Sport, Peace and Media Flashcards
(16 cards)
Fewer media outlets/options
- When there were fewer media outlets/options (eg. TV networks) more people exposed to the same range of perspectives - because they were consuming the same media
- More funding for in-depth investigative journalism
- Most people would go to same places for news - got people together to discuss certain issues where people with different viewpoints came together
- As old-style news models (& newspapers) fading
Viewers/readers less likely to be exposed to well-developed arguments for alternate points of view - Due to less funding people have to make more money and create news that attracts people so they are not exposed to well developed arguments with different point of views - cannot decide our positions because of this because we cannot see different sides
- If we disagree with someone and do not know why others are making decisions because we are less empathetic since we did not have that information
Sport can reach diverse audience
- Some suggest that because sport media often reaches diverse audiences who share an interest in sport
- Sport media has immense and unique potential to engage audiences on topics (like social and environmental issues) – that they might not be exposed to otherwise
Offer balanced, rich coverage - People are not consuming same media so that is a problem - sport has unique potential to bring these people back together even if it is just for a game - sport journalism can touch on these social and environmental issues then they can do work that other journalists are not doing
The emerging field of ‘peace journalism’
- Over past 25 years, the field of ‘peace journalism’ has gained traction
- Has inspired thinking about what ‘peace-promoting journalism’ is and looks like, & reasons we need it
- Origins: peace journalism gained traction especially due to perceived shortfalls in coverage of 2003 invasion of Iraq
- …A point acknowledged, retrospectively, by journalists and editors in New York Times apology
- Got people thinking about importance about journalism about when big decisions are made in times like war
Video: Way of reporting conflicts that aims to balance out sensationalist stories - counteracting and telling positive studies
- In some cases you can report conflicts in a way to create opportunities for societies at large to consider and value non-violence responses to conflict
- Journalists are party to conflict they cover
- Putting conflicts in context takes time but it is possible and can be used to cover domestic politics (peace journalism means less sensation and more context, so citizens can understand the bigger picture and make informed decisions)
When we say that journalism is ‘war/violence-oriented’ or ‘peace-oriented’, what does this mean?
Focus on who is ‘winning’ (war) vs Focus on how conflict began, roots of conflict, early resolution (peace) - include voices of how early resolution may come
Focus on ‘our’ suffering troops (war) (us and them thinking) vs Focus on all suffering, including women, children – and attempts to give voice to voiceless (peace) - includes all those who are suffering and voice those who not have access to voice their opinions
The dominant ‘war-oriented’ coverage also:
Rarely challenges ‘official’ viewpoints –
- (commonly) able-bodied, elite male spokespeople
Features an ‘entertainment’ angle on coverage – field reporters like ‘reality TV’ participants
- War portrayed like ‘extreme sport’ (upcoming video elaborates on this) - concern
Not all journalism is war/violence journalism
Frames can also be ambiguous
Reflect tensions & contradictions
Ex. Delgado reading – various & conflicting frames on match between USA & Iran
Emphasize historical tension between countries - lingering tensions where US citizens were held hostage in Iran and comes up in sporting event (more conventional but next 2 are different)
And desire by Clinton to break down political barriers through sport - peace desire - use sport as a place to reach a cross and come together where media can promote it
And desire by many to downplay politics altogether - play and enjoy game - no look at politics
But why is war/violence journalism dominant?
Wolfsfeld (2004, p. 2) suggests that values/norms that guide journalist decisions (and their beliefs about audience preference) are detrimental to peace:
News media privileges “immediacy”
But, successful peace process requires patience
News media tend to privilege “threats and violence”
But, “peace is most likely to develop within a calm environment”
News media tend to “deal with simple events,” straightforward commentary
But “peace building is a complex process”
News media commonly “reinforces ethnocentrism and hostility towards adversaries”
But progress towards peace “requires at least a minimal understanding of the needs of the other side
The concern…
Reporting that over-emphasizes conflict/violence “not only leave[s] the public misinformed” (i.e., unaware of various viewpoints) but it can lead us “to overvalue reactive, violent responses – and to undervalue developmental, non-violent ones”
Sport-related media linked with negative stereotypical portrayals of gender/race/class
King (2008) also notes the irony that African-Americans (usually men)—who are highly represented in professional sports and in the US military—are common reference points in the promotion of nationalism in the US. The irony here is that although African-Americans and other marginalized groups receive (comparatively speaking) few benefits within a highly neo-liberalized system of governance, they are ubiquitous in sport and military-related campaigns intended to promote consent for this system.
-Sport media commonly dramatizes violent solutions to disagreements/conflict
- Retaliation ‘knockdown’ pitches in baseball, professional wrestling, MMA & bully beatdown
- One of the most notable consequences is the normalization of military and war-related language and imagery. The problem with this, is that forceful and violent (i.e., ‘shock and awe’–style) responses to international conflicts come to be seen as natural, rational, and (above all) expected. Such an argument could equally apply on a more micro level, as the normalized idea that conflicts of any kind are best solved through intimidation and force would seem to be reinforced here—and exacerbated in the messaging provided in the world of mixed martial arts (MMA) and professional wrestling.
Remember too discussion of media messages in relation male athlete violence
- Typical messages highlight importance of domination, power, aggression in our culture
- And limited focus on more cooperative, empathetic ways of being
- Consider implications of limited models of masculinity – in relation to multiple forms of violence
Coverage of sport and coverage of war are often directly and indirectly linked…
Language similar
- Ex. “attack, blitz, bombs, ground and air assaults, offense, defense, penetrations, flanks, conflicts, and battles for territory”
- War/military activities sometimes portrayed like extreme sports – used to glamorize war and possibly recruit
…sport & military a good ‘fit’
- Those supporting military action can benefit from sport’s positive imagery (excitement, athleticism) & audience
- Sport can benefit from military’s links with nationalism
i.e., loyalty to country – can be linked with loyalty to and consumption of spectator sport
How might ‘peace-promoting’ messages be featured more? Is social change possible? Is it happening?
A movement of ‘peace journalism activists’ has arisen
- Challenge journalists to offer more balanced portrayals to consider how peaceful solutions could be supported through media
- Peace journalism workshops, thinktank
- Peace journalism curriculum
Sport Journalism for Peace? (3 slides)
Aneed for those who study and promote peace journalism to ‘take sport seriously’
Focus on question of what ‘good’ sport journalism looks like – and circumstances under which it is most likely to produced
Peace-Promoting Sport Media?
Rivenburgh (2009) – Identified attributes known to foster cooperative and non-violent intergroup relations that are compatible with media narratives of sport
Conferring status on international relationships (friendships across nations)
Humanizing the other (profiles of range of athletes)
Cooperative framing (work together to have sport event)
Media, Sport, and Opportunities for Change
(Sport) media literacy – and peace education
Emergence of some ‘sport for peace’ journalists
E.g, Shireen Ahmed, Dave Zirin (ADD)
The politics of sport center Zirin’s work. He concerns himself with labor relations and the corporatization of sport; the prejudices and biases of fans and sportswriters, especially racism, homophobia, and sexism; and the spectacles of nationalism.
Social movements & raising-awareness about social issues through various media
SDP groups use media for promotion
Cultural violence
: related to assumptions that are embedded in and promoted in our cultures that may lead to the perpetuation of other forms of violence (e.g., media promoting certain messages about race and gender) - referred to here are the assumptions that are embedded in and promoted in our cultures that may lead to the perpetuation of other forms of violence - violence comes from everybody language and messages that we live with - messages might make stereotypes and inequities but come across as natural
Studied in terms of how different groups of people are portrayed in sport media - how African Canadians are portrayed in sport - the kind of images and languages that may perpetuate certain stereotypes (in broader media for many years African Americans were overrepresented in tv roles as athletes, entertainers or criminals while being underrepresented in other roles
The language and images used to represent females athletes has also been derogatory as they underestimate their athletic achievements and depict them as nonathletic ways
Positive peace:
refers to “the removal of structural violence beyond the absence of direct violence”; positive peace is attained when there is equality (equitable access to economic, social, cultural, political benefits of healthy society); elimination of discrimination - removal of structural violence beyond the absence of direct violence - more than there being negative violence and more than their not being war or some form of order than it is obtained when there is equality and moving towards a positively peaceful society - towards one that is more equitable and there is more access to economic, social, cultural, political benefits - healthier society - elimination of discrimination
“equality is an essential element of [positive] peace because its absence perpetuates tension of all kinds”
You can have negative peace but in a situation where there is a great deal of structural violence
