1. 1. ETHICAL BREACH OF SPORTS JOURNALISM IN WOMENS TENNIS media outLETS
2. 2. WHAT ARE ETHICS? According to Merriam- Webster dictionary, ethics are: Rules of behavior based on ideas about what is morally good and bad According to the Pew Research Center, the journalism code of ethics states that: 1. Journalisms first obligation is to the truth. 2. Its first loyalty is to citizens. 3. Its essence is a discipline of verification. 4. Its practitioners must maintain an independence from those they cover. 5. It must serve as an independent monitor of power. 6. It must provide a forum for public criticism and compromise. 7. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant. 8. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional. 9. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience.
3. 3. WHAT LED TO THIS Women are often considered weaker and more delicate than men and therefore are assumed to be less adept at sports. Societys bias toward men as superior athletes and physically stronger beings has rendered women as second-rate counterparts in the sports world. This bias towards men in sports has sparked far more interest for mens sports than womens sports, thus weakening support and viewership for womens sports.
4. 4. Gender was verbally, visually and graphically marked, for example Womens National Championship, an average of nearly 60 times per game in womens basketball, and never was marked in mens games (which would be referred to only as The National Championship Game). Female athletes frequently were referred to as girls and young ladies. Male athletes were never referred to as boys, but rather usually as men, young men and young fellas. NEWS COVERAGE OF WOMENS SPORTS The Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles analyzed six weeks of NCAAs men and womens basketball national championship tournament as well as the mens and womens U.S. Open Tennis Championship and found that:
5. 5. NEWS COVERAGE OF WOMENS SPORTS News coverage is vital to the success of professional athletes and teams. Women in tennis and golf have proven more successful professionally than women in more physically demanding sports like basketball or softball. One possible explanation for this is that fans, sponsors, and TV news coverage stations dont like the portrayal of woman as aggressive. Golf and tennis are often associated with country clubs and are considered more recreational than traditional, competitive team sports, thus preserving womens more mild image. On an average day, research suggests that 8% of sports stories are about womens sports, 5% being about individual sports and 3% being about team sports.
6. 6. WOMENS INVOLVEMENT IN SPORTS In contrast to their limited coverage, women are increasingly involved in playing sports. Since the enactment of Title IX in 1972, the participation of women in intercollegiate sports has increased consistently. As of 2011, 43% of all NCAA student athletes were women and 53% of all NCAA teams were womens teams. Also, women are increasingly interested in reading about sports and watching sports programs. Though watching sports coverage is still more popular among men, and recent research suggests that domestic roles and gender stereotypes may make it difficult for women to engage more actively as sports viewers, the amount of female readers and viewers is continually growing.
7. 7. NEWS COVERAGE OF WOMENS SPORTS In the U.S., women account for 27% of regular readers of newspaper sports sections and 45.9% of the audience for the Super Bowl. Further, women now make up the majority of viewers of the Olympics, as they comprised 53.8% of the television audience for the 2012 Olympics. On KNBC and KCBS, the proportion of "ticker time" (information displayed on a ticker text box at the bottom of a broadcast) devoted to women's sports in 2009 was 4.6%. This is more than triple the airtime on the main broadcasts. On ESPNs SportsCenter, women's sports were allotted a mere 2.7% of the ticker time, a sad fall from 8.5% in 2004. This data illustrates just how news networks are literally marginalizing womens sports in comparison to mens.
8. 8. NEWS COVERAGE OF WOMENS SPORTS The Amateur Athletic Foundations research of weekday newspapers from the Boston Globe, Orange County Register, Dallas Morning News and USA Today showed that the professional obligation of sportswriters to report the facts wasnt fulfilled when they nearly entirely excluded women's sports. The research found that: Women-only sports stories accounted for 3.5% of all stories; men's stories made up 81% of the total, while the rest of the stories are mens and womens sports combined. In the three-month period that the research was gathered, golf and tennis, sports in which women "have a long tradition of world-class competition, were in their high season, yet a mere 301 women-only articles appeared in the four newspapers during the three months.
9. 9. It's not about the money. It's about the equality message. Billie Jean King
10. 10. I really like the United States, but that's one thing I don't like, everybody's crazy about money, Martina Navratilova
11. 11. Wimbledon is like that. You have to overcome a lot of things. They'd write something nice one day, and I'd think maybe they like me a little, and then they'd rip me. I had to stop reading the papers. Chris Evert
12. 12. John McEnroeMartina Navratilova "In the meantime she played soccer with boys and ice hockey in the winter and went to school like everybody else, (A Straight- up Cool Martina, 24 Feb, 1975). 1. Treated men and women as if they are different creatures 2. Reported her eating habits and her weight and lots of descriptions on her looks 3. Focused on Martinas emotions on the court 4. Scores of her recent games were reported, but lacked analysis of her play Some of the weight is gone now, but she remains a sturdy 57". Her shoulders are broad and her arms and thighs look powerful. She has short light-brown hair, as fine as a child's, and her face is dominated by high, wide cheekbones and forthright hazel eyes, (A Straight-up Cool Martina, 24 Feb, 1975). 1. Talked about his success before his professional career in tennis 2. Only mentioned his outlooks slightly 3. Occasionally brings up his thoughts toward his opponents 4. In-depth report and analysis appear more frequently So far, Junior's absolutely horrid on-court nature has managed to obscure his wonderful talent. A soccer and basketball player in high school, McEnroe picked up tennis very quickly. Early on he was a natural, and his game mirrors that of his teacher, Palafoxall spins and angles and changes of pace, (Winning Is No Laughing Matter, 11 Dec. 1978). A rarity in today's double-fisted tennis world, McEnroe hits one- handed from both sides with the racket head held extremely low. The preparation for each stroke is so casual that often the racket appears to be falling from his hand as he drills winner after winner. McEnroe has such a gift for touch, such a delicate feel, that the ball is seldom out of control. Because of his active, quick wrists, he also gets away with many late hits, the racket suddenly flashing out from his shoulder socket as if no arm were needed as middleman, (Winning Is No Laughing Matter, 11 Dec. 1978). "So, no, I'm not surprised at all. I don't want to be surprised. And I don't want to be satisfied. I mean, it's great to be 19, ranked No. 5 in the world and playing Davis Cup. But this isn't luck. I've worked for this. Let's put it this way. I deserve this, (Winning Is No Laughing Matter, 11 Dec. 1978). She did a lot of howling and arm waving, after which she slammed her racket to the ground and lost the last 10 points of the match as the tears flowed. I'm just not ready psychologically, Navratilova said, (A Big Home Victory At Last, 15 Sept., 1975). Navratilova is probably the strongest woman in tennis, stronger even than Court, and she moves deftly, always following her left-handed serves and ground strokes to the net and looking to sock away volleys. Her forehand is lethal, so opponents tend to hit to her backhand, which is erratic. When she is getting her first serve in, it is difficult for her foe not to hit a high return that Navratilova swats with gusto, (Love Conquers All, 14 April, 1975).
13. 13. Suzanne Lenglen, 1922 Mrs. George Wightman, 1924 Carolyn Babcock and Joan Ridley, 1932 Martha Barnett, 1939 Gussie Moran, 1950 Martina Navratilova, 1970 & 1978 Chris Evert, 1976 Tracy Austin, 1981
14. 14. Serena Williams and Roger Federer in the Media
15. 15. FEDERER CAREER FACTS Seventeen Grand Slam Singles titles. No double titles. Currently ranked the fourth-best mens player in the world.
16. 16. WILLIAMS CAREER FACTS Seventeen Grand Slam Singles titles. Thirteen Grand Slam Doubles titles. Currently ranked best female player in the world.
17. 17. OVERALL COMPARISON Williams career longer, arguably more successful Federers career shorter, though more dominant while at pinnacle Both given fair praise in media for success Williams body, personality also receives more attention than Federer Federer rivalry with Rafael Nadal highly covered
18. 18. FEDERER IN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
19. 19. WILLIAMS IN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
20. 20. WILLIAMS IN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
21. 21. SEXUALIZATION OF MENS TENNIS
22. 22. TENNIS COVERAGE ON TV Womens game now as, if not more, popular on TV as mens. 2013 U.S. Open Womens Final between Williams and Victoria Azarenka: 4.9 rating. Mens final between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic: 2.8 rating. Individual womens sports more popular than team sports on TV.
23. 23. TENNIS COVERAGE IN WRITING Writing in Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report or other outlets mention both espnW, ESPNs womens sports blog, has lots of strong content on womens game. Most say Federer would beat Williams head-to-head. Jury out on who has had better career, but writers argue both.
24. 24. MARION BARTOLI Former French Tennis Player Australian Open (QF 2009) French Open (SF 2011) Wimbledon (W 2013) U.S. Open (QF 2012) There's nothing conventional about Marion Bartoli on a tennis court. LA Times (July 2013) Bartoli is known for her unorthodox playing style: she uses two hands on her forehand and backhand
25. 25. JOHN INVERDALE ON WIMBLEDON 2013 Inverdale comments that Bartoli is not a looker, immediately undermining her grand athletic achievement. He regards Bartolis looks as if they have some correspondence with her performance. No reporter would mention a male athletes looks as a context for his success.
26. 26. In his comments, Inverdale fed into the sexism and stereotyping that plagues womens tennis, and womens sports in general. He makes a comparison between Bartoli and the blonde, long-legged bombshell Maria Sharapova. His statement highlights the typical mold of womens tennis stars that attain the most media attention. Inverdales sexist remarks are indicative of the way in which woman athletes become sexualized by the media. While male athletic stars are portrayed as heroic, female athletes like Sharapova, Venus Williams, and Danica Patrick sexualize themselves in order to gain the same media attention and revenue as their male counterparts.
27. 27. THE RESPONSE Bartoli received a lot of hateful comments from the public on Twitter and other social media sites because she was too unattractive to win Wimbledon. Its not just the media that sexualizes women athletes, but the audience itself has become conditioned to fitting female sports stars into that role. Bartoli, though hurt by Inverdales later retracted comment, proved strong. She said: I am not blonde, yes. Have I dreamt about having a model contract? No. But have I dreamed about winning Wimbledon? Absolutely.
28. 28. I had the big muscles before they were in. Now it's OK. It's OK to be athletes, to go out there and be strong. There are still plenty of girls out there who are primping before they play a match, making sure they look glamorous, but so many of them now are very athletic and very strong and in-your-face confident, almost arrogant - it's good to see that. Martina Navratilova "You are going to include us, aren't you? And they said: 'Absolutely not.' I said OK, but I went back to them more than once, and some of them said: 'Nobody would even pay a dime to watch you girls. Billie Jean King
29. 29. "Any woman who wants to achieve anything has to be aggressive and tough, but the press never sees us as multidimensional. They don't see the emotions, the downs. Billie Jean King Of all the things that have grown out of the bloodless revolution in women's affairs that has been going on for a decade, the most significant is options. Freedom lies in having options, and nowhere has the increase in the number of options for women been more dramatic than in sport. Chris Evert
30. 30. CONCLUSION Womens sports coverage violated the following journalism ethics: 1. Journalisms first obligation is to the truth. 2. Its first loyalty is to citizens. 3. It must strive to make the significant interesting and relevant. 4. It must keep the news comprehensive and proportional. 5. Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience. Todays coverage has significant improvements. Womens Sports Foundations Words to Watch. Billie Jean King, Martina Navratilova, and many other female athletes. continue to push for change in journalistic standards. The public supports sexual equality in sports coverage.
31. 31. CONTACT THE MEDIA OUTLETS Check out our blog: http://lholthou.wordpress.com/ On Twitter: #mediaoutLETS #ethicalbreachinjournalism #womenssports QR Code E-mail Us! Luke Emily Tayla Sara
32. 32. FUTHER READING http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/9190445/espnw-val-ackerman-chats-sports-tv-consultant-neal-pilson- latest-man-up http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/9625127/2013-us-open-loss-serena-williams-sloane-stephens-arrived http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/photos/1306/classic-photos-of-serena-williams/59/ http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/swimsuit/year/2005/index.htm http://www.ausopen.com/en_AU/event_guide/history/great_ao_champions.html http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/about/history/pastwinners.html http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/roll_of_honour/mens-singles.html http://2013.usopen.org/en_US/about/history/mschamps.html http://www.wtatennis.com/rankings http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Rankings-Home.aspx http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/tennis/news/20130611/roger-federer-serena-williams-best-players-ever/ http://tennis.si.com/2013/06/08/serena-williams-maria-sharapova-french-open-final/ http://espn.go.com/espnw/news-commentary/article/9190445/espnw-val-ackerman-chats-sports-tv-consultant-neal-pilson- latest-man-up http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2013/09/us-open-womens-final-scores-better-tv-ratings-men/49130/#.U13JEpUVqkg http://heiidianniina.blogspot.com/2013/01/gender-stereotypes-right-way-to-segment.html http://www.donsteinberg.com/newspaperpage.htm http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/fcc-to-look-at-repealing-sports-broadcast-rules/ http://www.public.iastate.edu/~womenstu/ws201student/professionalsports/homepage.html
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