Abstract: This study examined the perspectives of visually impaired adult athletes on the way in which a blind person and athlete were depicted in the recent media article “Sports Done Right: A Shining Example for All of Us.” Seven visually impaired athletes read the article and engaged in a one-on-one Zoom interview where they discussed their thoughts regarding the representation of the athletes within the article. Interview transcripts were analyzed using a reflexive thematic analysis approach, and three themes were constructed. Based on the participants’ narratives, and on constructed themes, it remains clear that the perspectives of disabled athletes are often ignored within media, and media presentations about disabled athletes appear to be more intended to inspire nondisabled readers than represent disabled athletes.
Abstract: This article discusses the origin of the basketball “hoop dream” beginning with the 1994 film Hoop Dreams and the popular narrative it has created to describe the path certain student-athletes pursue in America today. Noting key films and literary texts, it will be argued that expanding the hoop dream narrative to include more voices from the Jim Crow era, Native America, and the LGBTQ+ community will more accurately reflect the cultural diversity and social integration the sport of basketball has promoted over the years.
Abstract: Drawing on Herman and Chomsky’s (1988) propaganda model, this study compares traditional and social media portrayals of Elijah Moore’s dramatic brain injury during a National Football League (NFL) game. Traditional media coverage minimized the severity and emotional impact of Moore’s injury, relied on NFL sources, and ignored the long-term health consequences of concussions. In contrast, social media discussions were more diverse and more likely informed by medical professionals. While traditional journalists remained mute on the need for reform, social media users often criticized the NFL and advocated for policy changes. However, many social media users also neutralized the risks posed by football and responded adversely to anyone who called for change. These findings highlight social media’s potential as a platform for concussion education and activism. Yet the adversarial qualities of the online discourse and the ephemeral nature of social media itself underscore the challenges of raising awareness about the health risks posed by repeated head blows in football.
Abstract: This article investigates how state-run mainstream and alternative media cover the exodus of elite athletes from Iran’s borders. A total of 704 Iranian news media articles (2007–2022) that focused on the emigration of elite Iranian athletes were content analyzed to determine (a) differences in mainstream and alternative media frames surrounding these athletes and (b) frame changes over time. Results revealed a bifurcation in coverage with mainstream media disproportionately prioritizing economic frames, social issues, schadenfreude, and sports policies/practices, while alternative online media was more likely to advance content related to arrest/criminality, female appearance/actions, female rights/equality, forfeiture of competitions, and politicization. Frames regarding female athletes amplified over time; alternative news was significantly more likely to frame issues related to female appearance/actions and female rights/equality within more contemporary years. Implications for theory and international news media practices are discussed.
Abstract: The Major League Baseball heroics of Japanese baseball players such as Ichiro Suzuki and Shohei Ohtani represent the culmination of decades of pan-Pacific sporting exchange, a phenomenon that has engaged athletes, coaches, and sporting fans across North America, Asia, and the world. This transnational narrative of binational professional mobility and sporting diplomacy has also served as a touchstone for players from the United States who have made successful careers of their own in Japan, and specifically Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB). The list of expatriate players who have starred in Japan includes Randy Bass, Greg “Boomer” Wells, Wally Yonamine, and Karl “Tuffy” Rhodes. The two-way flow of baseball between Japan and the United States, going back over a century and a half, is marked by the individual stories of American and Japanese players who trailblazed their playing careers overseas, as well as contemporary touchstones like the World Baseball Classic, which has transformed the way the sport is followed and understood globally.
Abstract: This article identifies an emerging category of digitally mediated sports content both evocative of and distinct from the televised sports tradition. I contrast digital media attributes and principles against the conventional broadcasting model, urging scholars to investigate sports that have never significantly benefited from a symbiotic relationship with television. Using powerlifting and its impressive Instagram presence as a case study, I interrogate how sports pursue and adapt to digital media visibility, establishing arranged “dream marriages” (Real, 2014) with different mediums. I also speculate about a broader range of digitally rendered physical activities. While the appearance and structure of digitally mediated sports differ from the traditional television framework, I argue that this ascendant model nonetheless possesses a potent capacity to “enhance the imaginary” (Morse, 1983) of sporting activity, plays an increasingly relevant role across the sports/media complex, and merits ongoing consideration amid the future of networked media sport.
Abstract: This paper critically examines how controlled violence and hyperbolic hype narratives in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) are potent in shaping sports-media discourse by interrogating the symbolic and formal representations embedded in the lead-up to and aftermath of the high-profile UFC 268 rematch between Kamaru Usman and Colby Covington at Madison Square Garden, New York. Our analysis of the promotional videos for this monumental fight and the YouTube comments accompanying those videos, using the Burkean–small stories analysis method we developed, reveals how differing audience perspectives negotiate the interplay between politically charged narratives and performative spectacle. The findings argue that while the UFC exploits narratives of conflict interspersed with tinctures of identity politics to purposefully court controversy in a bid to garner massive viewership, their narratives hold the potential to enrich democratic discourse as they forge a fertile ground for pluralistic public engagement. This study underscores the need to explore further how commercialized media spectacle can mobilize broader narrative engagement and foment sociopolitical and cultural divisions.
Abstract: Research on mega sports events often emphasizes the way hosting nations use these opportunities to showcase their positive national image to the global audience. This study, however, presents an intriguing example of blending politics with a major sports event, by examining the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022—hosted for the first time in an Islamic, Arab, and non-Western country. A qualitative critical analysis was conducted to compare media narratives surrounding the event, focusing on Arab versus Western media coverage beyond the soccer matches themselves. Data were collected from November 18, 2022, to December 20, 2022 (i.e., the FIFA tournament time frame), using keyword searches on the Factiva database, which includes all international daily media in both English and Arabic. No content was excluded from the search, covering all sections of the media, including but not limited to news articles, opinion pieces, and commentaries. Results showed that the coverage went indeed beyond a mere mega sports event, with media focusing on human rights and the conditions of migrant workers in Qatar. Meanwhile, Arab media highlighted the double standards in coverage issues of alcohol consumption, human rights, and sexual orientation, emphasizing discourses on nationalism, Islam, Palestine, and Orientalism.
Abstract: In spring 2021, then–Houston Texans Quarterback Deshaun Watson was accused of sexual misconduct by 24 women he had hired to perform massages. This study focuses on the increased role of team-run in-house media to shape narratives surrounding transgression allegations levied against athletes. In an initial pilot study, news articles about Watson were textually analyzed ( N = 36) to examine in-house media coverage of the transgressions. Using qualitative interviews with 12 in-house reporters representing 12 NFL teams, the study unpacked how these individuals perceived their shifting news values as journalists and whether they saw Watson as a potential reputational challenge for larger stakeholders, such as their employer and the NFL. The team media ecosystem appeared to prioritize the protection of stakeholder interests within the organization over potential ethical quandaries of in-house journalists. For most in-house entities, a ubiquitous tactic of avoiding discussion of the allegations was employed to protect the NFL brand.
Abstract: In 2023 the field of sports journalism in the United States experienced two critical incidents: major, high-profile layoffs at ESPN and the closure of the New York Times sports desk. Utilizing the theory of metajournalistic discourse and the concept of journalism as an interpretative community, this study textually analyzes discourse produced in the aftermath of these two incidents. It finds that those within the field of journalism believe that the boundaries of sports journalism are collapsing, the profession is losing credibility and is the victim of corporate greed. The article ends by theorizing what this means for sports journalism practice moving forward.
Abstract: Kit unveilings—or news releases of a team's unique kit names, colors, and design justifications—have emerged as a ritual for soccer leagues like Major League Soccer (MLS) and the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). This digital-first media content has afforded marketing opportunities for teams that leverage fan identities and values. The present study uses strategic framing to examine the messages and gender differences of the 2023 kit unveilings and kit designs from 54 MLS and NWSL press releases. With this study grounded in thematic analysis, resulting themes included regionality, advocacy, and history. Regionality messages strategically highlight geographic regions, city-or state-specific natural features, or the distinct cultures and communities of the club's region. Advocacy was reflected in uniforms that demonstrated an organization's actions furthering social good for topics such as mental health, environmentalism, and equality and social justice. Finally, history kits leveraged either legacy or future. Resulting themes are in line with prior literature on sports clubs' messaging, while also providing novel contributions on strategic framing and the exploration of kits, as well as framing differences by gender.
Abstract: Communication and sports research has explored the objectification of athletes within the media, particularly related to beach volleyball, where the uniforms and camera angles have encouraged sexualization. However, limited research on this subject has investigated how consumers actually look at and potentially objectify social media images of beach volleyball athletes. This experiment utilized an eye-tracking methodology to evaluate how much visual attention is dedicated to male and female beach volleyball athletes in active and passive poses as displayed on the social media app Instagram. Results revealed that the majority of visual attention, regardless of the athlete's gender or athlete's body position in the image, was dedicated to the body of that athlete, but this was further exacerbated when the athlete was in an active offensive position. Implications of these findings are discussed related to objectification and how sports organizations are framing athletes on social media.
Abstract: A frame analysis was conducted of coverage by sportswriters of the decision in December 2020 by Major League Baseball to formally recognize seven Negro Leagues and incorporate their statistics into the sport's official record and the decision by Baseball-Reference to make Negro League statistics available to its readers. The analysis ends with the announcement in May 2024 that the statistics of 2,300 players had successfully been incorporated. Analysis revealed and affirmed seven frames: advocacy, affirmation, amends, concern, gateway, leaderboard , and romance . Framing by journalists of the inclusion of Negro League statistics establishes the conditions for the erasure of their history and the damaging racism visited upon them by Major League Baseball by creating tension between those who favor statistical debate and those who wish to remind us of what has come before. Baked into the coverage are the seeds of persuasion for the audience to shift their means of perception of the leagues and its players "from the ear to the eye" (Postman, 1985, p. 12). Frames affirm that advocacy is less important; the focus now is on a sustained and uphill effort to complete the record. The recent frustration of advocates has been with the delay in completing the task so that the Negro Leagues can earn the highest form of legitimacy—that bestowed by Major League Baseball. A full resolution of tension would enable MLB to further submerge its racist past and entrench the idea that the game has entered a postracial stage.
Abstract: Since its inception in the late 1980s, sports radio has grown exponentially. However, little academic work has focused on sports radio and the psychographics of its participants, as it is a unique medium that features considerable audience involvement. Given the platform's provincial nature, social identity theory can explain the promotion of hosts with local ties, as individuals with strong in-group identification tend to align with those of similar characteristics. Multiple regression and analysis of covariance tests found that a host with a similar audience accent was perceived as more credible and congruent with the market and garnered greater listening intentions. Perceived congruence between a host and market was significantly related to source credibility, which predicted listening intentions. This study is one of the first to empirically measure the influence of social identity theory tenets on media identification within sport radio. Results hold practical implications for program directors via hiring strategies.
Abstract: In June of 2021, National Football League (NFL) defensive lineman Carl Nassib made history as the first openly gay, active professional football player to come out. Advancing research about news coverage of LGBT athletes, this paper employs content analysis to analyze the frames used in newspaper articles ( n = 195) and on social media ( n = 5,588 tweets) to report the story of Nassib's coming out. This study examines the media frames that were used most frequently in covering Nassib's coming out and discusses the significant differences between traditional media and those used most widely on social media. Findings indicate overall support for Nassib's coming out, as both newspapers and Twitter posts framed the story as a watershed moment and focused on celebrity support; however, personal attacks were more common on social media. Implications for how media cover gay-athlete stories are discussed.
Abstract: In hosting the 2022 Winter Olympic Games, Beijing became the first city to ever host both a Summer and Winter Olympics— but it did so during the COVID-19 pandemic. A total of 200 news articles (half from China, half from the United States) were analyzed to determine whether differences in media ecologies were rendered pertaining to the type of coverage, focus on home nation athletes, the amount of focus on the host nation and pandemic handling, and the valence of the content regarding hosting and pandemic handling. Results indicate that while the type of coverage was similar (prioritizing competition, then hosting, and then pandemic-related aspects), the amount of focus and degree of valence was significantly different, with Chinese news outlets only mentioning the pandemic in relation to other larger themes and providing a more positive spin on both hosting duties and pandemic handling. The United States also devoted considerably more focus on home-nation athletes than did China. Implications for media ecology and elements of national public relations for both nations are advanced.
Abstract: As an emerging area of social media, live streaming (i.e., the broadcasting of content in real time through an online service) has been attracting viewers around the world. While live streaming is quickly becoming popular, there is still much to explore involving athletes’ participation in this specific segment of the industry. The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the motivational drivers of athlete live streaming and sport fans’ continuous intention to watch such content. With consumption decisions becoming more consumer based compared to previous times when outlets had more control over what was watched, the uses and gratifications theory helps guide research uncovering how sport fans make decisions about what they want to watch. Data were collected from 280 participants who met the criteria of a screening question regarding athlete live streaming consumption through Amazon M-Turk. A total of 25 items were adapted from several sport consumption, live streaming, and athlete studies. Among seven motivations, athlete identification, athlete support, acquisition of knowledge, and socialization were significant predictors of users’ continuous watching intention of athlete live streaming, while escape, entertainment, and physical skill of the athletes were not proven to be statistically significant on continuous watching intention. The results add to the literature in sport media by unearthing the motivational drivers associated with watching athlete live streaming through the lens of uses and gratifications theory. In addition to the scholarly contribution, the findings of this study will be useful for practitioners such as content creators, managers, and marketers in the development of tailored management and marketing strategies related to sport fans and their consumption of athlete live streaming services.
Abstract: The core concept of agenda-setting research is the transfer of topic and topic-attribute salience from the media to the public. The theory indicates that the media perform the function of selecting topics and topic attributes for exposure to the public. Exposure characteristics of frequency and placement convey importance to the selected topics and their attributes. The launch of the LIV Golf Tour in 2022 and the response by the PGA Tour was a topic that produced 35 articles in the print edition of The Wall Street Journal . The topic appeared on the front page of the newspaper on four occasions in 2022. That the LIV Golf Tour is funded by the government of Saudi Arabia created controversy for the new golf league. Saudi Arabia is a topic attribute that is mentioned in 34 articles, including 14 article headlines or subheadlines. The Wall Street Journal ’s coverage offers an example of how a topic evolves and remains on the media agenda. Additional topic exposure and new topic attributes were introduced due to events and actions by individuals and organizations. For example, a Department of Justice investigation and an antitrust lawsuit initiated by LIV golfers against the PGA Tour generated multiple articles in The Wall Street Journal .
Abstract: A large body of scholarship examines how sports outcomes affect fan behavior, emotions, and mental health, but little attention has been paid to how sports fans are impacted by negative portrayals of the fan base on television. Based on the theoretical perspective of social identity, this study investigates how fans of the New York Islanders hockey team were affected by unflattering portrayals of a moronic Islanders fan on the sitcom 30 Rock . An online experiment confirmed that exposure to these negative portrayals lowered fans’ identification with their team and their self-esteem.
Abstract: This study follows up on previous research examining how ESPN’s SportsCenter utilized its “Top 10 Plays” segment as an agenda-setting tool to highlight its own properties. However, since that original research was conducted, ESPN’s broadcast rights have changed. The current study compares the NBA and NHL to see how SportsCenter ranked the plays from each league. The findings illustrate that ESPN is more likely to highlight its own properties, but their properties are not fully setting the agenda, as the NBA is still more represented than the NHL, despite ESPN holding some broadcast rights for both leagues.
