Media Influence On Sport Essay, Research Paper

When communication is spread not just between two individuals but rather between

tens of millions of people it is known as mass media. Mass media is known as the

central nervous system of society. "Mass media has many different purposes,

such as providing information, entertaining, persuading and also by carrying a

vague general function of culture to millions of people."(Frederick 18). In

order for mass media to exist, there must be an audience. Today’s society is

very selective; each receiver reacts differently through his or her own

experience and orientation according to mass media. Therefore, mass media exists

in many different forms such as magazines, television, newspapers, internet,

motion pictures, and even plays. Some examples of these forms of mass media are

cosmopolitan magazine for young modern women and TSN television network for

sports fans. With such extreme varieties of mass media existing in today’s

societies there are three major constraints that seem to have an impressionable

impact. These constraints can keep mass media very restricted. The major

constraint of mass media is competition. Each form of mass media wants to be the

one to target the audience, so therefore competition between mass media is very

strong, because capturing the inside of the sports world is critical. Apart from

the competition among the various forms of media there is also competition among

each form of the media example Fox network competes with all television networks

for a market share of the audience. Network companies such as Fox buy the

contracts to show American football games for millions of dollars, which they in

turn make their money back through companies wanting to advertize on their

network during these football games. The audience Fox attracts by showing these

games also provides an audience for companies wanting to advertise their

products and provides potential customers for their products. This life cycle

exists in all forms of media apart from just television, newspapers try to cover

the best stories in all areas of life from tradegy to sports and entertainment.

From a sociological stand point in today’s society sex and violence attracts

audiences. By examining the internet, which is the newest form of mass media

internet companies that provide the most outrageous websites with sex and

violence are the most watched websites. Media Companies compete with each other

on those levels by looking at what attracts the most attention and trying to

provide it. Although the audience are the ones who decide what information is

important and this decides what groups of mass media get the most attention the

influence of the media in today’s world really guides them in helping them make

that decision without their actual knowledge. If your story isn’t important to

the audience then your media is taking up space, so therefore you either have to

produce what the audience wants or you will not be able to survive in the

competitive world of mass media. In order to survive in society you must offer

the general public information they are interested in. Money also puts

constraints on what an individual gets to know. If a person can’t afford to buy

a television that is restricting them on the knowledge that they are able to

consume. Also, companies run on budget plans, and if there is no money in the

budget, they are unable to provide information to a society. For every story

that is produced, or every television commercial aired that could have been many

more, to follow. But with limited money in the budget plans, an audience’s view

also becomes very limited, because if the media doesn’t have the money to

produce the information that is information that a society loses out on. Time is

also another constraint because is doesn’t make a difference on the amount of

media there is, there will only be twenty four hours in each day and not all a

person’s time can be devoted to the effects of mass media. With the

consideration of all these constraints this may create many difficulties for

mass media, these difficulties will have a reflection on society as well. In

media these constraints are known as noise. "All media within each other

create noise, but with all the conflicting views, within lies a pattern, that

shows some element of truth." (Frederick 10). The purpose of this paper is

to state how mass media influences sport. The point that is being made in this

paper is to show how mass media influences society, and how it influences sports

within a society. To show how sport influences society, the game of basketball

will be used. Mass media is a reflection of society. "Mass media are

essential agents of social change, and the specific kind of social change they

are expected to help accomplish in the transition to new customs and practices,

and in some cases, to different social relationships." (D’seuza 27). Also

agents of social control exist. As a result of all these alterations a

significant change in an individuals attitudes, beliefs, skills and social norms

may result. Before the existence of radio, mass media were barely existent

except in print. But with all the developments in technology mass media

continually progresses, in many different directions. Different individuals are

selective in the way that they let mass media influence their lives. For

example, if a person decides to read a book they are getting to determine what

aspects of the mass media they consume. "Books are the most individual of

mass media." (Frederick 156). But when a person watches television it is

not as personal as reading a book, television is built into society. "

Television’s commercial and entertainment emphasis both reflect and affect the

hedonistic and acquisitive nature of contemporary America." (Frederick

264). With the constant production of commercials and varying types of

entertainment there seems to rising controversy throughout society. Mass media

has many positive effects on many people, in countries such as India, mass media

had made a tremendous change. People in rural communities are now able to

communicate back and forth, children of this country are now able to obtain and

expand on their education, there are continuous improvements in their health

care system and even modern agricultural techniques are being developed. These

results of the mass media in India have had many positive effects on their

society. But not everybody agrees that mass media has had a positive effect,

some believe that it has damaged societies beyond repair. Since mass media has

such an overwhelming influence on society, it may end up shaping the way and

individual thinks. A good example of this is through advertising. "It is

advertising, by large, that supports the United States’ pervasive and

extraordinary diverse mass media system. Advertising major focus is the better

you display a commodity the more of the commodity you sell. The private sector

gives the advertising industry the money to sell their products, and the company

that offers the most capital is the one who gets their product aired. This is

where one of our major constraints, known as, competition comes into play.

Whatever company holds the most capital decides what we as a society get to

consume. Advertisers will say that they produce what the consumer demands but on

the other hand they are putting many limits on what we get to consume. With the

constant growth of mass media many individuals have been offered tremendous

opportunities. This paper will use the influences of mass media in the world of

sports, too show examples of these opportunities. Both the positive and negative

effects of the mass media will be outlined. The first reported Sports Coverage

appeared on May 5 1733. Reporters used to report on the philosophy. Electronic

media: (i.e. type written stories), started to be used in 1850. In the 1920’s

radio stations started to broadcast sporting events live. Experimental

Television broadcast where started in the 1950’s. Sports Illustrated prints an

average of three million copies per week. "Sport has become an influential

part of the entertainment industry, the mass media (particularly television)

have become intimately involved in the growth, production, and control of modern

sports." ( McPherson 146). "The term mass media provides information

describes the process that allows people to communicate rapidly and

simultaneously with a large percentage of the population." ( McPherson

146). In our society sports are a major part of a new mass culture, as well as

popular music, movies and television shows. Most people watch sports through the

television. People also follow sport thought magazines and radio. From watching

the television programs and reading the reports our society learns to love

and/or hate the sports icons in our world. The media does not seem to hold

anything back. Media coverage is not just limited to professional sports. They

cover amateur sports as well. These sports are covered at a local, provincial

and national level. Coverage is from anywhere from little league to college

sports. We as a society like to know all the information about our sports

heroes. The mass media is more then willing to provide us with this information.

Sometimes they provide more information then most of us want to know. The

boundaries of people’s personal privacy are denied. They find out the history,

family background, current lifestyle etc. of these players. There are not to

many other people in our society that this happens to. These players most feel

that there privacy is being invaded almost all of the time. This is not just

isolated to sports figures, politicians and key public figures are in the

spotlight as well. Most major sports clubs pay reporters to report on their

teams. By doing this it protects them so that the reports will report on the

positive aspects of their teams. The negative aspects are toned down to some

extent. They need to provide some negative aspects because if they didn’t they

then a lot of people may lose interest. An example of this is that you don’t see

as many highlight reels of home runs anymore. They want to promote the game as

more of technecical product The media chooses what they report or do not report

they enhance certain act and downplay others. People perceive the media as just

report in the facts. In actuality they are report a narrated story that someone

has composed. As Alan and John Clarke said: "It selects between sports for

those which make "good television", and it selects within a particular

event, it highlights aspects for the viewers. This selective highlighting is not

"natural or inevitable – it is based on certain criteria, certain media

assumptions about what is ‘good television." But the media not only select

they also provide us with definitions of what has been selected. They interpret

events for us, provide us with frameworks of meaning in which to make sense of

the event. To put it simply, television does not merely consist of pictures, but

also involves a commentary on the pictures-a commentary which explains to us

what we are seeing …these selections are socially constructed-they involve

decisions about what to reveal to the viewers. The presentation of sport thought

the media involves an active process of re-presentation: what we see is not the

event, but the event transformed into something else-a media event." (

Eitzen 98-99). Sports media has it’s own language. This language is both

ethnically and gender focused. When people are reporting sports events they

report differently male then female players, black then white players, just for

some examples. Most white players receive performance; related comments directed

towards them. On the other hand black players receive negative comments and also

you also hear negative comments about their level of play. "White players

received more attention in replays and more excuses for mistakes (e.g., he is

playing with an injury)" (McPherson 155). While a black player they might

say doesn’t possess the skills and that is way they couldn’t compete. The media

portray women in the sports society as not being the equal to men. More

attention is focused on male sporting events. If an advertiser is going to fund

a female basketball game and or a male basketball game then the money would be

mainly directed the towards the men’s game. The advertiser has to go to the

event that is going get the most viewers. "If women are portrayed less

frequently than their participation merits and if stereotypical or negative

themes are stressed when women are included, this may have an impact on the

socialization of young girls’ and boy’ view of women’s sport."(McPherson

155). If we do not promote young girls to follow their dreams, not only in sport

but: in every part of life then they may be missing out on something. When we do

this it may discourage young girls to play sports. Because for so many years our

society has told women and girls that they could not play sports or at least

could not play them as well as men. This theory has been disproved over the

years. The media is starting to release this and they are now focusing more time

then they did to women’s sport. They are televising women’s basketball, tennis,

golf, etc. more often. The part that still needs to be focused on again is the

commentary. People would suggest that all commentary is equal i.e., black and

white athletes as discussed earlier. Commentators tend to portray female

athletes as the lesser/weaker of the two genders. In women’s basketball gender

is marked both verbally and graphically. The NCAA final four is a prime example;

the men’s final is known as and presented to us by the media as "NCAA FINAL

FOUR". Where as the women’s final four is presented to us by the media as

"NCAA Women’s Championship". In actuality they are both the final four

but the media has created "NCAA FINAL FOUR". This (the men’s final

four) is the most viewed college tournament of the year. If they differentiate

them then they can focus on the markets they want to. The men’s championship

they are going to focus mainly on males 18 to 22 years of age. This way they can

gear their advertising accordingly. The media control sport in the fact that the

teams and organizations depend on the media in order for them to survive

financially. During major sporting events changes are made to appeal to the

television audiences, some of these changes are; sudden death games, scheduling

evening games, broadcasters to entertain instead of just report facts, TV time

outs, more media representative at Olympics then competitors. Sponsorship in the

sports world is huge, Companies pay unbelievable amounts of money to teams as

well as to players to promote their products. These companies may choose a

player as a child and follow their career to help boost their sales in their

products. The media helps create a link between the players or athletes and

their audience by showcasing these athletes in programs even outside their

playing arenas. The players are presented as gods or icons to the audience which

makes these sporting events even more popular. Promoters use marketing ploys

"like to be best you need to wear what the best wears". Children then

go to their parents and express the desire for these items. The mass media are

the main sources of capital for sports teams, college as well as professional.

They dictate when and where games are going to be played and also decide which

teams are going to receive the most attention by the audience who are the

viewers. It is not by chance that "Monday Night Football" is on at

that particular time because . This gives the promoter the choice to focus on

their niche market. I’m sure the players don’t want to play on Monday night at

9:00pm. If you are a promoter it doesn’t matter to you, you go where the money

is. In a sense this make the players puppets for the promoters. Careers of

players can also be affected by the mass media. Dennis Rodman would not be the

person he is today if the mass media didn’t dive into every facet of his life.

He loves the show and the media promotes his performance on and off the court to

the public. Basketball was invented as a recreational sport, but now considered

a universal sport. The introduction of this sport to the rest of the world

started in the late nineteenth century as a form of recreation. Universities

began incorporating this new recreational game into their sporting activities

and were considered a male oriented sport. Women were not recognized at the time

as basketball players even if they had an interest in the sport. Throughout the

years basketball was transformed from a recreational sport into competitive

sport and the players competed for a prize which in its early existence was a

trophy or medal. The media in all forms such as television, radio, Internet and

newspapers never took an interest in the sport until the end of world war two.

At the time people’s interest in the sport was growing rapidly mainly because of

the transformation of the sport from a recreational sport to a competitive

sport. Universities and private businessmen who spotted the potential success of

the sport invested their capital in building stadiums for athletes of the sport

to compete. In the early 1950’s professional leagues were starting to develop

across the United States as more private business men realized profits in

relative terms meaning essentially the profits made were considered great in

that time period. At the time the main form of media in households across the

United States was the radio and newspaper few households had televisions and

live coverage of games were seen by a few. The rules and the format of the game

had to be changed to make the game more interesting to fans of the sport and

many sports historians contribute basketball transformation over the years to

the media involvement. Media coverage of sporting events such as basketball grew

dramatically as more and more households had both radios and televisions. In

fact the television a medium contributed the most to the transformation of

basketball. The media has shaped the public’s opinion on basketball and through

the media people seem to have a more profound interest in the sport of

basketball. In the early years of basketball’s introduction to the western world

the average age for men to participate in the sport was 17 years old now boys

and girls start from the early age of 7 years old. The participation level in

the sport was heavily influenced by the media, the sport which was label a male

sport has now seen a drastic increase in women participation over the years due

mainly to media attention and coverage. In the 1950’s and 1960’s athletes

competing in the professional leagues of basketball did not even make enough

money sometimes to support themselves and had to find other jobs part time to

generate a better source of income. The main mental frame of mind of athletes in

that sport in the 1950’s was winning. Today with media coverage and the average

life span of a players career increasing most players in their early years try

to make money through endosments and large contract deals and do not concentrate

on the main goal of a competitive sport which is winning until the later stages

of the career when money no longer becomes an issue. In the NBA, media coverage

has increased the capacity of "fans" for teams mainly due to the fact

that the invention of television and other technological advancements which

attempts to bring the games and players into the households. People no longer

have to attend games to be considered a fan of the sport or cheer their favorite

team or player. Fans of the sport can enjoy the entertainment of a basketball

game in the pleasure of their home which in sense could be considered better

than actually going to the game live because it is much cheaper than going to

the game. Media coverage of basketball extends further than just the NBA to high

school, NCAA (collegiate basketball) and both sexes male and female are

showcased nowadays, although basketball was considered a male sport. The media

attention on women’s basketball has actually increased women participation in

basketball and could be considered the main contributor to the expansion of

women’s basketball although women actually fought against sexism in basketball

the media really helped their expansion efforts. The media has really expanded

the game of basketball to international arenas and countries have now

established their own leagues, which are actually competitive with American

leagues such as the NBA and CBA. Media in all forms has created such an audience

for the sport of basketball countries with established leagues compete for

players with the NBA although they probably don’t get the best players as yet

but the growth of these leagues show the potential to reach the status of the

NBA some day. The media could take full responsibility of creating the growth of

basketball in the world, most schools and government programs that provide

recreation for children and adults build basketball courts, which shows the

growth of the sport, which is as a direct result of media, attention. To really

evaluate the effects of the media in sport focusing on basketball the positive

and negative aspects should be analyzed. Some of the positive and negative

aspects of the media on the sport of basketball are mentioned below. POSITIVE

effects of the Media 1. The media has given the sport exposure to a much larger

audience than just the people in attendance at the games. This means people who

like to watch the sport but can’t afford to go to the games live can watch it in

their home or listen or read the results of the game in newspapers or on the

Internet which is also an extension of the media. 2. Media attention on the

sport has created such a financial market for the sport universities and high

schools have basketball programs which gives children who excel in the sport and

cannot afford post secondary education a chance to attend university and a

possible career in the sport. Athletes are now recognized for their abilities

and are given scholarships and grants to attend university, which is a result of

the media giving exposure to the sport. 3. The media has expanded the women’s

equality struggles into the sport of basketball by giving women exposure in the

sport as actual athletes and not their traditional roles women were thought of

as the cheerleaders of the sport. Girls growing up can now identify with female

athletes in basketball as role models and encourages them to participate in the

sport. 4. The media caused players of the sport particularly on a professional

and collegiate level to have discipline and morals mainly because of the

exposure the media gives these players to "fans" which causes them to

be considered role models. 5. Basketball’s growth on a financial aspect is a

direct result of the media, in the past the salaries of athletes in the

professional leagues are non comparative with the salaries of the athletes

today, because the media provides a larger audience which provides revenue to

teams and players get a share of this new wealth. 6. Basketball players are now

seen as role models through the media and people try imitating their basketball

heroes to the extent players with charismatic personalities and excellent

basketball skills are paid to endorse products. Such basketball players such as

Michael Jordan, Shaquille O’Neal and Grant Hill to name a few are seen as heroes

to people and given contracts to endorse products. NEGATIVE effects of the Media

1. The media attention on players’ lives goes beyond the basketball court and

goes into their private lives which gives players no privacy. The media forces

athletes to live as almost a saint status and the media scrutinizes their every

move. Professional athletes have limited public access because they are not

considered normal citizens. Recently Kareem Abdul Jabbar was arrested for

smoking marijuana while driving and the media exposed such a private aspect of

his life to the general public. Michael Jordan was accused of having a gambling

problem because he went to a casino and lost 2 million dollars which is a lot to

an average person but pocket change to him. 2. Basketball players especially on

the professional level are considered above the law as a direct result of the

media because their status puts them into a different category than the general

public. When Latrell Sprewell choked his coach his case was treated differently

than a normal person doing that same crime his punishment was much less severe

than a normal person. There are other positive and negative effects of the media

on basketball but it is actually worth noting the growth success of the sport is

a result of the media attention it has received in the past and present. The

media is a positive influence on sport in general and some negative effects must

be present since nothing in the world is perfect without any side effects or

negative effects.

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