Gender Bias In Sports Media

This article talked about the daunting unequal media coverage in sports of male sports teams in comparison to females.They researched the true differentiations of coverage between men and women sports. The actual percentage difference of coverage of male vs female sports discovered in their research truly is unfathomable. Men’s sports receive 96.3% of the airtime, women’s sports 1.6% and gender neutral topics were 2.1%. When you think back about twenty years ago and the coverage of media people tend to think that America is generally trending positively forward, however that is not the case for the coverage of women's athletics. It has actually gone down since then. Although on the scarce occasion that they are feature in the news, more often than not they are conveyed in the stereotypical way: as wives, girlfriends, or mothers. When media is highlighting these aspects instead of their talent, hard work or success it takes away from their image as an athlete and it demonstrating that it is acceptable to do so in society. However if male athlete achieved equal success and he was a father, that

Sexism has played its part in many different work environments for quite some time. It especially raises big conversation, and an ongoing problem in the sports industry. Not only does it affect the women who work in the industry, but also homosexuals, and minorities. For so long sexism has been a topic of discussion, but no real attempts at change have been made. If there was more protection for woman and players who work in sports, it could help to get women more involved in the field, establish rules that will protect people from sexism, and diminish some of the controversy between the two opposing sexes.

The sports media in America has a lot of power. How the media portrays athletes and how it is perceived can be polarizing. Sports media depicts athletes based on race. It is becoming a daily occurrence for sports media to portray Caucasians is a positive light and African American in a more negative light. When an African American commits a crime it reinforces the negative stereotype and makes national sports television. But, when a Caucasian athlete commits the same crime the information is difficult to find on a local newspaper. The media’s portrayal can alter the fan’s experience. Which is the case for two current active NFL players. In 2011, USA Today reported Ben Roethlisberger the quarterback of the Pittsburg Steelers was accused of rape

Before I conducted this media analysis about women in sports and sport broadcasting, I hypothesized the obvious - that more male sports would be in the media, and that there would be more male sports broadcasters as well. Through my observations I did find that the sports arena and sports broadcasting sphere are male dominated. However, I also found that although there are not many stories about women, there has been a steady progression and magazines like Sports Illustrated are becoming bold enough to highlight women athletes in a magazine that is targeted towards a male audience. Although women still have a long way to go, they are making some headway into the male-dominated sports arena.

Control Room places an emphasis on an Arab news network’s coverage of the war between Iraq and the United States that began in 2003; the news network is known as Al Jazeera. This news network was founded in 1996, and had been called by the Bush administration “the mouthpiece of Osama bin Laden” (Noujaim, 2004). From what this film had depicted, the viewer can see that Al Jazeera is a news network worthy of attention, and not only because of its controversial topics, but because of the information it releases to the rest of the world that most do not regularly see due to biases within news media outlets. Because it appears clear that biases are imminent within the film, I had become more interested in how and why Al Jazeera had become such a tainted name within the industry and under fire for the information they bring to the masses.

With the rise of feminism, gender inequality has been quite the topic in todays time. With the wanting of equal rights and treatment it has been pointed out as per which all places males have the hegemonic overview and women are the oppressed; one of the areas where its unequal in gender is in sport. This paper will examine and break down the issues regarding sex and gender biases within sports in modern day media and how it can be resolved.

Sexism in sports journalism occasionally deals with the media or male athletes making rude and sexist remarks about a female reporters and athletes. According to the article Media Coverage of Women Athletes (1992), “The media reinforce this stereotype by portraying female athletes as over glamorized, over feminized, and too emotional to deal with success and failure on the playing field (pg. 74).” This quote talks about how the media portrays female athletes as too feminine and emotion to deal with success. This source was not the only source found that thinks sexism in sports journalism is a controversial topic. According to Ponterotto (2012), “The sports media often convey the idea that female attractiveness and sexual desirability are more important than athletic ability (p.15).”

Do sports announcers report the facts instead of their feelings or biases towards one team? Rarely does it seem, as you can hear the excitement in their voices when the team they may favor more scores or makes a good play or the sound of disappointment when a bad call is made. Sports fans are starting to see media bias for or against their teams everywhere. Isn’t the job of a reporter, however, to objectively report the news for the sake of the reader? In the case of sports journalism, I believe this is not true or necessary.

For years there have been many portrayals of gender bias in media, specifically health media.The Gardasil vaccine for example has been heavily targeted towards women and girls, when the vaccine is available for both genders. In doctors offices it was even referred to as the “Girl Vaccine”. When searching “girl vaccine” in search engines HPV articles and hpv vaccines come up for the search results. I am studying media and the portrayal or use of gender because I want to find out how and why media incorporates an all female or male campaign in their marketing or messages to understand the purpose behind the campaign. In this review I will discuss gender biases against women, and the portrayal of health media.

However, in my life, I have only heard one woman announcing a game, a handful running pregame shows (only for football), and only 3 running shows (alongside 1 or more men) in their studios. For only 11.3% of sports broadcasters being female, they receive much more harassment than their male counterparts. Espn reporter Sarah Spain

For many years women have been looked down upon in the realm of employment. Times have changed drastically and now more women are being brought into more male dominated positions. Sports broadcasting is such a widespread popular profession. Both men and women are welcomed to apply for the position. Although women are welcomed for the same exact positions males are they do not have the authority to do the things that men do and they are looked at in a different light. They are oppressed into certain roles yet are still managed to be called “sport broadcasters”. One might not recognize the inaccurate perceptions that many sport networks are portraying of women however,I have come up with three hypotheses that will challenge you to think differently.

talk about the subject making it a less than reliable source compared to the television. However, because of the advancement of technology news networks have also been able adapted to the newest forms and types of technologies in order to share news. One prime example would be the internet. Thanks to the internet news stations such as Fox News, NBC, CBS, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, and NBC are able to share news with viewers around the whole world making those tv station an even bigger source of information. But even though all these news sources may be talking about the same sources in reality they are incredibly different from each other when it come to a specific topic. News channels are either considered liberal meaning, “when one believes in a government's action to achieve equal opportunity and equality for all.” While on the other hand, other news stations are considered to be conservatives

From the three network affiliates they studied, they found that 96.3 percent of the coverage was for men’s sports and women only received 1.6 percent (Messner and Cooky 4). When analyzing the coverage of Sports Center, which is arguably the most popular sports show on television, they found that women still only received just 1.4 percent of their coverage (4). This study also found that 100 percent of the Sports Center programs had a lead story that was about men’s sports (4). Even the most renowned and credible sports show, which only shows sports all year long, does not even provide women’s sports with equal attention. Even more shocking than this was that the study also revealed that reporters devoted more coverage to men’s sports that were out of season than they did women’s sports that were actually in season (4). This can be extremely disrespectful to female athletes when their sport is pushed aside and ignored so that a men’s sport that is not even being played can be covered by the media. These women put all their effort into performing their sport at the highest level, but their media attention gets replaced by men who are in their off-season.

Authors Marie Hardin and Stacie Shain explain this phenomenon once women get hired, how discouraging it can be in the work place when your peer’s don’t see you as their equal of value what you bring to the news team: “women sports journalists instead often strive to fit in a male-dominated environment, knowing they are often under scrutiny by male sports journalists who may resent their presence as ‘‘quota’’ hires (Kian, 2005). Women sports journalists who may be considered more qualified than male rivals may still find themselves locked into limiting roles ‘‘for the sake of that body’’ and unable to move from it, (Hardin and Shain, 326).” Hearing over and over that it’s hard to become a female sportscaster, then when you are in the job not elevating or moving forward because of your gender is one of the most discriminating things that can happen to a journalist. It’s as if you put in all this work and hustle but still go nowhere.

Sports fans usually acknowledge various sports through different mass media outlets. To develop our comprehension of social qualities inserted in sports and to investigate current values and power structures in regards to men and women, it is important to explore the potential impact that media may have in manipulating conventions about gender-appropriate sport conduct. One question that will be answered is, does mass media influence the beliefs about gender-appropriate sport behavior during the broadcast of various sports? To help answer this question three sets of participants are going to be involved. Ranging from 16 to 26 years of age, the sets will include individuals who have ample knowledge regarding various sports, individuals who have no-in-depth knowledge, and finally individuals who are active athletes throughout various levels like high school, college, and professional leagues. These individuals will view interviews, and coverage of different athletes, sports and events present in the Olympics. Following the exposure to the various segments, participants will complete a questionnaire and a survey regarding their experience during the viewing. With an international aspect and various races, cultures, and genders a change in both the representation of genders and the traditional expectations of genders would be present with a change in the