Sport is a very important social institution, providing employment, entertainment, value systems and contributing enormously to the economy. In the US alone, sport as an industry is worth $121 billion annually(compared to the global pop music industry which is worth around $40 billion a year). It teaches both spectators and participants the value systems of the culture they inhabit, and can exist on many different levels, from local ("football in the park, sweaters for goalposts") to global. Sports players can become huge stars, who can have an influence outside their chosen profession - think of the changes in attitude to AIDS when Magic Johnson announced he was suffering from the disease. Sport is very important to society as a whole, and this is recognised by all different forms of the media.
Newspapers have a long and very profitable association with sport, and this looks set to continue into the 21st century, with newspaper owners buying up sporting teams as they see great potential for cross promotion. Attempts to do this are not always successful - Rupert Murdoch failed to buy Manchester United as it was deemed not in the public interest for him to own a top football team, plus a satellite TV station, plus various newspapers. His late rival, Robert Maxwell, managed to combine owning The Mirror with owning Oxford United, but this was never seen as a real clash.
All rules that can be applied to the analysis of other news features can also be applied to sports reporting. Conventionally, sport takes up the back section of a newspaper. In a tabloid, this can be almost the entire back half - it is usually at least a third. Traditionally, broadsheet newspapers have had less of a focus on sport, as it was assumed ABC1 readers were not so interested in teams and competitions as their lower class counterparts. However, sport is now perceived to appeal to every demographic, and consequently, broadsheets have whole pull-out sections devoted to sport, especially on a Saturday and Sunday. Sports stories are increasingly reported in the front section of the newspaper, particularly if they involve personality (eg David Beckham) or a major tournament or competition (the World Cup, the Olympics).
Narrative In Sports Reporting
Elsewhere in Media Studies you will have considered the concept of narrative. Narrative is important to sports reporting as it provides a structure for us to understand the important aspects of a sports report, ie it gives us a beginning, a middle and an end. You will remember that the Russian theorist Tzevtan Todorov described all narratives as involving
Human beings like stories — ie artificially contructed narratives that have been organised, for ease of understanding, into beginning, middle and end. As well as who/what/why/where/when, we like our news to be in the form of stories, with beginnings, middles and ends. We like enigmas, but we also like clear resolutions — which come to us in sport in the form of a final score.
One of the many reasons that sport has such a good relationship with the media is that it provides good stories, a good selection of short and long narratives revolving around events (individual games and long tournaments) and individual athletes (the overnight success, the career of Steve Redgrave). In its basic narrative form, a sports event looks like this
Equilibrium: An empty pitch/pool/court/track
Disequilibrium: Competitors arrive
Engima: Who will win? Who will lose?
Conflict: The race/game
Resolution: Win/loss is confirmed
New Equilibrium: Triumph/failure for individual parties.
Sporting success is often recognised with a title denoting the new status of the winner (think about the symbolic use of sashes and cups and podiums, which clearly mark out winners and losers). Sporting equilibrium is frequently temporary, as the winner has to defend their status against the next challenger.
Sporting narrative also revolves around stock character types, mainly heroes and villains. A team or a player may be associated with certain heroic or villainous characteristics. This makes competitions more interesting, as teams or individuals are judged not just on their sporting skills, but on the qualities they represent. Fans will support both heroes and villains, and often villains are more popular. Nowhere can this be more clearly seen than in WWF Wrestling.
Look at these websites for individual wrestlers. You will see that each one has adopted a star persona that is clearly heroic or villainous, and that they are represented on their site as an archetypal hero or villain. This is done through costume, body language, logo, hairstyle etc, and picks up on recognisable stereotypes from popular culture (eg biker, superhero). The WWF wrestlers can be classified as 'sports entertainers' rather than true sports stars, but their cartoonish representation and behaviour in the ring can teach us a lot about the nature of sports stardom.
- WWF Official Site
- The Undertaker - 7 ft tall, weighs 300 lbs, claims to be a "BadAss"
- Ivory
- The Rock - Smell What He's Cooking
Now you understand about stardom & sport, Make Your Own WWF Wrestler.
Language of Sport
All the rules of newspaper language also apply to newspaper reporting of sport. However, like any good drama, sport involves conflict, and sports reporting also employs a specific set of metaphors and similes that are to do with war. We look at sport in terms of victory and loss, teams "fight it out", and compete on a basis of nationality and allegiance. Flags are given a prominent place at sporting events, and we refer to sporting heroes, who have done battle for their country.
Look at this piece of sports writing from the Mirror, a UK newspaper: RUSEDSKI RAGES AS HENMAN WINS BRIT BATTLE (may take a couple of minutes to load).
How many examples of military language can you find? Why is the match described as "battle of Britain"? What connotations does this have?
Sports reporting tends to use more informal language, and tends to make much more use of slang and nicknames, as well as incorporating a lot of specific terminology. This assumes a certain amount of audience foreknowledge in the reader. Try to find a sports report about a sport you are unfamiliar with (eg baseball) and see how many words or phrases you don't understand.
Sport & Nationality
See what previous students have had to say about this here.
Gender Bias in Sports Reporting
Gender Stereotyping in Televised Media Sport Coverage
