Tansits Week 5 Post

This week’s readings highlight two very serious subjects that encompass not only sports journalism, but journalism as a whole. The first, titled The New “Toy Department”?, speaks to the fact that sports journalists aren’t referring to the journalistic standards that other people in journalism abide by. The second, The Whitening of Sports Media and The Coloring of Black Athletes’ Images, speaks very strongly towards race in sports journalism and the picture that white journalists make of black athletes.

Beginning with the first reading by Whitehead, a key part to the point of the reading is that traditional media needs to continue to hold its journalistic integrity in the face of new media. As blogs and new media form everyday in the age of the Internet, they produce content that further advances the notion of sports journalism departments being “toy departments”. And this study shows that in the case of new media, it tends to be true. The study showed that in the case of Manny Ramirez, more than half of the coverage was by new media but the traditional media outlets in fact did a better job to cover the entire story about the impact of the event on baseball and its larger context. Whitehead finishes the reading by asserting that the traditional media should adhere to “traditional journalistic procedures” in the future, because if the traditional media continues to lose it’s integrity through writing neutral or non-problem oriented pieces, they will be following along the new media path. And according to this study, that path leads to being called the “toy department”.

Kevin Blackistone’s piece gets far more serious and adds much more spice into the debate about race in sports journalism and it’s role in professional sports. After citing data and numbers about the deficiencies of diversity in newsrooms early on in his writing, Blackistone heads directly towards speaking towards discrimination. Blackistone argues there is a massive problem forming because people of color aren’t in sports departments, and that there is a scope forming that puts black athletes in bad light and white athletes in better light. Blackistone uses several examples to explain this including LeGerratte Blount, Tiger Woods and Ben Roethlisberger. Additionally, Blackistone adds that black athletes are further disrespected by people referring to their first names such as Kemba or Cam, and goes on to compare Michael Vick’s scandal with Roethlisberger’s.

            Overall, Blackistone’s piece comes off very strongly that to this day people of color are still being wronged in the realm of sports. Both writers though speak to concerns that are rapidly approaching on the horizon of the future of sports journalism.
           For my research paper assignment, I was planning on talking about the Red Sox game after the Boston Bombings and David Ortiz’s speech. The event brought sports fans together and well as provided an uplift from the tragedy. Additionally, it helps provide a history of the event with the speech being a memorable part of a sad time in the city of Boston.