Berger Week 5

In this week’s readings we examine two different subjects facing the current sports journalism industry and culture. First we look at the effect that the new media has had on sports journalism’s reputation as a whole. And second at the declining rates of journalists of color in the sports world.

            In “The New Toy Department” by Erin Whiteside, Nan Yu and Marie Hardin, a study was conducted examining the differences in coverage of a single event - the 2009 announcement of Manny Ramirez’ 50-game suspension for use of a banned substance – by various sports media outlets, including traditional media (newspapers, TV and magazines) and new media (websites and blogs). The study compared the two avenues of media and attempted to contrast their sources, analyses and biases. The study found various results, but the main finding was this: traditional media did a better job of including historical context and speculating on consequences in their coverage. New media tended to have a narrower focus: just the facts, no context and little analysis into the scope of what the suspension meant in the larger context of baseball history.

            One interesting tidbit from “The New Toy Department” was the issue of bias against Latino ballplayers- because Ramirez is a Latino, reporters tended to mention other Latino players who also faced suspicion (if they mentioned anything else at all) despite the fact that Latinos only made up abput 30% of the league at the time. This may have had to do with association with Ramirez. It may also have been a result of the high profile of some of the Latino players named (including Alex Rodriguez).

            In Kevin Blackistone’s “The Whitening of Sports Media and the Coloring of Black Athletes’ Images,” we also get a view of bias in the world of sports journalism. Blackistone discusses the drop in the number of colored sports journalists in recent years, specifically black journalists. This in spite of the continued predominance of colored athletes in the three largest professional sports leagues in the United States- the NFL, the NBA and Major League Baseball- as well as the growth of the colored audience for these sports and the shrinking of the white audience. Blackistone cites stereotyping of black athletes as being physically gifted while white athletes as being mentally gifted as a construction of the white dominated media. He also saw a disturbing trend in portrayals of black athletes as more infantile than their white counterparts. He cited differences in reactions to Ben Roethlisberger’s alleged sexual misconduct compared to Michael Vick’s and Tiger Woods’ transgressions as a key example.

            Racial bias and inequality has long been a part of our society and the world we live in. Sports journalism is no different and it suffers from many of the same injustices. As aspiring young journalists, it is our job to combat this inequality in whatever way we can. Be cognizant of what you say and write. Be fair. Be colorblind, don’t be so shallow.