Previous Award Winning & KSU Media Journal Certified Quantitive Study Completed by Myself

The Importance of Balanced Coverage of Women Athletes in American Mass Media

Patrick Meon Newkirk

Kennesaw State University??

????????????????????????????An Analysis Regarding Women Athletes in American Mass Media?

????????????American Mass Media has been known to devalue and under-represent women athletes for years, but recently many various movements have deconstructed how deeply rooted American Mass Media’s attitudes have been towards its greatest counterparts, women athletes. As a result of these ineradicable attitudes, dialogues and conversations, solutions and plans about ways to deconstruct and change such set systems in American Media Culture are warranted. Previous studies analyzing media coverage of women’s sports have shown that the language being used to describe female athletes can be sexist and even minimizing for example, these athletes’ accomplishments on even the world’s biggest stage (e.g., Macarthur, Angelini, Billings, & Smith, 2016; Poniatowski & Hardin 2012). Woman’s second place as depicted in family scenarios, by the feminine touch and the license to withdraw from the main activity portrayed as well as the ritualization of woman’s subordination is a major form of this indoctrination (Goffman, 1979).?

????????????Being that technology has advanced so greatly in the past fifty years, the average person would think that with such advancements would come such things as: fair pay, equal rights, equal coverage, safe and effective commentary, but for women, the story has been quite the opposite. Kane (2003) argues that the media actively works to portray woman in a perpetrating false narrative in sports from sexist ways that take away from their athleticism to dehumanizing these women through commentary. Just one example of how technological changes in the media add more issues to women’s rights would be the ever-changing diaspora of commentary. Commentary has a significant influence on viewer, enjoyment and absorption, (Smith 2013; Owens & Bryant, 1998; Yoo, Lee??& Yeo, 2012) and based on the disposition theory, of sports spectatorship, commentary may increase or decrease the enjoyment of a televised sporting event (Zillman, Bryant & Sapolsky, 1989).?

????????????So should the main focus include the belief that technology makes the effects of detrimental sexism in media worse or that either way these attitudes will and have always existed? Sports media are a hegemonic domain; portrayals reflect males as athletes, and females as women first and athletes second. Bissel and Smith (2013) came to a conclusion in their research that even when women are dominant in their playing fields, media commentary stills reflect their status as women rather than athletes. So in short, technological advancements play a huge role however radios have been around for almost a century and whether or not sports coverages came on an iPhone or Floor based Record Player, sexism and misogynist attitudes would likely still exist. An online study of Violence from women who feel underrepresented by American Mass media by Smith, Myrick, Gantz, (2001) found a relationship in women athletes’ attitudes towards the media in regards to their accomplishments and how many resort to anger and violence in ways of coping with the constant devaluing and dehumanizing of the American Mass Media. Anger may be an apparent emotional response and a defining agent of how these women athletes are affected by the constant lowering and misrepresentation of their goals and their successes by American Media (Lazarus, 1991). Arguably, being that sports are such an important and everlasting topic of most American’s lives, male and females alike, the aim of my research is to draw upon certain misogynist travesties that exist in which the way the viewers and athletes are being shown to the world.?

Literature Review

In 2020, an examination was administered to disseminate how the American Mass Media portrays women athletes, which includes visibility, sexuality, and activism (Antunovic & Cooky, 2020). This article examined articulations of feminism in the context of athleticism activism and propped intentional examples of the re-centering of the role of a sportswomen by the American Mass Media(s) alike (Antunovic & Cooky, 2020). Drawing upon social media, official statements from athletes, and online media news coverage, this article use an analytical approach attuned to how feminism circulates in an economy of visibility, where certain feminisms become more visible than others, for misogynic reasonings, especially in the media (Antunoivc & Cooky, 2020). This examination benefits to this study because it discusses the true relationship of American Mass Media’s direct role and participation(s) in in the way women athletes are treated, viewed and groomed by their male counterparts regarding their freedoms of choice ranging from Activism to their sports successes itself.?

????????????In regards to male and female sports counterparts and success, a 2015 article discussed the importance of change in the media and how there are unprecedented ways that predisposed representations in American media sources, rhetorically construct identities for individual sportswomen and women in Athletics and their success (Breen, Courtney, McGing & MCMeanamin, 2020). This article locates the remarkable influence of American Mass Media and the explosive expansion of the entertainment business that continues to make a drastic impact on the proliferation of Women in sports and their perception within various ‘groomed’ ideological creations (Breen et al., 2020). Breen et al., (2020), draws upon constraints that once kept women from areas perceived as a “man’s territory” and are now being broken down and restructured to give opportunities that were not present a decade ago but strikingly not within American Mass Media. These researchers examined how the constant behaviors of the media are important in the improving and or bewildering of women athletes that range in multiple spectrums (Breen, et al., 2020). The conclusions of this discussion are important to the study because it connects the relationships between the media and women athletes, and how there are dire results from violence, lack of acceptance and or silenced activism(s) from these sportswomen by a supposedly equal ‘media.’

In relation to the previous study’s talk about silenced activism, a 2003 study was conducted that expands on the previous work concerning media coverage of intercollegiate women athletics (Cunningham & Sagas, in-press; Sagas et al., 2000; Shifflett & Revelle, 1994; Wann et al., 1998) by examining the Internet coverage of men and women competing in a sport considered to possess low brand equity at the intercollegiate levels. This study aimed to evoke and to expand on previous research (Cunningham & Sagas, 2000; Sagas et al., 2000; Wann et al., 1998) while examining the amount of available coverage for men and women in Mass Media in regards to a sport considered to have low brand equity. Taken together, it appears that the inequitable coverage of women's sport in the context of inter- collegiate athletics is often falsely related to financial considerations of the very sports themselves (Cunningham, 2003). The findings of this discussion are important to this study because it not only establishes that even with lack of media coverage women are still less likely to be displayed, but it tackles the ways in which American Mass Media continues to do these acts in such a technologically advanced world, in which people can researched and bring about change.?

As one of the most covered international sport competitions, the Summer Olympic Games provide an interesting database for studies investigating differences in journalistic treatment according to an athletes' sex (DeLorme, 2014). The coverage of the Summer Olympic Games is no exception to these observable quantitative biases of the American Mass Media (e.g., Daddario, Higgs & Weiller, & Jones, 2014).??In the last two decades, the media coverage of sport in relation to the participants' sex has been extensively analyzed (Delorme, 2014), as it pertains to scientific literature and these results of these studies seem consistent in that female athletes would be systematically underrepresented in sports media coverage, i.e. whether in newspaper articles. The inherent cultural and structural specificities of each country (e.g., predominance of male hegemony) are able to significantly influence the media coverage of sports according to athletes' sex (Delorme, 2014). This research and findings are important to the study because it draws upon even the biggest sports broadcast arguably of all cultures worldwide, isn’t exempt from misogynistic bias towards women athletes. So much so that the findings indicate that not only is this issue and American Mass Media issues but seemingly, an international issue as well, prompting more future quantitative research.?

While the previous study focused on the coverage of Sportswomen in some of the biggest sports events of American Mass Media, a study published in 2005 breaks down the attitudes and experiences of these women who feel that their accomplishments are being overlooked and constantly overshadowed by a disproportionate media using terms like: anxiety, violence, depression and Mental Health (Hardin & Shain, 2005). Women with careers in. sports ranging from athletics to sports anchors, seem to accept discrimination and harassment as "par for the course,” as something that they must endure as they go about their job duties (Hardin & Shain, 2005). Findings and results of this study found that some of the experiences of these women are never talked about out of fear and or anxiety of losing their jobs and or their positionings in. sports, alike (Hardin & Shain, 2005). Further results of this research indicate that ‘most’ women opt out of sports and sports-based media careers because of their limited career potential and?quality of life, not because of their day-to-day job experiences (Hardin & Shain, 2005). Concluding results offer a material challenge to the liberal feminist notion that more women in sports media will automatically lead to better coverage of female sports because media itself will become more balanced ethically, (Hardin & Shain, 2005). This analysis connects with the study by showing that the constant treatment of these women, and or harassments done by the Media upon them, on some levels, are so damaging that these sportswomen often times suffer from mental health issues and financial and economic issues.

The inclusion of women in sports media comes into acute focus when evaluating the enormity of the business (Harris, 2013). This discussion conducts a survey that examines the way in which the sporting industry (based on American Mass Media,) seems to be a prodigious conglomerate encompassing many of the largest organizations in the world like: The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN), Fox Sports West, Nike, and Turner Network Television (TNT) which are some of the major players in the sporting industry. Findings of this survey and conclusions of this study, found that although women now comprise a considerable segment of the sporting industry, as participants or fans, their representation in sports media does not reflect this shift and interestingly, women’s sports constitute only 6% to 8% of total sports reporting (Harris, 2013). One main reason that women continue to receive such a lack of available coverage is stated by Messner (1988) who states that the sports receiving the most media coverage succeed in suggesting men’s dominance over women because of the inherent physical design of the male body. The findings of this study are applicable to the survey because it connects how deeps the ways of the American Mass Media truly goes. As a result, some of the networks who are not only taking place in these treatments of sportswomen but also aiding in them, are so large and visible that many major audiences can be manipulated and groomed.?

In 2015, an article was published that offers new insights into gender equality by demonstrating a recent, more positive shift in the media representation of women’s football in American Mass Media and how progressions surrounding this one particular sport continues to progress how these sportswomen of this particular sport, are signaling a hopeful new direction from existing research on this topic (Petty & Pope, 2015). Some of the purposes of this articles within the wider context of recent developments around women’s sport in America, suggest that we have entered a new age of media coverage of women’s football and women’s sport (Petty & Pope, 2015). As Wensing and Bruce (2003) argue, the conventional techniques used to report on women’s sports can be ‘bent’ during these more technological times more so than ever, especially with national identity overriding gender as the primary framing device in multiple medias. Further findings of this article even suggest that media representation is getting better because of the decentralizing attitudes towards representation of women who participate in sports simply because of their considering to be extra ‘feminine- appropriate’ (Hargreaves, 1994). The media reporting appears to celebrate the women’s teams’ achievements by drawing comparisons with the unsuccessful men’s football teams in this sports and Mass Media seems to give genuine reporting to these successful sportswomen (Petty & Pope, 2015). This article is important to this study because it ties almost all of the previous articles, including itself, to research, by showing that advancements in the treatment of women in sports could easily be achieved. In one of the main findings, this article analyzes how, by simply giving these sportswomen true and genuine coverage of their accomplishments eliminates 98% of other problems that sportswomen continue to face.?

????????????In a 2016?a study by (Smith, L. R., Myrick, J. G., & Gantz, W., 2016).?Study examines if enjoyment of positive changes in American Mass Media in and during sports viewing and coverage helps to further the positive changes that we see towards sportswomen in all spectrums. This study’s findings help create the notion that Broadcast commentary has also been shown to influence viewer perceptions (Weiller, Higgs, & Greenleaf, 2004).??Findings in this study basically describe a world in American Mass Media of equal opportunity, viewership, ownership and coverage of, women athletes (Gantz, et al., 2019). Indications of how the media continues to push forward the ball range in media commentary, viewership, virtual and or in person rallies of women athletes and activism as a whole (Gantz, et al., 2019). These findings are important to this study because they show a world in which the impossible is possible and can happen in American Mass media. Even with such powerful institutions, even those that are more powerful than those previously mentioned in the article by Kami Harris, “Gender Stereotypes, Gender Segregation, and Credibility: Crossing the Lines in Sports Media,”?existing and dominating the nature of American media through exploration and dominion.

Summary

????????????As we have viewed from the previous articles, their findings and results, women are subjected to various inhumane treatments in sports as it to pertains to their athleticism and or job titles and American Mass Media. These articles have ritualistic lessons on what has been going on in American Mass Media for the past half century, and where we potentially will go if we take the positive route and where we will go if we take the negative route. Positive route being, allowing equal representations of women these in Media and the negative route being continuing to allow a dominion by the powers that be, over American Mass Media that continue to and create and uphold misogynistic attitudes towards women athletes. What are the ways in Which women are being treated in Media? How has the Media categorized women athletes and women sports casters? As result of many positives subjectives, ethics and or ways in which American Mass Media continues to prevail in women athletes’ rights, what does this mean for women athletes? All of the provided research questions lay the foundation through quantitative research and the study as to how these women athletes have been a force to reckon with as it pertains to mass media. Accommodations continue to be made but articles like the?2016study by (Smith, L. R., Myrick, J. G., & Gantz, W., 2019), quantitative data shows that there are still much more progressions that American Mass Media must make before there is even a fair conversation of equal media coverage for sportsmen and sportswomen.??

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????Theoretical Framework?

????????????Cultivation theory is the theory that will be used to guide this study as it will help to show the ways in which images that are constantly shown and readily available to the masses can construct and create a reality that could either be real or not real at all. In this case the people being affected by this theory would of course be the women athletes, but this theory also digresses the role of the American Mass media and how these institutions very actions towards this particular group, continues to aid in the furthering of a certain cultivation of what it means to be a female athlete in today’s times. My research questions all have a connection with this theory because it explains how they are pivotal to the meaning of the study: Women in Media. As a result of this theory there are many ways that we can move forward as it is stated through the theory with resolutions ranging in interviews, surveys and in person questionaries about this topic. Lastly, with the amount of scholarly conducted scientific and or quantitative research past and present, this theory sets the ground for tests of data that says whether or not we are truly moving in the ‘positive direction.’

Methodology

Participants

????????????The sample size of this research study is a control group of 25 subjects. Majority of these stigma/ are mid aged female athletes with the acceptation of two outliers ranging in older age than the average age of 23. The ratio of this group to men is 4:0, being that this study focuses primarily on women athletes. All participants in conundrum identify with being mistreated or misrepresented by American Mass Media at some point in their professional or student athletic careers. 2 out of 4 were negatively affected by this representation stimulating other issues. These participants were selected based on their sex as an athlete and whether or not they had any representation or have been affected by misrepresentation in American Mass Media as it pertains to sports.?

Materials

????????????For this study, participants were asked to have access to the internet via phone, tablet or laptop. Survey Monkey, a popular American survey machine, was used to conduct the data collection and subject analysis. The data was then collected by the researcher and then decentralized.

Procedure

????????????Prior to the interview, each of the participants were asked to complete a non-disclosure form in agreement with the specifications of the study. Upon completing the form, the subjects were then able to complete the online survey while responded to the questionnaire. The first question among five, asked if any of the subjects have had a positive or negative experience with representation and American Mass Media. The second question used a Likert scale to ask the participants to describe the intensity of their mental well-being as an athlete and being represented in American Mass Media. The third question used a Dichotomous scale to ask whether or not the subjects felt that their representation vs. male counterparts were fair in American Mass Media. The fourth question used a sematic differential scale to ask if any of the women suffered from anxiety or mental health disorders stimmed from their representation in all forms of American Mass Media. The fifth question used a 5 Point Likert scale to ask subjects if they have hope that American Mass Media will change for the better in the next 50 years.?

Results

Sample Characteristics?

Twenty-five women athletes completed a 5-question survey on the SurveyMonkey tool measuring the tenacity of their attitudes towards Women athletes’ portrayal in American Mass Media, past and present. One question of the study was removed due incompetence. Of the Athletes in this sample, 72% were 18-21 and 21% were between 21-50. Three fourths of the sample lived in on or off campus housing and two thirds were married, with families and were retired non-professional sports athletes. Three fifths of the sample currently play sports at a non-professional level (i.e., College, or Grade-school) while one third of the population currently plays professional sports or is a retired professional Athlete. 15% were Black, 13 % were Caucasian and 16 % were Latino and Asian descents. 100% of the surveys were conducted in the Spring of 2021 whilst during the Covid-19 worldwide pandemic. The study participants were split into even groups of two listed as Group A who were younger female athletes and Group B which were older female athletes. The mean age of all of the subjects were 23.4 years of age. As it relates to the surveys, the data collected that followed the interviews were used to distinctively construct a narrative of the results.??

Numerical Results

For this research study, a two-sample T-test (independent T-Test) was used to test the 5-question survey which dismantled what the attitudes of the women athletes of both groups were. The results yielded mainly similarities in both groups of women athletes in finding that both groups, along with their characteristic that make them up, have had similar experiences with American Mass Media and feel that their counterparts may receive better treatment than themselves. A total of 25 athletes (Group A & Group B) completed the online survey. The ages of the participants ranged from 18-50 with a mean age of 21.2, SD = 4.21, with a Range of 18-50, and Mode = 18, N = 21. In total, there were 5 older women (approximately 20%) labeled as group b who completed the online survey. Group B had a mean age of 20, SD = 2.9, Range of 8, and Mode = 19. Also, a total of 22 women (approximately 88%) Group A participated in the survey with a mean age of 21, SD = 4.2, Range of 17, and Mode = 20. From the online survey, 17 participants were athletes who currently played at sports currently at a grade school, high school (approximately 4.25 %) and live near or on the headquarters. This stigma also was either single, Caucasian, African American, Latino or of Asian descent. On the other hand, 8 were either middled aged or older women athletes (approximately 2%) of participants, who were married with families and retired from playing all sports professional or non-professional. Undergraduate students had a mean participation of 19.5, SD = 1.5, Range of 5 and Mode =19. Group A had a mean participation of 21.33, SD = 3.2, Range of 12 and Mode = 21. Roughly 6 of women who participated in the survey who were younger than 20. The two-sample test revealed that women athletes in Group A < 20 were more likely to vote in similarity with Group B 20 <.??

The research study revealed that Group A participants < 20 (p = .215) were greatly less likely in voting in favor of questions that included positive views pertaining to their treatment and American Mass Media. On the contrary another two sample T-test was conducted to highlight the different attitudes among younger women and older women athletes in which as a result, (p = 0.234) as consensus older women were more likely to vote in favor of American Mass Media portrayal as a collective vs. individually. All in all, this survey found that Group A minority women > 20 were to vote not in favor of American Mass Media portrayal due to their human characteristics in society and or expressions?(SD = 3.2 and M =18)?than Group B women not in favor?due to class, sexism and or personal beliefs (SD = 2.9 and M 20.6) (i.e., sadness, anxiety, dissatisfaction, anger) highlighting racism as being a dominant factor as well. In summary, the 4 most significant motivators for both groups of women athletes were against American Mass Media portrayal past and present were anger: race, anxiety, class, and age. However, on the contrary women athletes from both groups > 20 who still played sports of some sort made up less than 5% of the findings that believe American Mass Media portrayal of them was somewhat positive but could be better. As a result, both group’s voting in favor of the negative aspects of their portrayal and American Mass Media, ushered in new ideas and non-orthodox standard beliefs at it rates the data recorded.?

Questionnaire Results and Findings??

For question one, “have you had a positive or negative experience with representation and American Mass Media,” 100% of the sample from both groups answered yes to having any form of representation in American Mass Media. For question two, “describe the intensity of your mental well-being as an athlete and being represented in American Mass Media,” within Group A, 23% of the women athletes were extreme in their beliefs, while 74% were in the middle of the Likert scale. On the same token, Group B answered 55% answered ‘greatly,’ another case of extreme solidarity in their beliefs, while 40% were more likely to answer, “somewhat or maybe.” For question three, “Do you feel that your representation vs. your male counterparts has been fair in American Mass Media,” found that both groups answered nearly identical with 98% “no” to the question. The fourth question, “have you suffered from any form anxiety or mental health disorders that you believed have stimmed from representation in all forms of American Mass Media,” discovered that Group A answered somewhat vs. Group B answered, greatly. Lastly, the fifth question, “do you have hope that the American Mass Media will change for the better in the next 50 years,” in which both groups responded with 100% of the same answering.

Discussion

The present T-Test study revealed that there is indeed a striking similarity in attitudes towards treatment of Women Athletes within American Mass Media with almost 56% in both age groups of women with various different dynamics which include: age, generational influence (I.e., women’s rights laws, women movements, societal change etc,) wealth, status, race, social beliefs and or types of sports involvements, responding with similitude. The answering of all questions indicates that future quantitative analyses could surely be conducted to dismantle the relationship between a female athlete and how they may view treatment in American Mass Media and its relationship on their mental health. Two ways to approach a future quantitative study in this arena of matter could be through: a T-test, causal comparative research analysis for more in depth and straight forward results or an ANOVA cross sectional survey which leads to greater statics along with sample population increasing in certain areas. Also indicating that the subjects both identify a short falling towards their sportsmanship by American Mass Media. The response statistics to the questionnaire that stapled the results of the entire survey in data collection in saying both groups located the issues of American Mass media but have hope that their may be some form of change within the next 50 years. Responses also indicated that the subjects both identify a short falling towards their sportsmanship by American Mass Media as it pertains to various different types of women (i.e., age, status, race, and or personal beliefs). Strikingly, both groups also believed that their mental health could also be a factor of concern due to this treatment that they feel they receive. This in itself could be a future topic for a quantitative analysis as it pertains to mental health in mature and non-mature female athletes in correlation in American Mass Media in furthering this research. The findings from this study suggests that many women have a clear understanding that American Media has a core part in their athleticism. They also highlight significant attitudes in the differences in their treatment with male athletes, even sometimes younger female athletes vs older female athletes. line with the hypothesis, correlations and patterns within the data met expectations of the hypothesis by apprehending that the students may not have had a somewhat completely negative view of the fees, but in a sense, lack of understanding or appreciation of these fees, based around the statistically significant causations of these mixed basic human expressions (i.e depression, wanting to become more collegiately involved with less finances, fear, unhappiness).

????????????

References?

Cooky, C., & Antunovic, D. (2020). “This Isn’t Just About Us”: Articulations of Feminism in Media Narratives of Athlete Activism. Communication & Sport, 8(4/5), 692–711.

Courtney, M., Breen, M., McGing, C., McMenamin, I., O’Malley, E., & Rafter, K. (2020). Underrepresenting Reality? Media Coverage of Women in Politics and Sport. SOCIAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY, 101(4), 1282–1302.?https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.12826

Cunningham, G. B. (2003). Media Coverage of Women’s Sport: A New Look at an Old Problem.?Physical Educator,?60(2), 43.

Delorme, N. (2014). Were Women Really Underrepresented in Media Coverage of Summer Olympic Games (1984–2008)? An Invitation to Open a Methodological Discussion Regarding Sex Equity in Sports Media.?Mass Communication & Society,?17(1), 121–147.?https://doi.org/10.1080/15205436.2013.816740

Hardin, M., & Shain, S. (2005). Strength in Numbers? The Experiences and Attitudes of Women in Sports Media Careers.?Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly,?82(4), 804–819.

Harris, K. (2013). Gender Stereotypes, Gender Segregation, and Credibility: Crossing the Lines in Sports Media. International Journal of Sport & Society, 3(2), 137–159.

Petty, K., & Pope, S. (2015.). A New Age for Media Coverage of Women’s Sport? An Analysis of English Media Coverage of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.?Sociology,?53(3), 486–502.?https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038518797505

Smith, L. R., Myrick, J. G., & Gantz, W. (2019). A test of the relationship between sexist television commentary and enjoyment of women’s sports: impacts on emotions, attitudes, and viewing intentions.?Communication Research Reports,?36(5), 449–460.?https://doi.org/10.1080/08824096.2019.1683531

emotions, attitudes, and viewing intentions, Communication Research Reports, 36:5, 449-460, DOI: