Media Ethics term paper

8/4/2019 Media Ethics term paper

1/8

Meghan Takacs

Give the People What They Want, or What They Need?

The mass society theory says, media are able to directly influence the minds of average

people, transforming their views of the social world (Baran & Davis, 2006, pg. 55). Having

said that, herein lies the debate surrounding the ethics of sports journalism, a major

component of mass media: essentially, mass media directly influences what people think in

terms of social institutions and is able to do so because of its monopolistic, yet seemingly

credible power; however, journalists in the sports industry are often bias, which directly

relates to why many key ethical questions involve matters of access and the collection,

distribution, and ideological balance of information, (Oates, T. , & Pauly, J., 2007, 334).

Therefore, the ethical dilemmas benchmark is somewhere between giving the people what

they want (overly dramatized, bias stories, which the media justifies as ethical) and

objective, authentic journalism.

His papers routinely overdramatized even the most mundane events (Baran &

Davis, 2006, pg. 49). Consequently, Hearsts success in the field of mass media and public

relations essentially served as a catalyst to the rise of yellow journalism, and built the

foundation to sports journalism today. Even with functional displacement, newer technology

is still bringing corrupt, bias, and agenda-setting sports journalism to viewers all over

America. Consequentially, Sports journalism has historically been described as a toy

department vocation with little-to-no critical distance between reporters and the sports

figures they cover, especially on the professional-sports beat (Hardin & Zhong, 2010, pg. 6).

Especially, now more than ever, sports journalism students who can parlay their eagerness

into something resembling a jobare being asked to produce more content and do so more

8/4/2019 Media Ethics term paper

2/8

quickly than any generation to precede them. They blog, they tweet, and then they blog and

tweet some more, and yes, eventually they file a story, squeezing in time to watch the game

(Moran, 2010, pg. 61). With a profession labeled as the toy department, its difficult to

define the boundaries between exciting and professionalism.

Furthermore, often times, the goal of sports news is to sensationalize the story to

attract viewers. Staged news, or "pseudo-events," as they were labeled by historian Daniel

Boorstin in his 1961 bookThe Image, are commonly staged by public relations people

attempting to draw news media coverage of activities that otherwise would go unnoticed

(Evenson,1998, pg. 623). Do journalists continue to force-feed dramatic sports coverage that

the people want, or do journalists provide more objective cultural pluralism to the world of

sports? In this inevitably inconclusive debate, much like other media ethics issues, The

general public does not perceive any visible, unified, and concerted effort among

sportswriters to practice their craft in a consistently ethical manner (Wulfemeyer, 1985, pg.

57). For example, There was a moment that explained why a sports fan in New England

would reach for The Boston Globe each morning. The excitement of a New England Patriots

victory had become overshadowed by speculation that Randy Moss, the gifted and

controversial wide receiver, was about to be traded to the Minnesota Vikings (Moran, 2010,

pg. 60). Sports journalists determine what is news, but do we all agree?

Another element in the ethical dilemma of reporting in sports journalism stems from

the narrative of sports journalists, or the way in which a story is told to the general public or

fans. The work routines of sports journalists, after all, are organized around regularly

scheduled, carefully managed, and orchestrated contests. The buildup to each game is replete

with what Lawrence Wenner (1989) called insiders gossip and the self-conscious

8/4/2019 Media Ethics term paper

3/8

creation of a script or storyline for each event (Oates & Pauly, 2007, pg. 337). For

example: in the days leading up to the 2006 British Open, newspaper and television sports

news reports included frequent contributions by journalists anticipating possible storylines:

How would Tiger Woods perform, given the recent death of his father? Would Phil

Mickelson bounce back in his first major since blowing a safe lead on the final day of the

Masters? the recently fatherless Woods would become the dominant storyline (Oates &

Pauly, 2007, pg. 337). As stated before, the ethical dilemma in sports journalism is between

giving the people entertainment-based news, an often thrilling narrative, and giving them a

fair picture of a game. However, creating social news and drama in sports ultimately

established the general guidelines of sports reporting. Therefore, The games may be of little

social consequence, but the stories told about them routinely give shape to deeply felt

communal values, including the value of self-sacrifice, the possibilities of group

achievement, the power of the individual will, and the capriciousness of social hierarchies.

How such stories are told raises vital ethical questions. That they are told is vital to our

shared experience of democratic culture (Oates & Pauly, 2007, pg. 346). This is what gets

fans involved, this is what sells. Moreover, one of the perspectives on media is that the

audience of the mass media is an active audience that uses media content to create

meaningful experiences (Dennis & Stanley, 2006, pg. 35). Essentially, people want to read

controversial news so that they can create an opinion; people use media to make meaning

when they are able to intentionally induce desired experiencesthere are often significant

results, some intended and others unintended (Dennis & Stanley, 2006, pg. 35). In other

words, the mass media controls what people think of their social institutions and most of

8/4/2019 Media Ethics term paper

4/8

these stories are often over-sensationalized in order to create meaning, or create a social

stereotype that people can universally identify with.

Ultimately, Sports journalism should be held to the same ethical standards regarding

conflict of interest, responsibility, accuracy, and fairness as any other kind of journalism.

Without the readers' credibility, a journalist and publication have nothing. Unethical practices

undermine that credibility (Wulfemeyer, 1985, pg. 66).

The other side of the argument of ethics in sports journalism is giving the people what

they want, whether it is dramatic stories, or just reports on a game. However, in an

entertainment-focused mass media society it is the medias duty to give the people what they

want; people keep watching, the media keeps giving. From the media conglomerates point of

a view, what sells is what the people want. Pop culture in sports has become a phenomenon

that allows people to escape from the real-world, with the notion that they pick and choose

what they read and watch. Furthermore, pop culture is an attempt to provide easy-going

forms of social cohesion, without the costly rites of passage that bring moral and emotional

knowledgeit has replaced imagination by fantasy and feeling by kitsch; and it has

destroyed the old forms of music and dancing, so as to replace them with a repetious noise

(Baran & Davis, 2006, pg. 68). Often times, in a world of chaos people enjoy repetition and

the feeling of being in the know, which is commonly reinforced by the medias

stereotypes.

Additionally, sports journalism has often been portrayed as, the sandbox of the

newsroom, a comparison that suggests the work of the sports department is more playful

and childlike than that of the rest of the news organization (Oates & Pauly, 2007, pg. 336).

Perhaps building on this concept is the necessity to fabricate the news, to make the news

8/4/2019 Media Ethics term paper

5/8

more entertainment focused since this is what the people want. However, sports journalism

doesnt always have to be portrayed as the sandbox of the news room. To counteract this

theory, The New Journalists, in their quest for fresh, sophisticated storytelling strategies,

turned to sports as a cultural activity worthy of serious examination (Oates & Pauly, 1985,

pg. 340). By portraying sports as a cultural phenomenon, whether the events be trivial or not,

the ultimate goal is to demonstrate that in many ways sports writing fundamentally

resembles other forms of reporting, and that the journalism profession should not use sports

as an ethical straw man, against which to defend the virtue of its serious work (Oates and

Pauly, 1985, pg. 340).

Though, often times, according to Deweys theory, it is not the responsibility of the

news to bring an ethical standpoint on sports news, but it is the duty of the people to be

educated and able to form their own opinions (Baran & Davis, 2006, pg. 86). Sports

journalism can be viewed as gray propaganda, in which the transmission of information or

ideas that might or might not be false (Baran & Davis, 2006, pg. 77). Since propagandists

live in an either/or, good/evil worldwhere one side is the truth, justice, freedomin short,

the American wayand on the other side were falsehood, evil, and slaverytotalitarianism

(Baran & Davis, 2006, pg. 77). It is the citizens duty to consume sports media as

entertainment; it is his or her duty to interpret sports news by using the practical function of

knowledge as an instrument for adapting to the reality the media gives and either accepting

or rejecting it. The mass media, in this case, sports media, are not something that feeds us

news, but it is rather something we can choose to accept or reject.

We are consuming media at a faster pace than ever before. With the technological

advancement in social media, as well as the Internet, stories are produced quickly. The

8/4/2019 Media Ethics term paper

6/8

seemingly conventional ways of sports journalism are no longer as predictable. For example,

Under the old model, if a source passed along sensitive information to a reporter at noon,

the reporter would have an entire day to digest the information, determine its context, contact

others, and return to the original source to confirm additional information before it was time

to write a story. The entire process could take four, six, eight hours. Now this process might

be compressed into minutes (Moran, 2010, pg. 61). As a result of this, perhaps the ethical

dilemma is not concerned with the medias intentions, but is more concerned with the

advancement of technology. Today, the context of what people read is interpreted based on

prior knowledge, assuming we are educated to do so. Feasibly once the media catches up

with the new forms of technology it will be apparent that, reporting staffs will have to be

enlarged, resources increased and maybe even working hours reduced to permit more

thoughtful, fair, objective, complete, and accurate reporting More supervision and

checks/balances will have to be provided to prevent special- and self-interests from

dominating sports pages (Wulfemeyer, 1985, pg. 66).

On another note, the unethical aspects of sports journalism can also be debated on the

basis of famous sports reporter, Gay Taleses notion that, Sports writing, Tlese told the

audience, gives those who do the job "the capacity to observe emotion." It's why he calls the

job "a dream occupation" (Moran, 2010, pg. 61). This being the fact that sports journalism

must be sensationalized in order to fit the wants and needs of its viewers. Sports Journalism

perhaps has always been more about the drama and the players.

Taking a closer look at a situation that happened fairly recently, will explain, more

specifically, the ethical dilemma of sports journalism. Rush Limbaugh was hired by ESPN to

become a commentator on the National Football Leagues pre-game show. Three weeks

8/4/2019 Media Ethics term paper

7/8

after his debut on the network, Limbaugh was in the midst of a major controversy when he

stated that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb is favored by the media

because he is Black(Niven, 2005). Perhaps Rush Limbaugh was hired to create controversy

because the sports media agenda-setters believe people are unreasonable humans, and they

have to create controversy, or propaganda in order to create a continuum in which people

must choose a place. Furthermore, In Mercurio and Filaks theory, Black quarterbacks were

primarily described with words and phrases that emphasized their physical gifts and their

lack of mental prowess. Conversely, White quarter- backs were described as less physically

gifted, but more mentally prepared for the game and less likely to make mental errors (Filak

& Mercurio, 2010, pg. 57). In this case, Rush Limbaugh represents a subjective view that

purposely creates bias information in which people are forced to choose a side. In addition to

this purpose, Limbaugh also serves to build a story: The storyline-building that suffuses

sports journalism routines is done so consciously that an unexpected turn during the course of

a game itself is commonly referred to as a departure from the script. This storytelling

function of sports journalism is celebrated openly in other ways as well. Anchors often stamp

their personality on a sportscast by inventing catchphrases (Oates & Pauly, 2007, pg. 337).

However at the foundation of this matter is the fact that media outlets cover sports with a

clear conflict of interest: Their very enterprise is deeply invested in the continued success of

commodified sport. Because the most elemental structures of sports news ensure free

exposure for the teams of elite leagues, Mark Douglas Lowes (2000) called media coverage

of sports publicity-as-news (Oates & Pauly, 2007, pg. 338).

8/4/2019 Media Ethics term paper

8/8

Works Cited

1.) Baran, S. & Davis, D. (2006).Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, andFuture. Boston, MA: Wadsworth.

2.) Evensen, B. (1998). Sports Journalism.History of the Mass Media in the United States:An Encyclopedia, 621-623. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

3.) Hardin, M., & Bu, Z. (2010). Sports Reporters' Attitudes About Ethics Vary Based onBeat. Newspaper Research Journal, 31(2), 6-19. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

4.) Mercurio, E. , & Filak, V. (2010). Roughing the passer: The framing of black and whitequarterbacks prior to the nfl draft. Howard Journal of Communications, 21(1), 56-71.

5.) Moran, M. (2010). It's a Brand--New Ballgame For Sports Reporters. Nieman Reports,64(4), 60-62. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

6.) Niven, D. (2005). Race, quarterbacks, and the media. Journal of Black Studies, 35(5),684-694.

7.) Oates, T. , & Pauly, J. (2007). Sports journalism as moral and ethical discourse.Journalof Mass Media Ethics, 22(4), 332-347.

8.) Wulfemeyer, K. (1985). Ethics in Sports Journalism: Tightening Up the Code.Journal ofMass Media Ethics, 1(1), 57-67. Retrieved from EBSCOhost