Journalists vs Athletes: The Capability to Influence Opinions
What is the role of a fairer media and what is the point of gatekeeping journalists and the media?
Journalists vs athletes.
News vs opinion.
Perhaps even fact vs judgement. There has always been a power struggle between our nation’s media and that of its people. A constant divide of opinions that battle between assertion and belief.
With news constantly developing within the landscape of digital media, are those in power influencing the nation’s world view by curating narratives or do the people have the power to think critically and challenge the status quo presented by the press?
Modern day sports journalism
Sports journalism is perhaps one of the most commercial and consumed forms of journalism in modern media. Although sports journalism is often labelled as ‘back of the book’ or ‘soft’ journalism, it is its ability to deliver readers, particularly young male readers, that made it such a crucial and integral part of the commercial success of many newspapers.
While sports journalism in newspapers attracts an entire audience of young male sports fans, the future of journalism is evolving and adapting to the digital age.
The digital age is leaving newspapers behind and creating more engaging and provoking sports news available to the masses. This creates tensions between journalists and athletes as they report on sports news and often ‘invent’ stories using clickbait techniques that paint athletes in negative light.
Journalists are gatekeepers and have the power to influence the masses
Sports journalism, much like all forms of journalism, has the power to influence opinion. Gatekeeping is the process through which information is filtered for dissemination and this ability to frame, position and manipulate news gives power and responsibility to journalists.
Gatekeepers ultimately curate and administer content and information that is published to the masses, therefore they dictate and regulate the world view of the public (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009).
Social media makes these interactions quick and efficient, with users being able to like, comment and share effortlessly. However, this means that due to shortening attention spans some articles may be engaged with entirely through a headline or through clickbait. A misleading headline that negatively portrays an athlete may be shared and taken out of context, without the depth and understanding of the article. Essentially, this makes every social media user a gatekeeper of information — especially when information can be shared and altered to fit a certain agenda (Shoemaker and Voss, 2009).
Sports journalists’ power to influence and manipulate
Journalists manage their responsibility for fair and unbiased reporting with a variety of approaches, often highlighting important news and creating engaging coverage. However, in many high-profile cases from high-profile news outlets, the media are dishonestly and immorally targeting athletes with discrimination and prejudice.
Athletes who are of ethnic minority are targeted by the media who create unfair and unjust speculation to support and construct a narrative controlled by a white, male dominated industry.
Coverage, even unknowingly, can incite racism and can reinforce racist, homophobic and discriminatory beliefs. Even with campaigns like Kick It Out and Rainbow Laces that combat these beliefs, the fact that discriminatory publications still exist and are still being published in national capacity shows that prejudice in the media is deeply rooted and is a part of a much bigger problem.
Raheem Sterling vs the Media
England international and Manchester City footballer Raheem Sterling, despite his extraordinary and record-breaking achievements, has faced unfair treatment and criticism from the media.
News anchoring has framed Raheem Sterling negatively and as a result has made him subject of abuse from dishonest and antagonistic reporting.
An example below shows The Sun and the Daily Mirror, who have both been previously accused of ‘fuelling racism’, reporting on Sterling’s life outside of football which covertly incites racism.
Raheem Sterling has since took to social media to defend himself, saying this on his Instagram:
“This young black kid is looked at in a bad light. Which helps fuel racism an aggressive behaviour, so for all the news papers that don’t understand why people are racist in this day and age all i have to say is have a second thought about fair publicity an give all players an equal chance.” (Raheem Sterling on Instagram)
The Sun have since defended themselves, with chief sports writer Dave Kidd stating that; “the suggestion is ridiculous and offensive — and the idea it inspired racists is baseless. His media mates should engage their brains before dishing out accusations without a shred of evidence.”
The statement from The Sun was met with anger and retaliation from fans and players in support of Sterling. “Multiple studies show that black athletes are portrayed in the media as self-centered, selfish and arrogant, which matches up directly with the coverage of Sterling in the United Kingdom over the past few years.”
This is, however, a part of a much bigger problem which is deeply rooted in the media and in the beliefs of the public.
Male sports have been identified as “promoters of stereotypical and divisive descriptions of black athletes” which are “amplified through the 24/7 sports media landscape.”
Marcus Rashford MBE vs the Media
The treatment of Raheem Sterling isn’t just an anomaly in the media’s portrayal of black athletes. The media have also used their platform to abuse and incite racism towards England international and Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford MBE.
Below shows an example from the same publication, the Daily Mail, producing two stories from successful footballers and campaigners but altering the framing to incite racism of one and to protect and elevate the other. It won’t take a wild assumption to guess who’s on which side of the story.
Only after Rashford’s overwhelming support from the public after his campaigns to feed starving children in the UK has the media since taken the side of a young and successful black athlete.
Again, this just shows the disingenuous nature of the media and the fact that they will shamelessly switch sides to fit the agenda of their audience.
It is often argued that these stories are ‘just about footballers, not about race’ but there is ample evidence that shows the media framing and positioning players of colour differently and negatively, using racist semantics and rhetorics.
This satirical piece sums the situation nicely:
What are sports journalists and what are their responsibilities?
Sports journalism “focuses on informing sports news and events” and includes “interviewing players and coaches, reporting game statistics, analyzing and commenting on the game and much more. Sports journalists work in all media, including print media, television broadcasting, and the internet.”
Until now, sports and entertainment journalism was being belittled by other aspects of the field for not covering serious problems. However, the need for sports coverage has grown as the sports world has grown in influence, power and wealth. — (K. Tutor., 2019)
The role of a fairer media
Journalists are constantly faced with the challenges of ‘media ethics’, ‘objectivity’ and ‘journalistic professionalism’ in a contemporary and democratic society. The social responsibility of journalists is important to reflect upon society but leads to the thesis “that journalism cannot always be fair since it cannot cope with the expectations of all groups and all aspects of public communication.”
“The news coverage is a result of individual constructions of reality and the result of a greater number of organizational and institutional impacts.” (K. D., Altmeppen, K., Arnold, & T., Kossler)
What is the point of gatekeeping journalism and do we still need it?
If anyone can be a journalist, what is the need for gatekeeping and safeguarding journalism?
There is need for gatekeeping journalists, especially due to the high consumption rates of clickbait, fake news and non-journalistic social media pages. This is because professional journalists need to assert control over news construction, as there needs to be a regulated system which audiences can access for educational and topical news (Groshek & Tandoc, 2016).
Gatekeeping is important to maintain a reflective and objective digital environment and as it is exposed to vulnerable and impressionable groups it needs to be regulated. There is a need for clear and honest reporting and it should be the role of the journalist and the editor to keep this in check.
I hope you enjoyed reading about my thoughts about the divide between journalists, athletes and the audience. I would love to hear your thoughts about the industry and the regulations set and if they’re enough to protect people like athletes and even to protect the public.
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