1. Harrison, Guy. “‘You Have to Have Thick Skin’: Embracing the Affective Turn as an Approach to Investigating the Treatment of Women Working in Sports Media.” Feminist Media Studies, vol. 18, no. 5, Oct. 2018, pp. 952–955. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/14680777.2018.1498123.

 

This article looks at the currently quantitative approach to examining women’s representation in sports media and sports journalism, and suggests the addition of a qualitative aspect that takes into account the emotional toll that working in the sports industry has on female reporters. Harrison suggests taking this affective approach as a result of what has been found to be a near requirement that women in sports media have to add to their work a component of affective labor, that is, they have to control their own emotions in order to succeed. Harrison states that this requirement comes from the pervasive sexist attitudes in sports media, as well as existing double standards, and through interviews with ten female sportscasters, has concluded that having this extra burden can cause women to either quit or not fully invest in the sports industry, keeping representation down. As this article looks at the ways in which studies related to women’s representation in sports media are conducted and how conclusions are drawn, it will be integral in understanding all of the following sources, which are studies related to women’s representation in sports media.

 

  1. Gretel Kauffman. “How Far Have Women in Sports Media Really Come?” Christian Science Monitor, 6 Oct. 2016, p. N.PAG. EBSCOhost, library.gatech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=118571800&site=ehost-live.

 

This article from Christian Science Monitor is a qualitative, somewhat surface-level analysis of the progress made in terms of women’s representation in sports media. It finds that despite an increase in the number of women entering the field of sports journalism both in the classroom and in the field, sportscasting remains a male-dominated field with women having made progress in numbers but not up the ranks or with treatment. One of the female anchors interviewed for the piece also attributed it to the fact that the job is highly demanding with few benefits, as well as to the fact that sports in general is viewed as a masculine culture. The majority of this article is comprised of statements from female sportscasters who were interviewed, so the article serves as a good source of first hand accounts from women who have worked as sports journalists and have seen the progress that has been made, or the lack thereof, directly.

 

  1. Schmidt, Hans C. “Forgotten Athletes and Token Reporters: Analyzing the Gender Bias in Sports Journalism.” Atlantic Journal of Communication, vol. 26, no. 1, Jan. 2018, pp. 59–74. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/15456870.2018.1398014.

 

This is a mostly quantitative study of both the coverage of women’s sports and the representation of women in sports journalism. Schmidt conducted a study of various sports-related newspaper articles in three English-speaking countries, collecting data on both the subject matter of the article and on the authors of the articles and the environment in which those authors worked. Most data in the study was collected through analysis of the selected newspaper articles, which meant that there was an element of subjectivity in the study, for example, it had to be decided whether an article was respectful towards women or not. The rest of the data was gathered through surveys of both male and female sports journalists. It was found that the vast majority of articles were about men, and a significant number of those about women referred to them in a domestic role. It was also found that older male journalists were less open to increasing the number of women in the field. The author attributes these findings to the “masculine hegemony” of sports culture. This study provides hard data about the representation of women in sports print media.

 

  1. MILNE-TYTE, ASHLEY. “Getting Women in the Game.” Quill, vol. 103, no. 1, Jan. 2015, pp. 16–21. EBSCOhost, library.gatech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=100812095&site=ehost-live.

 

This article addresses certain trends that point to an increase in women’s interest in sports and sports media, specifically that there are more female sports fans and more female journalism majors interested in sports, and draws the distinction between that and the stagnant rate at which women are actually entering the field and the role that they have once they do enter. The article claims multiple reasons for this observation, such as harassment faced on the job, a lack of importance placed on hiring women from corporations, the difficulty of the job, and the prevailing role of the female TV reporter as a “token” reporter. Another reason given is the decline of the journalism industry in recent years, specifically in print media. Multiple viewpoints are provided in this article, from both male and female reporters and executives, regarding situations related to hiring practices and the treatment of women in the industry.

 

  1. Greer, Jennifer D., and Amy H. Jones. “A Level Playing Field?: Audience Perceptions of Male and Female Sports Analysts.” International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences, vol. 6, no. 8, June 2012, pp. 67–79. EBSCOhost, library.gatech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=91821599&site=ehost-live.

 

This article is about a two-factor study that was conducted in which the perceived competency, agreeability, and likability of a male or female reporter covering both a “male” or “female” sport (football and volleyball, respectively. This was determined from previous studies). There was found to be partial congruency with relation to gender, that is, women were perceived as being better at covering at the female sport, while there was typically no difference in the perception of the coverage of the masculine sport. The study did hypothesize full congruency with gender, and reasoned that the difference was either due to limitations in the study (one sport being much more popular than the other, which leads to participants in the study having their own opinions about it), or due to an increased openness and acceptance of women covering sports, or at least more “feminine” sports. This study is of interest as it relates the gender of the reporter to that of the athletes being covered, and it also is based off of a quantitative survey.

 

  1. MAHLER, JONATHAN. “In Coverage of N. F. L. Scandals, Female Voices Puncture the Din.” New York Times, vol. 164, no. 56632, 22 Sept. 2014, pp. D1–D6. EBSCOhost, prx.library.gatech.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=98392968&site=ehost-live.

 

This article discusses some of the positive aspects of women being represented adequately in sports media. The specific example Mahler provides is that of the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal that occurred during the start of the 2014 NFL season, and how the opinions of prominent female sportscasters took center stage and were an important part of the conversation surrounding it. However, it also talks about how these opinions, while their importance is increasingly recognized, have not been integrated into the mainstream and are still separated from the rest of sports coverage. This article was written during the height of the Ray Rice scandal, and as a result it is an immediate review of the effect that women can have in sports media, and how this effect can be reduced by the fact that there is a lack of representation and that women’s opinions are not made audible.