What Role Did the Media Play in Representing Disability Sport - Term Paper Example

Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Class Name: Date Assignment is due: What Role Did the Media Play in Representing Disability Sport Through the Athens 2004 Paralympics Games And Beijing 2008 Paralympic Games? Introduction Disability and media are two of the issues that society is often conflicted about. Sometimes they appeal to the society and sometimes they do not. Over the years, the society’s view of the media has been changing to a more receptive one. People have accepted the media as an inevitable part of their lives. However, disability has not had such progress over the years. Though more people are aware of disabilities that others might face and that it is part of living, there is still some uncertainty in people’s attitudes and not many make an effort to know more about disability and how it affects the disabled and the society at large. Since media and disability crossed paths, the relationship between them has been changing from one of shallow and sensational coverage to one of deep and reflective coverage. The society is quite influential over what the media covers as too the media is influential over what the society sets as an agenda. Disability has been part of all societies right from the start but the level of emphasis that is put on it makes it seem like a trivial issue that can be brushed off. However, there advances have been made with more and more people having a deep interest in disability. One of the ways through which disability is getting positive exposure is sport. Sports cuts across the fields of societies and end up as arenas where people can show their expertise including the disabled. People are beginning to view disability sociologically. Disability is linked to the society and it could either alleviate some of the disadvantage that accompanies disability or worsen it. The media is one of the most influential structures of the society and sports present one of the best opportunities for the media to show a representation of disability. Literature review Over the past three decades, authors and writers have made significant advances in assessing disability from sociological point of view and volumes of books have been printed and distributed (Thomas 569). However, despite the fact that there are scores of publications that would show the seriousness that people are putting on studying disability, the assessment of how serious the issue is being taken should be done by evaluating what people truly understand about disability and whether the increase in the number of publications is directly proportional to the enrichment of the society’s understanding. The definition of disability varies in different disciplines. A description from what people would call ‘disability studies’ in Britain is that disability is formulated by oppression, isolation and inequality that are the core of the issue. Another definition, also mostly used in Britain, from ‘medical sociology’ is that disability is a condition that is brought about by impairment and infirmity that causes discomfort, suffering and social disadvantages. Both definitions have an aspect of sociology in them. Shakespeare and Watson employ a post modernistic view in which they criticize the view that disabled people are more disabled by the society than by the impairment they have. They assert that the impairment does play a role in disadvantaging those afflicted (9-28). This is to say that the body and the state of the organs on it play a role at people being disabled. In their writing, they declare, individuals are physically challenged by either their bodies or the social life barriers, this is open and not controversial (Shakespeare and Watson 9-28). Michael Oliver in his writings on theories of disability in health practice and research (1998) describes the critical theory which also supports that problems that disabled people face are to be blamed on unequal society. The solution to such a problem must come from social change which in turn makes life better for the disabled. Prejudice and discrimination in life restrict people more than the impairments they have. If people keep viewing disability as the tragedy of one person or their own personal triumph over adversities, they will be isolated. What they go through and what they may be able to achieve should be shared by the society so that they feel like part of it (Chappell 35-51). Body Sir Ludwig Guttman made plans for a sports competition in 1948 that involved army veterans from World War II who had spinal injuries. The competition was held at the stroke Mandeville Hospital. The hospital had introduced sport as a type of rehabilitation tool for the patients it was attending to. The London Olympics were taking place at the same time the competition was held. The decade that followed saw this rehabilitation plan being adopted by other hospitals and institutions with people who had spinal injuries and the idea spread and grew. When the Olympics were held in Rome in 1960, 400 veterans were brought to compete and this saw the start of modern Paralympics. As athletes were getting ready to compete in the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, the media in different countries were covering them with different emphasis. The media in British and Canadian media were giving their athletes the most coverage while the United States of America (USA) gave less though it was expected that they would give the most coverage. In addition, Australian media were also covering their Paralympians as they prepared for the big day. Newspapers were used the most to cover the Paralympians as they prepared for the Beijing 2008 Paralympics. The coverage the media gave their athletes before the competition gave them exposure and made them known to most of the people who read newspapers. As a result, those who were covered and made more popular locally received more attention during the Paralympics. By the media covering these teams’ preparations, they set an agenda for those who were reading the newspapers at the time and the society responded by paying more attention to those they knew at the competition. This coverage was mostly done by small local newspapers in the said countries. some of those who were covered include: the equestrian team of British Columbia was covered in The Province, the peterbbrough examiner in Ontario, Canada covered Kyle Petty who was going to compete in discus throwing, the Hereford Times from the UK covered one of the shortsighted goal keepers, John Pugh, from the UK, who was part of the country’s Blind Football Squad, Jody Cundy, a previous Paralympics winner of a swimming gold medal was covered by the Fernand Citizen for his upcoming cycling competition, Adam Bleakney, a multiple marathon winner, was covered in the Daily Illini, the Australian covered Jayme Paris who is a cyclist and the times colonist and in another story covered Stephanie Dixon of Victoria who had already won thirteen gold medals for swimming competitions in the two previous Paralympics. Some television networks also covered some Paralympics like NBC reported an equestrian training in Philadelphia, ESPN aired a disabled rugby tournament. Also radio stations like Radio Australia covered Joylyn Jeffrey and Francis Kampaon from New Guinea, BBC Radio covered Graham Edmunds, a swimmer from the UK. However, though the media coverage in countries like Canada was vast, the method of airing was somewhat unsatisfactory (Hyatt). This was mostly prevalent in television coverage of the Paralympics. For instance, someone would be watching the games then at the last minute or at the most crucial time, they program would be cut to go back to regular scheduling of the programs. This makes the viewer lose interest and the attempts for the media to increase exposure and knowledge of Paralympics through coverage become futile. Among the most popular sports that were covered most by the media during the Athens and Beijing Olympics were wheelchair racing, swimming and wheelchair basketball. These are not the only games that were played but there was plenty of emphasis on them because of past coverage of the same areas. Swimming is quite popular with the in the Paralympics because it is open to all disabilities. It has been in the games since when the games were first held in Rome in 1960. Progressive media coverage of the event while focusing on swimming over the years has contributed to it becoming a popular sport. The sport has been spread wide through the internet which is mostly you tube. Additional articles and coverage have been shown over the years in newspapers and the television (Hyatt). When other people with disabilities see an athlete with the same disability as them swimming in the Paralympics on TV, he gains the courage to do so too and will most likely try it. This is positive because the media coverage has led to someone else, who might have been afraid, to try out a game. However, prostheses are not allowed in the pool. This regulation may discourage others with prostheses from swimming because it may be hard for them to be seen without their prosthesis and the focus the media has put on the sport will mean that millions of people will see him. This may in turn discourage them from participating in a sport that they may have excelled in. Wheelchair racing has been made popular by one Louise Sauvage among others. She has been racing in the Paralympics since 1992 and the constant media coverage she gets has helped her achieve her goals. She is one of the most powerful voices in Paralympics in Australia. She has been able to rise to the top by getting sponsors who knew about her through the media. Her last competition was the Athens 2004 games after which she retired. In her retirement and even before, she has been featured by newspapers, internet websites and television. She is now coaching the Australian racing team and the Australian Paralympic committee Board (Media Dis&dat 2008). From this position, she can help many athletes and use her expertise to make them better. The media helped people in the society to perceive her as an individual who is capable of taking care of herself and others. This is evident in the fact that she was named Australian Paralympian of the Year. Though this was a good recognition of her talent, it was not enough. This is one of the cases that supports Gramsci’s hegemony concept as explained by Javie which purports that the society often views able bodied people as more capable than the disabled and gives them more power (Jarvie 28). Even in sport achievement, able bodied athletes get more cultural recognition and domination. Louise Sauvage was named paralympian of the year each of the four times she excelled, it is quite likely that were she able bodied, she would have been made athlete of the year to cover both able and disabled domains On the other hand, wheelchair racing is not representative of all the sports that disabled people engage in. other who is in sports that are neglected may feel isolated (Hyatt). The media coverage in Beijing did not concentrate solely on the Paralympics but also on other societal issues in the area. In some cases of the media covering Paralympics, the society around did not give them an easy time and though the media coverage of Beijing Paralympics was a good deal higher than that of the Athens 2004 Paralympics, they faced some resistance in the pursuit of a freedom of expression deal from the people in Beijing. Most of the reporters wanted to get a chance to interview the people of China in the hopes that they may speak out about how the regime has been treating them (ABC). In this case, the Paralympics took a back seat to the political issues of the area. However, despite the tense atmosphere and people’s expectations of a media coverage that was hostile to China, the global media avoided politics evident in the host country. Reports of the opening ceremony were neutral in most ways and did not touch on the topic of politics. In the first week of the games, fifty five percent of the front pages of newspapers were about China hosting the games. More information about the games was contained inside in the articles. Out of these articles, forty five percent of them spoke about China positively; forty percent of them were neutral while only fifteen were negative. The earthquake that had rocked China in the summer put it at the sympathy of most of the media. At the opening, the media ignored some of the dignitaries and the athletes and focused on the choreography and lights. China was admired globally for this. On one hand, this was a negative thing because the focus should have been more on the paralympians. On the other hand, this was an uncontrollable and it gave China exposure while at the same time making the Paralympics more popular viewers around the world (Hyatt). Another game that has been made popular by media coverage of Athens and Beijing games is wheelchair basketball the inventor of the idea of Paralympics started with wheelchair basketball. It was mostly covered in newspapers and television and the internet. The game has been shown as one that needs skill and those who plat it come out as respected people in the society because of their skill in the sport. As the media continued to make the sport popular, it showed that a person does not have to be standing to make a shot in basketball. This shows that an individual does not have to be able bodied to achieve the results he wants. In the end, the skill that is in the brain is what matters. One of the advantages of these games being aired on television is that other people who are disabled will be motivated to play games even though they are disabled. After the Paralympics in Athens, many children who have disabilities came out of their houses and started playing football and other sports they liked. The Greece Paralympic Committee President, who is himself on a wheelchair, said that young athletes were coming up because of watching the games. A major disadvantage of putting emphasis on swimming, wheelchair racing and wheelchair basketball is that these games need a lot of upper body strength and the use of hands. Other athletes with disabilities that leave them weak or restrict their use of their hands may feel left out as they do not get any media attention. This will lead to them not having sponsors and in turn they may be forced to quit the teams they are on. The media has been commended for their turnout at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics which was better than in Athens. The Paralympics had more media in attendance than ever before. Passive viewers like those using Youtube were numerous with over one million visitors watching the game from Youtube uploads. Even more people logged on to watch the game videos after the games were over. Reporters and journalists totaled in the amounts of five thousand five hundred worldwide. As a result, there were some one thousand one hundred hours of broadcasting of the games. Online Tv channels like www.youtube.com/paralympicsporttv and www.ParalympicSport.tv offered fans free videos. The internet played an important role of offering a place where people who may not have been able to watch the games at home or live as it happened could access the internet and watch like their counterparts are doing. This in turn allowed the knowledge of what people engaging in disabled sport are capable of. People often need to see things in order to believe them. The media helps the Paralympics bring the society close to those who are disabled. Works Cited Chappell A. Towards a sociological critique of the normalization principle. Disability, Handicap and Society,7.1(1992): 35-51 Hyatt, Glenda W. Media coverage of the Paralympics. Retrieved18 march. 2010. 4 October. 2010 < http://www.doitmyselfblog.com/2010/traditional-media-versus-social-media-coverage-of-the-paralympics/> Jarvie, G. (2006) Sport, Culture and Society: An Introduction, London: Routledge Media Dis&dat. Another Round-up of paralympic Coverage Worldwide. 23 July. 2008. < http://media-dis-n-dat.blogspot.com/2008/07/another-round-up-of-paralympics.html> ABC.The ABC TVSports's Team in Beijing. Retrieved Retrived 1 May. 2011 < http://abc.gov.au/paralympics/2008/abcteam/> 2008 Thomas, Carol, How is disability understood? An examination of sociological Approaches. Disability & Society, 19.6 (2004): 569-583. Shakespeare, T. & Watson, N. The social model of disability: an outdated ideology? in: Research in social science and disability, exploring theories and expanding methodologies. Oxford, UK: Elsevier Science Ltd, 2001, 9-28. Read More