Men versus Women in Sports Media Coverage and Popularity - Case Study Example

Men versus women sports coverage and popularity Ethical issues are normally faced in almost every field of professionalism. Men verses women sports coverage is one of the ethically demising fields in relation to the popularity of these two groups of peoples’ sports coverage. This situation and experience has been encountered more often, in various parts of world. This is because various games have resolved to consider gender based equality where both sexes are allowed to take part, in sport. Various studies indicate a more likely situation where coverage on men’s Olympic events will increase as opposed to the women due the minimal clothing status experienced, in the women Olympics. The Vancouver Olympics for example men received almost whole day prime-time coverage. This was about 13 hours higher in comparison to the women’s coverage (Brown 102). Men in most cases tend to perform extremely well in various games. This boosts the reporter’s morale towards covering most of men’s games. In the summer Olympics in 2008 as well as the preceding years, there emerged improved airtime coverage with both men and women almost getting equal airtime coverage. About 46.3% of airtime coverage went to women in this year, a decrease from the previous year 2004 when the coverage was 47.9% (Beck 46). Nevertheless, coverage of women sports events improved heavily towards the socially acceptable sports for women. The socially accepted sports such as gymnastics are always attractive as these sports involve minimal clothing hence women can be easily displayed as physically attractive. These kinds of sports, even though are highly ranked in the media coverage among the women are not morally acceptable in the media fraternity. This case study explains the impact of media coverage in comparison to men and women sports coverage and popularity. Women who normally take part in sports that involve either power or hard body contact are more often unlikely to receive media coverage. This is due to the stereotypical assumptions involved with these kinds of feminine events thus; there is reduced women sports coverage (Chua45). The women’s court volleyball competition received absolutely no coverage in the year 2004 despite the American team’s captivating performance and securing the silver medal. This was almost equally divided between the both the men and women volleyball sports coverage in this year. The emphasis of the women sports coverage exhibited a high emphasis on the women’s attractiveness and gendered qualities that may be provided for a much more efficient male-centric coverage. The 2010 Olympics aptly inclined towards men coverage thus rendering it biased (Lewis 78). Most of the winter sports by their nature generally provide women with fewer opportunities to capture various sports. The make-up of the spectators whom NBC normally targets to please provides a more complex narrative than mere pandering to male sports fans for the summer Olympics in 2008. Women spectators over 18years of age, in the recent Olympic Games, have lost the media coverage with only 49 per cent total viewers attending while the rest of the viewers are men (Feasey 156). This reduces the lively participation by the women in these games due to the feeling of being neglected by the fellow women spectators. This in turn reduces the women sports coverage popularity in women’s sports participation fields. The sports world is almost entirely divided between men and women’s groups. The men’s sport has nonetheless; always dominated all forms of broadcasting coverage despite the fact that women as well compete in those exact similar sports in an increasingly professional level (Stewart & Herrmann 23). The sports coverage revolves around the newspaper, broadcasting, news coverage, reports and internet articles in the media houses. In United State, for example, women’s sports receive 1.65 per cent of the total sports airtime on both the local, national and sports media giants such as ESPN. This is also experienced, in Australia media houses in relation to the popularity of men’s coverage in sports in relation to women’s. In Australia, the situation is even demeaning with women’s sport coverage receiving only 9 per cent in relation to men’s coverage and airtime, which is at 81 per cent. In a written press, the numbers are always, lop-sided hence their reports in relation to the men versus women sport coverage is not always exactly captured in their research works. When it comes to football, women from different countries all over the world have a relatively large participation and interest in these sports though almost each media house normally covers majorly the men football sports. Absurdly, even though the participation level of women and girls in sports has been on the rise over time immemorial, this significant increase does not appear to have changed the media attitude towards increasing the women sports airtime. The opposite of this situation is what is normally experienced in the media houses sports coverage where the sports coverage gap between men and women has highly gained roots. The only outstandingly notable exemptions to the male domination in the worldwide sports coverage is the Olympic Games. In these games, the coverage is usually equal irrespective of gender. The equality exhibited by the sports coverage in the Olympic Games is only enhanced by only one on-going sporting activity at a time. This leaves the media houses with no alternative but to cover even the independent women activities. The airtime given by the media houses in these games are, therefore, usually independent of bias as both the men and women are always given an equal opportunity in their airtime and coverage (Lin et al. 124). This is as well related to the grand slam tennis where the coverage normally exhibits a wide range of equality considerations even though the men’s competition still carries more esteem. The men’s sports coverage domination according to many is culturally and socially influenced. It has always believed from the history that men and women were not two equals. Most societies viewed women as less able in comparison to men, therefore, the activities men used to excel in they were never allowed to take part in. These are some of the traditional assumptions affecting the media coverage on the women sports for most media reporters as well as the media houses who still believed that the ancient assumptions against women still exists. Lately, there has been a complete turn of events where women take part in various manly sporting activities such as weight lifting, boxing and javelin. This still surprises individuals hence influencing even the media houses as far as the women sports coverage is concerned. Newspapers sports pages and television airtime in women sports coverage have been criticised for the failure to include women’s sports fairly. This is in relation to the media houses sports reporters’ side-lining nature in relation to women’s sports coverage (Miller 14). These highly defendant sports reports argue that the gatekeeping factors are not the only major factors to be considered to have been affecting the coverage received by the women sports. The men’s sports coverage even in this civilisation era is far much ahead of women sports media coverage. This is because even the readers and audience interests should be considered at large before undertaking any sports coverage by the media. Men sports coverage is normally outstanding and stunning thus has the tendency to attract a lot of attention from various audiences. It is therefore the mostly covered sporting activity by the media as opposed to the women’s sporting activities, which are normally not liked by many viewers (Shondell 40). Most of the readers and audiences systematically still believe in man’s prowess and excellence in sports. Many people normally consider the female’s athletic potential as inferior to that of men’s. The media reporter’s clubs managers in relation to this feel absolutely no commitment to hiring women or even covering their sporting activities. The gender imbalance is relatively on progress. Even though the women are naturally not competent and not normally born as sporting animals, the gender imbalance has really lowered the spirit of women and girls to excel in sporting activities (Sandberg 78). This in addition has been the epicentre of the women’s sporting coverage where even the media fraternity have been discriminatory in relation towards covering women sports. In conclusion, the media shapes the public’s sensitivity of the undertakings of women playing sports and generally, on whether the women can be confident, strong and highly skilled. The media as well nurtures the dreams and ambitions of the girls. Boys normally are socialised through watching television, which bombards them with confident and heroic images of themselves playing sports and being revealed for their endeavours. The boys through this become well acquainted with sports. The boys, in addition, are always encouraged by everyone on the sporting activities. This is what makes them better sports men in the future as opposed to the girls. The girl child on the other hand is usually neglected hence they do not receive any message in relation to future sport ambitions. Currently, the sports coverage on women is non-existent and inconsistent most of the time. While the exposure of women in sports has greatly improved during the Olympic Games and the world cup soccer where these women demonstrate success, they are merely quadrennial manifestations. These events do not portray the power of women to the real external world because the coverage on these events is highly overshadowed by the male ones. Girls through this coverage in many cases normally receive negative and inconsistent messages from the sports television. Works Cited Beck, Daniel, and Louis Bosshart. Sports and Media. Los Gatos, CA: Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture (CSCC, 2003. Print. Brown, Melissa T. Enlisting Masculinity: The Construction of Gender in U.s. Military Recruiting Advertising During the All-Volunteer Force. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print. Chua, Amy. Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother. London: Bloomsbury, 2012. Print. Clark, Nancy. 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