This study proposes a neoinstitutional framework for understanding these relationships and tests resulting hypotheses among reporters and communications professionals in American intercollegiate athletics.
Media Industries and the Sport Scandal: Deadspin, Sports Illustrated, ESPN and the Manti Te’o Hoax • Travis Vogan, University of Iowa; Benjamin Burroughs, University of Iowa • The increasing body of scholarship on the sport scandal focuses principally on how media cover these incidents, how scandalized parties disrupt constructed expectations and work to repair their images, and the circumstances under which punishment and forgiveness are doled out. Building upon this work, this essay uses the hoax surrounding former Notre Dame University football player Manti Te’o to consider the institutional and industrial priorities that inform media coverage of sport scandals. Focusing on the website Deadspin, the legacy magazine Sports Illustrated, and the multiplatform sports media outlet ESPN, it argues that media outlets use sport scandals to craft their institutional identities, critique their competition, and to vie for market share. This approach to analyzing media coverage of the sport scandal, we argue, demonstrates the intimate relationship between the cultural meanings media representations of sport create and the institutional and industrial factors that govern the organizations that manufacture these powerful depictions.
Building Relationships with Fans: How Sports Organizations Use Social Media • Yuan Wang, University of Alabama; Shuhua Zhou; Yonghwan Kim, University of Alabama • Social media have been increasingly used by sports organizations to establish relationships with the public. This study explored the Twitter using practices of NBA clubs (N = 30) in the United States in building relationships with their publics. Specifically, it focused on how these clubs used Twitter as a communication tool to build professional, personal, and community relationships through a content analysis of 5561 tweets on their official Twitter sites. The results demonstrated that sports organizations tended to use social media to develop professional relationships with fans via sharing information and promoting products. They utilized several communication tools such as retweets, public messages, hyperlinks, and hashtags, among which hashtags were most frequently used. There was a significant relationship between relationship dimensions and the use of communication tools.
The Star-Ledger vs. Julie Hermann? Examining the Power of Media Campaigning • Amy Wu, University of Maryland; Pallavi Guha, Philip Merrill College of Journalism, University of Maryland; Jenny Glick, University of Maryland; Carole Lee, University of Maryland; Linda Steiner, University of Maryland • This study examines the impact of coverage by a major newspaper of Rutgers University’s hiring of Julie Hermann as athletic director in the spring of 2013. After the bullying charges surfaced against Julie Hermann, the prospective Athletic Director of Rutgers, The Star-Ledger took the initiative to lead the coverage demanding Hermann’s dismissal. A textual analysis of print and online news articles, editorials and columns, placed in the theoretical context of framing, suggested that the newspaper’s editorial team shifted its target from Hermann at initial stages to the university and the power brokers within the university. A time-analysis revealed that Hermann was only part of the larger target in the later stages of coverage.
The Not-So Neutral Zone: ESPN, Agenda Setting, and the National Hockey League • Jeremy Saks, Ohio University; Molly Yanity, Quinnipiac University • Given the lucrative partnerships involved with securing the rights to televise live events, ESPN is ripe for conflicts of interest as it has the potential to set the news agenda by showcasing highlights and reporting to emphasize the events for which it has exclusive deals. This is important because ESPN can determine what are considered the “most important games, athletes, and highlights for ESPN viewers” and it can use “its gate-keeping function to codify what historic achievements, displays of brilliance, and athletic renown are worthy of consideration” (Gamache, 2010, p. 166). This study will use the agenda-setting theory to explore ESPN’s gate-keeping measures in regards to the National Hockey League. A content analysis will be performed to explore if and how ESPN ranks highlights from the NHL within the “Top 10 Plays” segment in comparison to other major sports leagues.
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