FREE ESSAY ON INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIA ON SPORT

INFLUENCE OF MASS MEDIA ON SPORT

Influences of Mass Media in Sport
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.