Media Complacency in Sports

Sports are arguably the single most lucrative content area for the global media industry. As a result, the major media have inundated professional and major college sports with an absurd amount of money over the last several years. This trend has had the effect of actually making sports leagues part of the commercial media and advertising industries.

Broadcast rights payments are now the most important element of sports revenue. This is reflected in the merging of media and sports, with major media conglomerates such as AOL-Time Warner, Disney, News Corp., Tribune Company, Hicks Muse and others purchasing several sports teams to assure content for their media holdings and advertise the rest of their product line.

The media's ownership of teams, and in some cases leagues, allows the media giants to fully exploit the commercial possibilities that have changed the face of sports from cultural recreation, to a money-generation and property-promotion mechanism. Through media ownership, the games are becoming an insignificant backdrop for advertising.

Beyond the major media's creation of advertising and sports synergy, looms the obvious problem of news media bias in sports coverage. The sports media is worthless to its audience when their checks are signed by the same corporation that owns the team they are supposed to cover. This has become increasingly dangerous as media companies that own local news outlets and sports teams can take advantage of local governments, taxpayers and sports fans by producing free hype for the teams and endorsing corporate welfare schemes, like taxpayer-financed stadiums, for their own benefit.

Still, the problem of the news media's coverage of sports is not limited to the often incestuous boardroom bond between news outlets and sports franchises. Even without this corporate collusion in covering local teams and reporting on sports issues, news is almost always angled for the benefit of local teams. From editorial boards all the way down to the newsroom, the interests and demands of sports teams are regularly supported in the news coverage.

Local news outlets have a difficult time dealing with the biased reporting of sports because it is linked so dependently with the hometown sports teams. Sports sells papers, and therefore advertising, so there is a fear in the media that if they are critical of the actions of their city's teams, they will lose access to its players, coaches, management and ownership. This scenario is reflected across the country, but it should not be the job of the news media to assist the corporate takeover of our sports, or facilitate the demands of the wealthy sports industry by encouraging corporate welfare.

To counter the media's fusion with sports, we must draw public notice to the media's abuses regarding the sports industry. Because unless the news media can pierce the big business and promotional veneer of the sports world, fans and taxpayers stand to be defrauded by the irresponsibility of the sports industry and its collusion, and sometimes fusion, with the media.

The First Amendment to the Constitution protects the press, as it must, from government intrusion. And the large media chains enjoy local monopolies in most cities where they operate. So, with neither government accountability nor market competition, the principal way for the sports media to become more responsive to its audience is for the audience themselves, the sports fans, to engage in constant appraisal of their local news outlets.

Sports fans are virtually the only restriction on how responsibly the media wields power in their coverage of sports and their shaping of public awareness of controversial economic, social and political issues in the sports world. An institution as vital as the news media has an awesome public responsibility. Our job, though, is to recognize that we all have a legitimate role in helping the media fulfill their public obligations.

A few examples regarding problems with media complacency in sports:

Collusion between sports media and teams:

There are many instances across the country where a local pro sports team is owned by a major media conglomerate or local media outlet, and a conflict of interest in reporting occurs. But even when that is not the case, news is almost always angled for the benefit of the local team. From editorial boards all the way down to the newsroom, the interests and demands of sports teams are regularly supported in the news coverage.

Sports sells papers, and therefore advertising, so there is a fear in the media that if they are critical of the actions of their city's teams, they will lose access to its players, coaches, management and ownership. Although this scenario is reflected in most every city and every sport, it should not be the job of the news media to assist the corporate takeover of our sports, or facilitate the demands of the wealthy sports industry by encouraging corporate welfare. But unless the news media can pierce the big business and promotional veneer of the sports world, fans and taxpayers stand to be defrauded by the irresponsibility of the sports industry and its collusion with the media.

Ignoring the achievements of women in sports:

The sports media's inadequate reporting on the accomplishments of female athletes is absurd. It seems, for women athletes, that the only way to get coverage is to be portrayed as a sex object and allow their efforts in sports to be trivialized. What better way for the sports media to reinforce the status quo than to remind us that no matter what their achievements, women remain first and foremost sexual objects.

While there is certainly nothing wrong with a female athlete making an informed and personal decision about whether or not posing for a publication is a good idea for her, it should be understood that if magazine editors, agents and advertising executives are left to make these decisions, the sexualization of women athletes will definitely continue to expand. And if more and more of these athletes listen to the corporate media and decide that this is the only way to ever get attention for their sport, women will continue to be treated as less than equal in the sports world. We must demand fair and equal coverage of women's athletics based on the merits of the athletes within their sports.

Insufficient coverage of broad social issues in sports:

How well do your local newspaper, radio or television sports reporters cover the often ugly controversies surrounding the sports industry? Sports pages and broadcast sports news are often thought of as only a hook to sell papers or to get fans to tune in. Editors and reporters forgo their watchdog role out of fear that with more coverage of what really happens behind the games will result in fans that will no longer support these sports and hence lose readers or viewers.

Rarely is there adequate reporting on topics such as college recruiting practices, the growth of women's sports, labor-management relations, gambling in sports, racism and homophobia in sports, the use of sweatshops to make sports industry apparel, the use of tax money to subsidize team owners, violent criminal behavior of athletes, and the over-commercialization of sports and so on.

Fans deserve to know what the sports industry is doing, to whom and why? And who benefits from these actions? With little scrutiny of behavior regarding social issues in sports, the media is supporting the downward slide of the entire industry. There is far more to sports than the game itself and it is the responsibility of the sports media to make sure citizens are informed, and encourage a more reputable sports industry.

Media ownership of sports franchises:

The merging of media and sports, with major media conglomerates and others purchasing several sports teams to assure content for their media holdings and advertise the rest of their product line, has experienced an enormous boom along with other media mergers of the past several years.

The media's ownership of teams, and in some cases leagues, allows the media giants to fully exploit the commercial possibilities that have changed the face of sports from cultural recreation, to a money-generation and property-promotion mechanism. Through media ownership, the games are becoming an insignificant backdrop for advertising.

As with the major media's growth and control of anything, their ownership of sports creates a massive problem of bias in sports reporting. The sports media is worthless to its audience when their checks are signed by the same corporation that owns the team they are supposed to cover. Media companies that own local news outlets and sports teams can take advantage of local governments, taxpayers and sports fans by producing free hype for the teams and cooperating for their own benefit.

Sports fans are virtually the only restriction on how responsibly the media wields power in their coverage of sports and their shaping of public awareness of controversial social and political issues in the sports world. Let them know that we are paying attention.

Network control of professional and major college sports leagues:

The broadcast media have thrown so much money at pro and major college sports that it has had the effect of making sports leagues into an important component of the commercial media and advertising industries. The revenue received from broadcast rights by leagues and teams are the largest segment of sports revenue, even more important to owners than the tax dollars they obtain through corporate welfare. This has opened the door to more control of the games by the networks who cover these sports.

The result is an imbalance that has had a detrimental effect on the sports they cover. More in-game advertising, more commercial timeouts, network control of scheduling, network control of bowl games and who plays in them and so on. Essentially the broadcast media no longer just provides coverage for sports, they've bought the right to make decisions for their own benefit that were intended to be league concerns in the interest of the sport and its fans.

Poor coverage of the business of sports:

Often times, controversial business practices by team owners, major sports leagues, apparel companies and sports advertisers are not very well documented by the media. In some cases it may be due to conflict of interest or collusion, but mostly it's because that side of sports is often ugly and could have a negative impact on support for a local sports team, or major sports in general.

Since the sports pages, sports radio, and sports news on television are such large money makers for those media companies, some news is frequently kept from the public or toned down for fear of a loss of sports fans and therefore readers, listeners and viewers.

Sports fans deserve to know the truth about the industry they support. But unless fans demand better coverage of the business of sports, the media will continue to ignore their public responsibility and use journalism to make more money instead of investigate and report the news.