Based on your readings, what are the financial advantages of excluding certain audiences? In other words, explain why excluding certain audiences is economically advantageous to broadcasters. Answer in a short essay of at least 170 words. Your answer should include only the financial reasons this takes place.
Target Audiences
Cornerstone: Stories and images are told to attract certain audiences and to exclude others. This is done to simplify the storytelling process and to deliver specific audiences to specific advertisers.
Gatekeeping
There are more than seven billion people on the planet. There is not room in a newspaper or on a television broadcast to tell the story of what each one of those people do every day. Editors, news producers, reporters, photographers, movie producers, every day make decisions on which stories and images to publish and which to ignore.
This process is known as gatekeeping. Some stories are chosen and get through the gate, others are kept out.
The criteria for gatekeeping varies, but the underlying principle always is the same. Stories are chosen for their ability to help the media company achieve its goal, which is to maximize profits.
A common fundamental misunderstanding about the mass commercial media can be explained by the process of gatekeeping. The specific, verifiable facts presented in mass commercial media texts usually are true. Bias and inaccuracies are created by leaving things out. This process is called lying by omission or exclusionary detailing. Media companies engage in this process on a regular basis, as there is no requirement that they publish or broadcast everything that is known about a particular topic or issue.
So which parts of the story get told? Media companies tell the parts of the story that help them achieve their goals. Mass media texts are designed specifically to attract a particular target audience. They do so by telling that audience that they are valuable, that their goals are important, that their needs are justified and deserve to be met, that their value system is correct and that they are as good as anyone – if not better.
Fox News selects one set of facts that fit with its audience’s world view. MSNBC does the same. Each then brings out a series of experts who offer opinion that supports the interpretation that makes the target audience happy. The end result is a world view so different that, if you watched the newscasts on the same day, you’d wonder if they were reporting about events on the same planet!
Women In Sports
The media representation of sports is not a game. It is a fundamental frame through which large portions of our society – particularly heterosexual males – are taught to see the world. As USC professor Michael Messner says:
“There’s another social cost. Sports are more than entertainment. They tell us stories about who we are and promote values that are important to our understanding of women’s and men’s roles in families and public life. In the not too distant past, the story that sports told was that men were naturally superior to women, and were thus destined to dominate in politics, religion and medicine. The producers and editors (nearly all male) of TV sports news and highlights shows are helping to keep this outdated story alive by virtually ignoring women’s sports.”
So the stories of sports are critical shapers of society’s views about gender and capabilities. And women are largely excluded from this entire segment of the media environment. Messner’s latest survey of television coverage of women’s sports, published in 2015, showed that female athletes received less coverage in 2014 than they did in 1989.
Gatekeeping explains why this has taken place, and the impact that it has on our society.
Preserving The Stereotype
As explained previously, stereotypes function best as communication tools when they are stable and easily identified. Portraying women as objects of sexual desire and nurturer/caregivers sharpens and strengthens the media definition of femininity.
Deviating from that definition by showing women performing different roles – and receiving social approval or self-esteem by doing so – makes the stereotype less useful in terms of its ability to communicate a specific idea.
Sports is the arena where power, aggression and competition are rewarded. These characteristics conflict with the characteristics of the media-defined “good woman.”
Portraying women as successful in the world of sports would portray powerful, aggressive and competitive women as successful. And portraying this in a positive manner would not help preserve an ideology about femininity that sells clothing, cosmetics, over-the- counter medicines and groceries.
So to preserve the stereotype, women athletes and women’s sports are generally ignored.
What female athletes we do see are paid less – by a margin – than male athletes. Why? Well, if you’ve ready carefully so far this semester, you already know where to start looking for the answer – money. Everything that happens in your media environment is driven by the profit motive.
For generally historical and cultural reasons, sports with male athletes draw bigger audiences that sports with female athletes. The function of sports is to attract an audience that can be sold to advertisers. So the bigger the audience, the more money in that particular industry. Men’s soccer draws a much larger audience than women’s soccer. So men’s soccer makes a ton more money than women’s soccer. So the male athletes are paid more money. Simple, huh?
Attracting A Male Audience
Portraying males as the ones who have the abilities to compete in sports helps attract males by portraying that gender as fundamentally superior to women.
If sports rewards power, aggression, intelligence and competition, and only men are fit to engage in sports, then men and only men are powerful, aggressive, intelligent and competitive.
An analysis of the very few women athletes who are seen in our mass commercial media environment shows that they are seen because they fit within the broader definitions of the “good woman.”
Every year, the highest-paid female athlete in the world plays tennis. Tennis is a non-contact sport in which the attire reveals the athlete’s body. A comparison of the performance of and the attire worn in American football and tennis illustrates the point. Football requires armor and padding and rewards the ability to commit and survive acts of violence. Tennis requires shorts and skirts and sleeveless tops, and does not allow contact. Even in recent years, when WNBA players are more often seen than female tennis players, the only force driving the change is the NBA.
The most prevalent image of women in sports programming is that of cheerleader, which fits neatly into the role of object of sexual desire. And, as you will see in the next reading, women athletes are far more likely than males to be presented in their roles as a parent.
Homogeneous Audiences
Why is this so important? To greatly simplify a complex economic process, the price of an advertisement generally is based on the total number of people it reaches.
So a television show, for example, that reaches ten million people, split equally between males and females, might charge $250,000 for a 30-second commercial. (These numbers are hypothetical to illustrate a phenomenon and are not intended as examples of real-world television commercial pricing.) That is a cost of 2.5 cents per viewer.
This is fine if the advertiser intends to reach all ten million people. However, many advertisers do not want to reach all ten million of those people, because many members of that audience are not potential customers. Males prefer beer as their alcoholic beverage to a far greater degree than females do. So a beer advertiser would be paying the cost of reaching ten million people, but only five million potential customers – the males watching the show. The cost of reaching the males now doubles to 5.0 cents for each viewer that the beer company actually wants to reach.
Sports to the rescue. ESPN.com’s readership is nearly 95 percent male. It is an example of the gender-homogeneous audience that sports programming generates. A sports television program that attracted five million viewers would charge half the rate of a program that attracted ten million – in our example, $125,000 for a 30-second commercial. Yet if that audience was 95 percent male, the program would reach 4.75 million males. Cost per male viewer? Back down to 2.63 cents per viewer.
Removing women from the audience has another effect. It allows for the storyteller to use images and narratives of women that are designed to attract the attention of heterosexual men. The sports media landscape is flooded with images of young, attractive women in roles and attire designed to emphasize their sexual desirability.
As women athletes are removed from the media landscape, and sports programming depicts men as having the characteristics of power, aggression, intelligence and competitiveness, audiences also learn the characteristics of women. The media sports environment teaches audiences that women lack the characteristics required to succeed in sports.
Target Audiences And Reality
To connect the dots for this chapter:
Gatekeeping suggests that some stories get left out of our media environment.
Key Ideas Three and Four suggest that the stories that are left out are the ones that don’t generate the right audiences and therefore don’t maximize profits.
And the stories that make it through the gate are the ones that attract the specific audience that the media company wants to deliver to its advertisers or supporters.
The depiction of men and women, and people of different races, religions, ethnicities, etc., varies widely in our media environment, depending on the target audience of a media company or individual story.
The representation of women on programs broadcast by Lifetime TV varies dramatically from the representation of women on ESPN. Both are owned by the same companies. So each network has access to a wide variety of programming in which women play a wide range of roles and exhibit a wide range of characteristics.
Yet Lifetime doesn’t broadcast football games, and ESPN doesn’t broadcast, for example, a reality show about the mothers of young dance students. Each channel attracts a different audience. And the stories that are broadcast on each channel privilege the world views and self-images of the audiences those channels are designed to capture and deliver to the advertisers who want to reach those audiences and only those audiences.
______________________________________________________________________
“ITS DUDE TIME!: A QUARTER CENTURY OF EXCLUDING WOMENS SPORTS IN TELEVISED NEWS AND HIGHLIGHT SHOWS
CHERYL COOKY1, MICHAEL A. MESSNER2, AND MICHELA MUSTO2
VIEWERS OF TV SPORTS NEWS BROADCASTS WATCHING LOS ANGELES LOCAL NEWS AFFILIATES
KNBC, KABC, AND KCBS ON THE EVENING OF JULY 14, 1989, SAW NO COVERAGE OF
WOMENS SPORTS. INSTEAD, SEVERAL SHOTS OF FEMALE SPECTATORS WERE SHOWN, INCLUDING
ONE OF A LARGE-BREASTED WOMAN WEARING A TANK TOP AT A MINNESOTA TWINS BASEBALL
GAME. THE COMMENTATOR QUERIED, ISNT BASEBALL A GREAT SPORT? JUST BRINGS OUT THE
BEST IN EVERYONE! OKAY, I KNOW WELL GET COMPLAINTS, BUT ITS NOT LIKE WE SNUCK INTO
HER BACKYARD AND TOOK HER PICTURE. WERE TALKING PUBLIC PLACE HERE!
THAT SAME MONTH, DURING THE JULY 25, 1989, BROADCAST, THE ONLY MENTION OF A FEMALE ATHLETE WAS ESSENTIALLY A GAG FEATURE. FOOTAGE SHOWED GOLFER PATTY SHEEHAN DRIVING HER BALL
STRAIGHT INTO THE WATER. THE COMMENTATOR SAID, WHOA! THAT SHOT NEEDS JUST A LITTLE
WORK, PATTY. SHE WAS OUT OF THE HUNT IN THE BOSTON BIG FIVE CLASSIC. THE FOLLOWING
STORY SHOWED A MAN MAKING A HOLE IN ONE AT A MINIATURE GOLF TOURNAMENT, AND THE REST
OF THE BROADCAST COVERED ONLY MENS SPORTS.
ON JULY 21, 2014, A DAY ON WHICH NONE OF THE LOS ANGELES NETWORK AFFILIATE NEWS
SHOWS DEVOTED A SECOND OF TIME TO WOMENS SPORTS, KNBC SPENT 44-S COVERING
LAKERS STAR KOBE BRYANT PLAYING IN A CELEBRITY SOFTBALL GAME. HE SHOWED HIS HOME
RUN SWING! THE COMMENTATOR GUSHED AS VIEWERS SAW FOOTAGE OF BRYANTS TOWERING
SHOT! THE SAME SPORTS NEWS SEGMENT DEVOTED FOOTAGE AND COVERAGE OF NATIONAL
BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION (NBA) PLAYER LEBRON JAMES 9-YEAR-OLD SON WHO, THE COMMENTATOR
PREDICTED, IN 7 YEARS WILL LIKELY BE RECRUITED BY EVERY COLLEGE BASKETBALL
PROGRAM IN THE COUNTRY.
LATER THAT WEEK, ON JULY 26, DURING THEIR EXTENDED WEEKEND
BROADCAST, KNBC EMBEDDED IN ITS COVERAGE OF MOSTLY MENS BASEBALL, FOOTBALL, AND
BASKETBALL A BLAND-BUT-RESPECTFUL STORY ON WOMENS NBA (WNBA) GAMES, AND
KABC CONCLUDED ITS 11 P.M. SHOW WITH A SEGMENT ON THE WORLD SERIES OF PRO BEACH
VOLLEYBALL THAT INCLUDED THIS COMMENTARY: YOUR WEEKEND WOULDNT BE COMPLETE WITHOUT A LITTLE VOLLEYBALL. KERRI WALSH JENNINGS AND APRIL ROSS TAKING ON TEAM SLOVAKIA IN THE SEMI-FINALS, LOOKING FOR THEIR 4TH WIN OF THE TOUR. EASILY DISPATCHING THE SLOVAKIANS IN THE FIRST SET, THEY LOST THE 2ND SET, SO IT WAS DECIDED IN THREE. AND TEAM USA ADVANCES TO THAT GOLD MEDAL GAME, SO IF YOUVE GOT NOTHING ELSE TO DO, COOL OFF TOMORROW DOWN AT THE BEACH IN LONG BEACH.
AT FIRST GLANCE, THE PRESENTATION OF GENDER IN THE TELEVISED SPORTS NEWS AND THE
ESPN SPORTSCENTER BROADCASTS WE HAVE NOW STUDIED FOR THE PAST 25 AND 15 YEARS,
RESPECTIVELY, DOES NOT APPEAR TO HAVE CHANGED MUCH. THE SHOWS COVER MENS SPORTS
NEARLY ALL THE TIME, EVEN TO THE POINT OF FEATURING STORIES ON OUT-OF-SEASON MENS
SPORTS. HOWEVER, THE TWO SEGMENTS WE HIGHLIGHT ABOVE HINT AT SOME QUALITATIVE
CHANGES OVER TIME.
OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS, PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN ATHLETES HAS BECOME
INCREASINGLY RESPECTFUL, AND NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS COMMENTATORS HAVE BECOME FAR
LESS LIKELY TO JOKE ABOUT WOMEN OR PORTRAY WOMEN AS SEXUAL OBJECTS. ADVOCATES OF
EQUITY AND FAIRNESS FOR WOMENS SPORTS WILL LIKELY APPLAUD THE NEAR DISAPPEARANCE OF
OVERTLY SEXUALIZED AND INSULTING COVERAGE OF WOMEN.
The good news of the increasingly respectful coverage of womens sports is, we will show, more than eclipsed by two factors: The deepening quantitative dearth of coverage of womens
SPORTS AND THE WAYS IN WHICH THE CONTINUOUS CACOPHONY OF EXCITING COVERAGE OF
MENS SPORTS IS COUNTERPOISED WITH THE TENDENCY TO PRESENT MOST OF THE FEW WOMENS
SPORTS STORIES IN A MATTER-OF-FACT, UNINSPIRING, AND LACKLUSTER MANNER.
IN THIS STUDY, WE PRESENT THE FINDINGS OF THE MOST RECENT ITERATION OF OUR NOW
25-YEAR LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF GENDER IN TELEVISED SPORTS NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS SHOWS.
IN HIGHLIGHTING CONTINUITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF COVERAGE OF
WOMENS AND MENS SPORTS OVER TIME, WE SUGGEST THESE PATTERNS ARE BEST UNDERSTOOD
AS INDICATORS NOT OF SOME STALLED REVOLUTION BUT RATHER OF THE UNEVENNESS OF SOCIAL
CHANGE. WE END WITH SEVERAL POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF OUR FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS.
THE GENDER IN TELEVISED SPORTS STUDY
THE LONGITUDINAL RESEARCH FOR THIS STUDY WAS FIRST GATHERED IN 1989, WITH FOLLOW-UP
STUDIES CONDUCTED IN 1993, 1999, 2004, 2009, AND 2014, WITH EACH REPORT FROM THESE
STUDIES PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR FOLLOWING THE DATA GATHERING. THIS BODY OF RESEARCH, WHICH INCLUDES STUDIES OF THE COVERAGE OF LIVE TELEVISED SPORTS EVENTS, PRINT, ONLINE, SOCIAL, AND TELEVISED NEWS MEDIA COVERAGE OF SPORTS AS WELL AS THE IMPLICATIONS OF MEDIA COVERAGE FOR WOMENS SPORTS, CONSISTENTLY FIND THAT, WITH MINOR EXCEPTION FOR QUALITY OF MEDIA COVERAGE, PARTICULARLY DURING THE OLYMPICS (BILLINGS & YOUNG, 2015; HARDIN, CHANCE, DODD, & HARDIN, 2002), AND FOR SOME COLLEGIATE-BASED MEDIA OUTLETS (KANE & BUYSSEE, 2005; MCKAY & DALLIERE, 2009), THE VAST MAJORITY OF MEDIA COVERAGE CENTERS ON MENS SPORTS AND MALE
ATHLETES.
FOR EXAMPLE, IN THEIR RECENT STUDY COMPARING COVERAGE OF ESPNS SPORTSCENTER AND FOX SPORTS 1S FOX SPORTS LIVE, BILLINGS AND YOUNG (2015) FOUND
THAT EACH PROGRAM FEATURED WOMENS SPORTS COVERAGE LESS THAN 1% OF THE TIME, WITH
SOME MODEST GAINS DURING THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY DURING THE OLYMPICS. MOREOVER,
WOMENS SPORTS CONTINUES TO BE COVERED IN WAYS THAT CONVEY THE MESSAGE TO
AUDIENCES THAT WOMENS SPORT IS LESS IMPORTANT, LESS EXCITING, AND, THEREFORE, LESS
VALUED THAN MENS SPORTS (COOKY ET AL., 2013; GREER, HARDIN, & HOMAN, 2009).
OUR CENTRAL AIM OF THIS STUDY IS TO EXAMINE CHANGE AND CONTINUITY OVER TIME. AS
SUCH, IN 2014, WE REPLICATED PREVIOUS ITERATIONS OF THE STUDY. THE DESIGN AND METHODS
OF DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS (BOTH QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE) WERE IDENTICAL
TO THOSE OF THE 1989, 1993, 1999, 2004, AND 2009 STUDIES (SEE COOKY ET AL., 2013).
AS WITH PRIOR STUDIES (SEE COOKY ET AL., 2013), SEVERAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS INFORM THE
2014 STUDY: IN WHAT WAYS DO TELEVISED SPORTS NEWS MEDIA COVER MENS AND WOMENS
SPORTS EVENTS? WHAT IS THE AMOUNT OF COVERAGE GIVEN TO MENS SPORTS AND TO WOMENS
SPORTS? DO THE PRODUCTION VALUES OF MENS SPORTS DIFFER FROM THAT OF WOMENS SPORTS?
IF SO, HOW? WHAT IS THE QUALITY OF COMMENTARY OF MENS SPORTS? WHAT IS THE QUALITY
OF COMMENTARY OF WOMENS SPORTS? ARE WOMENS SPORTS COVERED IN WAYS THAT HIGHLIGHT
ATHLETIC COMPETENCE OR IN WAYS THAT TRIVIALIZE WOMENS SPORT? DOES THE COVERAGE
FOCUS ON THE COMPETITIVE ASPECTS OF WOMENS SPORT, INCLUDING GAMES/MATCHES,
GAME HIGHLIGHTS, SCORES AND STATISTICS, OUTCOMES, AND SIGNIFICANCE? DOES THE COVERAGE
SEXUALIZE, TRIVIALIZE, OR PORTRAY WOMEN AS OBJECTS OF SEXUALIZED HUMOR? DOES THE
COVERAGE FOCUS ON WOMEN AS WIVES, GIRLFRIENDS, AND MOTHERS? HAS THE COVERAGE OF
WOMENS SPORTS IN THIS DATA SAMPLE CHANGED OR REMAINED THE SAME SINCE PRIOR DATA
COLLECTION YEARS? IN OTHER WORDS, WHAT ARE THE CONTINUITIES OR DISCONTINUITIES IN THE
COVERAGE OVER THE PAST 25 YEARS?
A DEEPENING SILENCE
AS WITH PREVIOUS ITERATIONS OF OUR STUDY, VIEWERS OF THE NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS SHOWS IN
OUR SAMPLE RARELY SEE ANY MENTION OF WOMEN ATHLETES OR WOMENS SPORTS. AMONG THE
THREE LOCAL NETWORK AFFILIATES, ONLY 3.2% OF COVERAGE WAS DEDICATED TO WOMENS
SPORTS. AS FIGURE 1 SHOWS, HOWEVER, THERE IS CONSIDERABLE DIFFERENCE IN THIS REGARD
AMONG THE THREE NETWORK AFFILIATES WE STUDIED, WITH KABC DEVOTING 5.2% OF ITS
MAIN BROADCAST COVERAGE TO WOMENS SPORTS AND KNBC 3.9%. OVER THE SAME
6-WEEK SAMPLING PERIOD, KCBS INCLUDED ONLY ONE STORY ON WOMENS SPORTSA SCANT
0.2% OF ITS TOTAL SPORTS NEWS TIME. ESPNS SPORTSCENTER DID NO BETTER, DEVOTING A
PALTRY 2% OF ITS HOUR-LONG HIGHLIGHT SHOW TO WOMENS SPORTS.
HOW DO THESE 2014 FINDINGS COMPARE WITH PAST STUDIES? AS FIGURES 1A AND 2
ILLUSTRATE, THE THREE LOCAL AFFILIATE NEWS SHOWS TOGETHER DEVOTED ABOUT 5% OF THEIR
MAIN BROADCAST COVERAGE TO WOMENS SPORTS IN 1989 AND 1993. IN 1999, THEIR COVERAGE
OF WOMENS SPORTS JUMPED TO 8.7%. THE COVERAGE OF WOMEN DIPPED SLIGHTLY IN
2004 TO 6.3% AND THEN PLUMMETED TO ITS NADIR OF 1.6% IN 2009. THE SLIGHT INCREASE TO
3.2% IN OUR 2014 FINDINGS INDICATES THAT THE NEWS SHOWS COVERAGE OF WOMENS
SPORTS REMAINS SUBSTANTIALLY LOWER THAN ITS COVERAGE IN 10, 15, 20, AND 25 YEARS AGO.
SPORTSCENTERS COVERAGE, OVER THE 4 TIME PERIODS IT WAS INCLUDED IN OUR SAMPLE
WHICH SPANS 15 YEARS (19992014), HAS REMAINED REMARKABLY FLAT, NEVER RISING ABOVE
2.5%, AND IN 2014, WOMENS SPORTS ON THE MAIN BROADCAST COVERAGE HOVERS AT A PALTRY
2.0% OF THE TOTAL BROADCAST COVERAGE.
MOREOVER, THE DEARTH OF COVERAGE OF WOMENS SPORTS IS EVIDENCED BY THE LOW
NUMBER OF SEGMENTS (I.E., STORIES) IN OUR SAMPLE. OF THE 934 LOCAL NETWORK AFFILIATE
NEWS SEGMENTS (OVER 12 HR OF BROADCASTS), 880 WERE ON MENS SPORTS (OR APPROXIMATELY
11½ HR), 22 SEGMENTS (OR NEARLY 18 MIN) WERE ON GENDER-NEUTRAL SPORTS
(E.G., A HORSE RACE, COVERAGE OF THE LOS ANGELES [LA] MARATHON, AND A RECREATIONAL
SPORTS EVENT), AND ONLY 32 SEGMENTS (ABOUT 23 MIN) FEATURED WOMENS SPORTS. SPORTS-
CENTERS NUMBERS WERE SIMILAR. OF THE 405 TOTAL SPORTSCENTER SEGMENTS IN OUR SAMPLE
(NEARLY 14 HR), 376 COVERED MENS SPORTS (SLIGHTLY OVER 13 HR), 16 SEGMENTS WERE
ON GENDER-NEUTRAL SPORTS (JUST OVER 20 MIN), AND ONLY 13 SEGMENTS FEATURED WOMENS
SPORTS (APPROXIMATELY 17 MIN).
AS IN PAST STUDIES, THERE WAS LITTLE OR NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE 6 P.M. AND THE
11 P.M. EDITIONS OF THE THREE LOCAL NETWORK AFFILIATE NEWS SHOWS, IN TERMS OF COVERAGE
OF WOMENS SPORTS. ALSO CONSISTENT WITH PAST STUDIES, THE NOVEMBER PERIOD OF THE
2014 SAMPLE INCLUDED THE LEAST AMOUNT OF COVERAGE OF WOMENS SPORTS. THERE WAS
NO COVERAGE OF WOMENS SPORTS IN THE MONTH OF NOVEMBER ON THE LOCAL NETWORK
AFFILIATES AND ONLY 44-S OF WOMENS SPORTS COVERAGE (TWO SHORT SEGMENTS ON UNIVERSITY
OF CONNECTICUTS WOMENS BASKETBALL) ON ESPNS SPORTSCENTER. THE SCANT COVERAGE
OF WOMENS SPORTS WAS CLUSTERED IN THE MARCH (3.0%) AND JULY PERIODS (4.6%).
EQUITY/INEQUITY IN COVERAGE.
FIRST, EVERY BROADCAST OF SPORTS NEWS OR HIGHLIGHTS BEGINS WITH A LEAD STORY, CHOSEN BY BROADCASTERS BECAUSE IT IS VIEWED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT STORY OF THE DAY AND/OR BECAUSE IT IS DEEMED TO BE THE MOST INTERESTING HOOK WITH WHICH TO ENGAGE AND HOLD THE AUDIENCE. AS WITH PREVIOUS ITERATIONS, NONE OF THE NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS SHOWS IN OUR 2014 SAMPLE LED WITH A WOMENS SPORTS STORY.
SECOND, TRANSITIONS BEFORE COMMERCIAL BREAKS IN NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS SHOWS
ARE OFTEN MARKED BY TEASERS THAT ARE INTENDED TO BUILD INTEREST AND HOLD THE AUDIENCE
FOR AN EXCITING UPCOMING STORY. OF THE 145 TEASERS WE ANALYZED IN THE LOCAL NETWORK
AFFILIATE BROADCASTS, ONLY ONE TEASER ALERTED THE AUDIENCE TO AN UPCOMING
WOMENS SPORTS STORY. SIMILARLY, ONLY THREE OF SPORTSCENTERS 199 TEASERS WERE ABOUT
WOMENS SPORTS.
SPORTSCENTER AND TWO OF THE LOCAL NETWORK AFFILIATE SPORTS NEWS SHOWS WE ANALYZED
(KCBS AND KNBC) DEPLOYED RUNNING TICKERS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN
THROUGHOUT THE BROADCAST. TICKERS DISPLAY SCORES AND BREAKING SPORTS NEWS, MANY
OF WHICH ARE NOT COVERED IN THE SPORTS ANCHORS MAIN COVERAGE. IN 2014, SPORTSCENTER
DEVOTED 2.0% OF ITS TICKER TIME TO WOMENS SPORTS, SIMILAR TO THE SHOWS PROPORTION
OF MAIN COVERAGE DEVOTED TO WOMEN. THE TWO NETWORK AFFILIATES, ON THE OTHER
HAND, DEVOTED SUBSTANTIALLY MORE TICKER TIME TO WOMENS SPORTS, 6.1%. THIS PROPORTION
OF TICKER COVERAGE REPRESENTS AN INCREASE FROM THE 3.2% TICKER TIME DEVOTED TO
WOMENS SPORTS BY THE TWO LOCAL AFFILIATE NEWS BROADCASTS IN OUR 2009 STUDY. BUT IT IS
ALSO NOTABLE THAT IN 2014, KCBS AND KNBC DEVOTED FAR LESS OF THEIR MAIN COVERAGE
TO WOMENS SPORTS0.2% AND 3.9%, RESPECTIVELYCOMPARED TO KABCS 5.2% COVERAGE
OF WOMENS SPORTS. IT IS REASONABLE TO CONCLUDE, THEREFORE, THAT THIS INCREASED
TICKER COVERAGE ON KCBS AND KNBC IN 2014 IS A DUBIOUS SIGN OF PROGRESS.
INSTEAD, IT COULD BE SURMISED THAT THE SCROLLING TICKER ON THESE SHOWS FUNCTIONS AS
A KIND OF VISUAL AND TEXTUAL GHETTO FOR WOMENS SPORTS, ALLOWING THE SPORTS ANCHORS
TO FOCUS THEIR MAIN COVERAGE ALMOST ENTIRELY ON MENS SPORTS, WHILE RELEGATING
WOMENS SPORTS LITERALLY TO THE MARGINS OF THE SCREEN.
MENS BIG THREE: ITS NEVER TOO EARLY, TOO SOON, OR TOO LATE
THE COVERAGE OF SPORTS ON THE LOCAL NETWORK AFFILIATE NEWS BROADCASTS TYPICALLY COMPRISES
ONLY A FEW MINUTES OF THE TOTAL NEWS BROADCAST (EXTENDED SPORTS SHOWS ON
WEEKENDS, LIKE KCBS SPORTS CENTRAL ARE AN EXCEPTION). AS A RESULT, PRODUCERS
CAN ONLY CHOOSE TO COVER A FRAGMENT OF ALL OF THE SPORTS TAKING PLACE IN A TYPICAL DAY.
THE FINDINGS OF THIS STUDY DEMONSTRATE THAT IN NEARLY EVERY BROADCAST, NETWORK PRODUCERS
DECIDE TO FOCUS ON MENS SPORTS, RATHER THAN THE MANY WOMENS SPORTS THAT ARE
TAKING PLACE DAILY (SEE APPENDIX FOR A SAMPLE OF THE WOMENS SPORTS EVENTS THAT
OCCURRED DURING THE 6 WEEKS OF THIS STUDY). MOREOVER, AS WITH PREVIOUS ITERATIONS
OF THE REPORT, WE FOUND THAT EVEN WITH BROADCAST TIME CONSTRAINTS, NETWORKS DO FIND
TIME TO INCLUDE FREQUENT HUMAN INTEREST STORIES ON MENS SPORTS. HERE ARE FOUR
EXAMPLES THAT ARE APPEARED DURING BROADCASTS WHEREIN THERE WAS NO COVERAGE OF
WOMENS SPORTS:
KNBCS MARCH 18, 6 P.M. SPORTS NEWS INCLUDED A 30-S SEGMENT ABOUT A
SWARM OF BEES INVADING A RED SOX VERSUS YANKEES GAME AND A 20-S SEGMENT
ABOUT AN 18-IN. CORN DOG AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE FOR US$25 AT THE ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS
STADIUM.
KCBSS MARCH 26, 11 P.M. SPORTS NEWS DEVOTED 45-S TO THE RIBBON CUTTING
CEREMONY FOR A NEW RESTAURANT THAT OPENED AT CHAVEZ RAVINE OWNED BY FORMER
DODGERS MANAGER TOMMY LASORDA.
KNBCS JULY 22, 11 P.M. BROADCAST DEVOTED 40-S DISCUSSING WHETHER RECENTLY
TRADED LAKERS PLAYER KENDALL MARSHALL WILL BE ABLE TO FIND A GOOD BURRITO IN
MILWAUKEE. THIS SEGMENT INCLUDED A FULL-SCREEN GRAPHIC SHOWING A MAP FROM
THE MILWAUKEE BASKETBALL ARENA TO A CHIPOTLE RESTAURANT, WHILE THE COMMENTATOR
GAVE MARSHALL DIRECTIONS.
KNBCS MARCH 18, 11 P.M. BROADCAST INCLUDED A 55-S SEGMENT ABOUT A STRAY
DOG THAT FANS AND PLAYERS SUBSEQUENTLY NAMED HANK WHO WANDERED INTO THE
MILWAUKEE BREWERS STADIUM. THE STORY IS ABOUT HIS ADOPTION AND THE DOGS
NEW ROLE AS THE SPRING TRAINING MASCOT FOR THE BREWERS.
THESE EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATE THREE DYNAMICS THAT SHAPE HOW NEWS BROADCASTS BUILD
AUDIENCES FOR MENS SPORTS WHILE POSITIONING WOMENS SPORTS AS UNIMPORTANT AND
LESS INTERESTING THAN MENS SPORTS.
FIRST, WHILE BEING EVENT DRIVEN, SPORTS NEWS IS ALSO
PRESENTED AS ENTERTAINMENT, OFTEN INCLUDING STORIES THAT HUMOROUSLY PORTRAY THE
LIGHTER AND HUMAN SIDE OF MENS SPORTS.
SECOND, IF SUFFICIENT TIME EXISTS TO COVER US$25 CORN DOGS, SWARMS OF BEES, THE PROXIMITY OF CHIPOTLE TO BASKETBALL STADIUMS, AND STRAY DOGS WANDERING INTO A PROFESSIONAL SPORTS STADIUM, IT IS SIMPLY UNTRUE THAT THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME TO COVER WOMENS SPORTS. INSTEAD, PRODUCERS AND COMMENTATORS ACTIVELY CHOSE TO CONSTRUCT AN EXCITING AND PLEASURABLE EXPERIENCE FOR CONSUMING THE COVERAGE OF MENS SPORTS, WHILE IGNORING WOMENS SPORTS.
THIRD, AS THE CASE WITH THE REST OF THE SPORTS NEWS COVERAGE, MOST OF THESE STORIES FOCUS ONLY ON CERTAIN MENS SPORTS. PUT ANOTHER WAY, IT IS NOT JUST WOMENS SPORTS THAT ARE IGNORED ON THESE SHOWS.
THERE IS INEQUITABLE COVERAGE ACROSS DIFFERENT MENS SPORTS AS WELL. BILLINGS
AND YOUNG (2015) OBSERVE MENS SPORTS OTHER THAN THE BIG THREE LIKE GOLF,
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR STOCK CAR AUTO RACING, AND TENNIS ARE OFTEN RELEGATED TO
SPORTS NEWS SECONDARY PLATFORMS (ESPN3, ESPNU, AND OTHER REGIONAL NETWORKS).
SIMILARLY, AS WITH PREVIOUS ITERATIONS OF THIS STUDY, THE VAST MAJORITY OF REPORTING
IN 2014 WAS DEVOTED TO THE BIG THREEMENS BASKETBALL (PROFESSIONAL AND COLLEGE),
MENS FOOTBALL (PROFESSIONAL AND COLLEGE), AND MENS BASEBALL (MOSTLY PROFESSIONAL).
AS FIGURE 3 SHOWS, THE COMBINED (MAIN AND TICKER) COVERAGE OF ALL OF THE NEWS AND
HIGHLIGHTS BROADCASTS IN OUR STUDY DEVOTED 74.5% OF THEIR TIME TO THE BIG THREE. THIS
IS SLIGHTLY HIGHER THAN THE 68% PROPORTION OF COVERAGE RECEIVED BY MENS BIG THREE IN
OUR 2009 STUDY.
AS WE NOTED IN OUR 2013 PUBLICATION (COOKY ET AL., 2013), ALTHOUGH SOME ARGUE
THAT THERE ARE FEWER WOMENS SPORTS EVENTS TO COVER, NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS SHOWS KEEP
THE FOCUS ON THE BIG THREE EVEN DURING THEIR OFF-SEASONS. FOUR EXAMPLES ILLUSTRATE THIS
PATTERN:
ON KABCS JULY 23, 6 P.M. BROADCAST, THE NEWS ANCHOR INTRODUCED THE SPORTS
ANCHOR SAYING THAT HE WAS GONNA TALK ABOUT COLLEGE FOOTBALL, ITS NEVER TOO
SOON! THE SPORTS ANCHOR AGREED AND BEGAN DISCUSSING A 77-S STORY THAT PREVIEWED
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELESS (UCLA) AND UNIVERSITY OF
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIAS (USC) SEASON-OPENERS SET TO TAKE PLACE IN LATE AUGUST.
ON KCBSS JULY 17, 6 P.M. BROADCAST, THE SPORTS ANCHOR INTRODUCED THE BROADCAST
EXPLAINING TO VIEWERS, WHEN I SAY NEVER, I MEAN ITS NEVER TOO EARLY TO START
TALKING ABOUT THENATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE! WHICH BEGAN A 78-S STORY ABOUT THE
NATIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE (NFL) MEDIA TOUR FOR THURSDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL.
ON KABCS JULY 15, 6 P.M. BROADCAST, THE MAIN NEWS ANCHOR INTRODUCED THE
SPORTS ANCHOR BY SAYING, AND YEP, IT IS A BIT EARLY IN THE YEAR, BUT ITS NEVER
TOO SOON TO THINK ABOUT THE NBA. THE SPORTS ANCHOR REPLIED, THATS RIGHT,
ITS JUST AROUND THE CORNER. ALTHOUGH IT WAS STILL MIDSUMMER, HE ACKNOWLEDGED,
ITS NEVER TOO EARLY TO TALK ABOUT OPENING NIGHT, WHICH IS 161 MORE
SHOPPING DAYS FROM NOW.
ON THE JULY 17, BROADCAST OF ESPNS SPORTSCENTER, EMBEDDED IN A LONGER SEGMENT
ON THE NBA CLEVELAND CAVALIERS DEAL WITH LEBRON JAMES AND AN OFFER
EXTENDED TO KEVIN LOVE, 25-S WAS SPENT ON A STORY ABOUT A WEDDING IN AKRON,
OHIO. ESPN FEATURED A PICTURE OF A GROOM IN HIS TUX, STANDING IN FRONT OF HIS
GROOMSMEN, ALL OF WHO WORE VARIOUS LEBRON JAMES JERSEYS.
SUCH GENDER ASYMMETRIES OF OUT-OF-SEASON AND IN-SEASON COVERAGE OF SPORTS WERE
ESPECIALLY EVIDENT IN COVERAGE OF THE NBA VERSUS THE COVERAGE OF THE WNBA. DURING
THE PLAYING SEASON (AND ESPECIALLY DURING THE PLAYOFFS), THE NBA RECEIVES BOUNTEOUS DAILY COVERAGE ON NEWS AND SPORTSCENTER, BUT IT ALSO RECEIVES FREQUENT
OFF-SEASON COVERAGE.
AS TABLE 1 SHOWS, THE WNBA RECEIVED NEITHER THIS LAVISH IN-SEASON COVERAGE NOR
A SINGLE INSTANCE OF OFF-SEASON COVERAGE. EVEN THE LOCAL ANGLE FOR THE LOS ANGELES
WNBA TEAM TENDED TO DELIVER LITTLE POSITIVE NEWS COVERAGE. FOR EXAMPLE, ON JULY
24, KABC INCLUDED A RARE STORY ABOUT THE LOS ANGELES SPARKS WNBA LOSING THAT
DAYS GAME. THE COMMENTATOR JOKED WITH THE NEWS ANCHORS, MARK AND MICHELLE,
THE SPARKS: 3 AND 9, THEIR WORST START IN QUITE SOME TIME. THEY KEEP THAT UP, WE MIGHT
NOT SHOW EM AGAIN! THIS IS A TOWN OF WINNERS! THE SPORTS ANCHORS THREAT, HOWEVER,
JOKINGLY INTENDED, STOOD IN STARK CONTRAST WITH KABCS AND THE OTHER NEWS SHOWS
CONTINUED FIDELITY TO ONE OF THAT YEARS BIGGEST LOSERS, LOS ANGELES LAKERS. DESPITE
PERFORMING POORLY FOR THE SEASON, THE LAKERS STILL RECEIVED CONSISTENTLY HIGH LEVELS OF
AIRTIME BY ALL THREE LOCAL NEWS STATIONS, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THEY WERE IN OR OUT OF
SEASON. ON THE KABCS 6 P.M. BROADCAST ON NOVEMBER 18, FOR EXAMPLE, THE SPORTS
ANCHOR LAMENTED, WATCHING THE LAKERS THIS YEAR, YOU KNOW, ITS BEEN REALLY, REALLY
TOUGH. ITS KIND OF LIKE RIPPING A BAND-AID OFF SLOWLY. BUT ANTICIPATING THE LAKERS
GAME TO BE PLAYED THAT EVENING, HE ADDED HOPEFULLY, WELL LETS THROW THAT BAND-AID
AWAY TONIGHT, RIGHT? SIMILAR TO THE LIVED EXPERIENCE OF RACIAL MINORITIES WHEREIN THEY
CONFRONT THE EXPECTATION TO BE TWICE AS GOOD TO RECEIVE HALF THE CREDIT, WOMENS SPORTS
ARE HELD TO A HIGHER STANDARD THAN MENS: WOMENS SPORTS ARE DEEMED DESERVING OF COVERAGE
ONLY IF AND WHEN THEY ARE WINNERS.
ON THE RARE OCCASION THAT WOMENS SPORTS WERE COVERED IN 2014, BASKETBALL WAS
BY FAR THE MOST COMMONLY FEATURED SPORT, WITH 81.6% OF THE COMBINED MAIN AND
TICKER COVERAGE, AS SHOWN IN FIGURE 4.
THIS CONTINUES A SHIFT TOWARD ATTENTION TO WOMENS BASKETBALL THAT WE NOTED IN OUR
2009 STUDY. IN OUR PAST STUDIES, WOMENS TENNIS WAS MOST LIKELY TO RECEIVE COVERAGE:
43% OF ALL WOMENS SPORTS COVERAGE IN OUR 2004 STUDY WAS DEVOTED TO TENNIS. BY
2014, TENNIS HAD SHRUNK TO 6.4%OF WOMENS SPORTS COVERAGE, A DISTANT SECOND TO BASKETBALL
(GOLF, AT 5.9%, WAS THIRD). THIS INCREASED COVERAGE OF WOMENS BASKETBALL
MAY BE ATTRIBUTED TO THE GROWTH OF LIVE NCAA WOMENS BASKETBALL TV COVERAGE DURING
THE PAST DECADE AS WELL AS SOME INCREASE IN LIVE COVERAGE OF WNBA GAMES. YET,
AS WE WILL SEE IN THE FOLLOWING SECTION, WHILE WOMENS BASKETBALL COMPRISES THE
MAJORITY OF WOMENS SPORTS COVERAGE, WHEN COMPARED TO THE COVERAGE OF MENS BASKETBALL,
THE GENDER DISPARITY IN THE QUANTITY AND QUALITY OF COVERAGE OF BASKETBALL IS
EVIDENT.
MARCH MADNESS, STILL MOSTLY FOR MEN
AS IN PAST ITERATIONS OF OUR STUDY, WE FOUND IT USEFUL TO COMPARE NEWS AND HIGHLIGHTS
COVERAGE OF THE WOMENS AND MENS NCAA BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT. UNLIKE MANY
SPORTS, WHERE THERE ARE MAJOR STRUCTURAL ASYMMETRIES THAT AT LEAST PARTLY EXPLAIN DIFFERENCES
IN REPORTAGE, FOR EXAMPLE, THE EXISTENCE OF NO WOMENS EQUIVALENT TO MENS
COLLEGE FOOTBALL, THE NFL, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL (MLB), NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
(NHL), OR THE FACT THAT THE WNBA HAS A FAR SHORTER SEASON THAN THE NBA AND IS
SCHEDULED DURING A DIFFERENT TIME OF THE YEAR (SUMMER), THE WOMENS AND MENS
NCAA TOURNAMENTS ARE EQUIVALENT EVENTS, PLAYED DURING THE SAME SEVERAL WEEK
SPAN. AS SUCH, THEY PROVIDE A SOURCE RIPE FOR QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE COMPARISON.
AS TABLE 2 SHOWS, THE COVERAGE OF THE WOMENS AND MENS NCAA TOURNAMENT
DURING OUR MARCH 2014 SAMPLE WAS HIGHLY UNEVEN. NEITHER THE LOCAL NETWORK AFFILIATE
NEWS BROADCASTS NOR SPORTSCENTER DEVOTED MANY STORIES IN THEIR MAIN COVERAGE TO
THE WOMENS TOURNAMENT. THERE WERE 9 STORIES OR 3 MIN AND 37-S OF COVERAGE OF THE
WOMENS NCAA TOURNAMENT ON THE LOCAL AFFILIATES COMPARED WITH 120 STORIES OR
1 HR, 26 MIN AND 6-S OF COVERAGE OF THE MENS. ESPN HAD MORE COVERAGE OF THE
WOMENS TOURNAMENT THAN THE LOCAL AFFILIATES, 8 STORIES OR 9
