Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture

Volume 22 (2003) No. 4

IN THIS
ISSUE

Sports and Media

Daniel Beck and Louis Bosshart
University of Fribourg—Freiburg (Switzerland)

A QUARTERLY REVIEW OF COMMUNICATION RESEARCH

ISSN: 0144-4646
 Communication Research Trends
Table of Contents Volume 22 (2003) Number 4
http://cscc.scu.edu
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2. Spectator Sports Entertainment . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Published four times a year by the Centre for the Study of
3. Sports and the Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Communication and Culture (CSCC), sponsored by the
Sports Pages in Daily Newspapers . . . . . . . . . . 6 California Province of the Society of Jesus.
Sports Papers and Magazines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Copyright 2003. ISSN 0144-4646
Periodicals Published by Sport Clubs
and Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Editor: William E. Biernatzki, S.J.
4. Sports and Radio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Managing Editor: Paul A. Soukup, S.J.
5. Sports and Television . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
6. Sports and the Internet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14
7. Sports Journalists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15 Subscription:
8. Sports and Gender . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16 Annual subscription (Vol. 22) US$45
9. Sports and Race . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
10. Sports, Drugs, and Violence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .19 Payment by check, MasterCard, Visa or Amex; US$ pre-
11. Sports and Religion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21 ferred. For payments by credit card, send full account
12. Sports, Media, and Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22 number, expiration date, name on account, and signature.
13. Sports, Media, Politics, and National Identity .25
14. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 Checks and/or International Money Orders drawn on
USA banks (for non-USA banks, add $10 for handling)
Editor’s Afterword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .27 should be made payable to Communication Research
Trends and sent to the managing editor
Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .28 Paul A. Soukup, S.J.
Communication Department
In the Journals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .42 Santa Clara University
500 El Camino Real
Santa Clara, CA 95053 USA

Transfer by wire to: Bank of America, 485 El Camino

Real, Santa Clara, California. 95050, Account 00425-
14510, Routing #121000358. Add $10 for handling.

Address all correspondence to the managing editor at the

address shown above.
Tel: +1-408-554-5498
Fax: +1-408-554-4913
email: [email protected]

The Centre for the Study of Communication and Culture

(CSCC) is an international service of the Society of Jesus
established in 1977 and currently managed by the
California Province of the Society of Jesus, P.O. Box 519,
Los Gatos, CA 95031-0519.

2 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

 Sports and Media
Daniel Beck and Louis Bosshart
University of Fribourg—Freiburg (Switzerland)
email: [email protected]; [email protected]

1. Introduction
“Sports and the mass media enjoy a very symbiot- self control to collective values like sportsmanship and
ic relationship in American society” (McChesney, 1989, fairness, and generally accepted values like the belief
p. 49). This statement holds true not only for the United in effort and productivity, the advantage of competi-
States but also for most contemporary industrialized tion, and—following the logic of capitalism—the sur-
societies. The “very symbiotic relationship” between vival of the fittest. Sports also act as seismographs of
the media and sports has profoundly affected both par- social and cultural changes within social units of any
ticipants. And the advertising industry forms an impor- size. They are strongly linked to the prevailing
tant part of the relationship. Both sports and mass media lifestyles in modern societies. Sports, to a certain
keep trying to reach people as spectators, fans, and con- degree, can even replace a function of religions by
sumers; both actively affect the audience as well as the defining a specific set and hierarchy of values.
advertising market (including the sponsors). Sports are integrative and image building ele-
Sport refers to a playful self-development, self- ments for individuals, segments of societies, and entire
actualization, and competitive use of physical and societies. They act as unifying forces and strong factors
mental skills. The history of sport activities is as long of socialization, improving the social acceptance of
as the history of humans. Fitness played an important athletes and their fans. Sports can also support social
role in human evolution. For example, hunting, one of and cultural identities and the construction of national
the main adaptive problems in evolutionary history, identities.
requires physical fitness and good teamwork. For
hunters, these qualities meant more and/or better food;
better and/or more food meant better chances in the References
battle for survival. Good physical, mental, and social
Adelman, M. (1986). A sporting time: New York City and the
shape improved the chances to successfully protect
rise of modern athletics, 1820-1870. Urbana:
groups and tribes from other groups of aggressive University of Illinois Press.
intruders. Because of this connection, we can say that Andrews, D. L. (Ed.). (2001). Michael Jordan, Inc.:
the first sportsmen were hunters and soldiers. Indeed, Corporate sport, media culture, and late modern
there are strong theories of sports being symbolic America. Albany: State University of New York Press.
hunts, either for other humans or for animals. Blain, N., & Bernstein, A. (Eds.). (2003). Sport, media, soci-
Most civilizations know sport activities of an ele- ety. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass.
mentary nature: running; boxing; wrestling; animal Boyle, R. & Haynes, R. (2000). Power play: Sport, the
fights; horse races; throwing the javelin, the discus, or media, and popular culture. Harlow, England and New
stones; archery; swimming; dancing; etc. No wonder York: Longman.
contemporary players and fans still find sports very Brown, R. S., & O’Rourke III, D. J. (2003). Case studies in
attractive. The development of sports from pre-historic sport communication. Westport, CT: Praeger.
Carroll, D. M. (2000). An interdisciplinary study of sport as
times until now is a function of industrialization, mod-
a symbolic hunt: A theory of the origin and nature of
ernization, and telecommunication. sport based on paleolithic hunting. Lewiston, NY: E.
In themselves, sports provide reliable mirrors of Mellen Press.
societies. They reflect social values that can extend Cashmore, E. (2000). Making sense of sports (3rd ed.).
from individual values like discipline, asceticism, and London and New York: Routledge.

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 3

Carter, J. M., & Krüger, A. (Eds.). (1990). Ritual and record: McChesney, R. (1989). Media made sport: A history of
Sports records and quantification in pre-modern soci- sports coverage. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), Media, sports,
eties. New York: Greenwood Press. and society (pp. 49-69). Newbury Park, CA, London,
Coakley, J., & Donnelly, P. (Eds). (1999). Inside sports. and New Delhi: Sage.
London and New York: Routledge. Morris, D. (1981). The soccer tribe. London: Cape.
Cox, R. W. (2002). Sports history: A guide to scholarship, the Morris, D. (1985). Bodywatching. A field guide to the human
literature, and sources of information. Portland, OR: species. London: Cape.
Frank Cross Publishers. [also published as Cox, R. W. Pope, S. W. (Ed.). (1997). The new American sport history:
(1994). History of sport: A guide to the literature and Recent approaches and perspectives. Urbana:
sources of information. Frodsham (Cheshire), UK.] University of Illinois Press.
Davies, R. O. (1994). America’s obsession: Sports and soci- Rader, B. G. (1999). American sports: From the age of folk
ety since 1945. Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace games to the age of televised sports (4th ed.). Upper
College Publishers. Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Elias, N., & Dunning, E. (1986). Quest for excitement: Sport Real, M. R. (1998). MediaSport: Technology and the com-
and leisure in the civilizing process. Oxford, UK and modification of postmodern sport. In L. A. Wenner
New York: Basil Blackwell. (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 14-26). London and New York:
Finn, G. P.T., & Giulianoti, R. (Eds.). (2000). Football cul- Routledge, 1998
ture: Local contests, global visions. London and Riess, S. A. (1984). The American sporting experience: A
Portland, OR: Frank Cass. historical anthology of sport in America. New York:
Giulianotti, R. (1999). Football: Sociology of the global Leisure Press.
game. Cambridge: Polity Press. Riess, S. A. (1989). City games: The evolution of American
Gorn, E., & Goldstein, W. (1993). A brief history of urban society and the rise of sport. Urbana: University
American sports. New York: Hill and Wang. of Illinois Press.
Hackforth, J. (Ed.). (1988). Sportmedien und Mediensport. Riess, S. A. (1995). Sport in industrial America, 1850-1920.
Wirkungen, Nutzung, Inhalte. Berlin: Vistas. Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson.
Hargreaves, J. (Ed.). (1982). Sport, culture, and ideology. Roberts, R., & Olson, J. (1989). Winning is the only thing:
London and Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Sports in America since 1945. Baltimore: Johns
Holt, R. (1989). Sport and the British: A modern history. Hopkins University Press.
New York: Oxford University Press. Rowe, D. (1999). Sport, culture and the media: The unruly
Horky, T. (2001). Die Inszenierung des Sports in der trinity (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies).
Massenkommunikation. Theoretische Grundlagen und Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Analysen von Medienberichterstattung. Jesteburg: Sands, R. R. (Ed.). (1999). Anthropology, sport, and culture.
Steffen Burmeister. Westport, CT: Bergin and Garvey.
Horky, T. (Ed.). (2003). Die Fussballweltmeisterschaft als Schwier, J. (Ed.). (2000). Sport als populäre Kultur. Sport,
Kommunikationsthema. Untersuchungen und Beiträge Medien und Cultural Studies. Hamburg: Feldhaus/
zur Berichterstattung über die Fussballweltmeister- Czwalina.
schaft 2002 in Japan und Südkorea (Sport & Kom- Schwier, J. (Ed.). (2002). Mediensport. Ein einführendes
munikation, vol. 1).Hamburg: Horky. Handbuch. Hohengehren: Schneider.
Jhally, S. (1989). Cultural studies and the sports/media com- Schwier, J. (2002). Sport im Fernsehen—Angloamerikani-
plex. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), Media, sports and society sche Studien zum Phänomen des Mediensports. In J.
(pp. 70-93). Newbury Park, CA, London, and New Schwier (Ed.), Mediensport. Ein einführendes
Delhi: Sage. Handbuch (pp. 73-100). Hohengehren: Schneider.
Kinkema, K. M., & Harris, J. C. (1998). MediaSport studies: Strauss, B., Kolb, M., & Lames, M. (Eds.). (2002). Sport-
Key research and emerging issues. In L. A. Wenner goes-media.de: zur Medialisierung des Sports.
(Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 3-13). London and New York: Schorndorf b. Stuttgart: K. Hofmann.
Routledge. Thomas, R. (1993). Le sport et les médias. Paris: Vigot.
Krüger, A., & Scharenberg, S. (Eds.). (1993). Wie die Wenner, L. A. (1991). Media, sports, and society (2nd ed.).
Medien den Sport aufbereiten. Ausgewählte Aspekte Newbury Park, CA, London, and New Delhi: Sage.
der Sportpublizistik. Berlin: Verlagsgesellschaft Wenner, L. A. (Ed.). (1998). MediaSport. London and New
Tischler. York: Routledge.
Lamprecht, M., & Stamm, H. (2002). Sport zwischen Kultur, Whannel, G. (2000). Sport and the media. In J. Coakley, &
Kult und Kommerz. Zürich: Seismo/KNO. E. Dunning (Eds.), Handbook of sports studies (pp.
Lüschen, G. (1967). The interdependence of sport and cul- 291-308). London, Thousand Oaks, CA, and New
ture. International Review of Sport Sociology, 2, 115- Delhi: Sage.
122.

4 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

2. Spectator Sports Entertainment

We generally understand entertainment as a Bosshart, L., & Macconi, I. (1998). Media entertainment.
pleasant, restful, stimulating, and exciting reception Communication Research Trends, 18(3), 3-8.
phenomenon—as a pleasant experience of the physical Bourdieu, P. (1993). How can one be a sports fan? In S.
system (sensory activities), of the psychological sys- During (Ed.), The cultural studies reader (pp. 339-
tem (ego-motions), the social system of individuals 356). London and New York: Routledge.
Brown, A. (Ed.). (1998). Fanatics: Power, identity and fan-
(socio-motions), the cognitive system (wit, intellectual
dom in football. London and New York: Routledge.
arousal), and the spiritual system. Bryant, J. S., Brown, D., Comisky, P. W., & Zillmann, D.
We cannot clearly differentiate entertainment and (1982). Sports and spectators: Commentary and appre-
sports. Sports have become an integral source of enter- ciation. Journal of Communication, 32(1), 109-119.
tainment for contemporary societies because spectator Bryant, J. S., Comisky, P. W., & Zillmann, D. (1977). Drama
sports have every single ingredient of delightful enter- in sports commentary. Journal of Communication,
tainment. What are those entertaining elements? 27(3), 140-149.
(Schramm & Klimmt, 2003, p. 61) Bryant, J. S., & Raney, A. A. (2000). Sports on the screen. In
• public participation, i.e., personal involvement D. Zillmann, & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Media entertain-
with songs, ola-waves, games, and gambling; ment: The psychology of its appeal (pp. 153-174).
• show elements with links to arts, like skating or Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
dancing; Comisky, P. W., Bryant, J. S., & Zillmann, D. (1977).
Commentary as a substitute for action. Journal of
• rituals before, during, and after events, like the
Communication, 27(3), 150-153.
introduction of players, the national anthem, hand- Crabb, P. B., & Goldstein, J. H. (1991). The social psychol-
shakes, etc. The opening ceremonies of Olympic ogy of watching sports: From Ilium to living room. In
Games or World Championships have become J. S. Bryant, & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Responding to the
globally accepted and appreciated liturgies; screen: Reception and reaction processes (pp. 355-
• suspense: dramas, conflict, combat, victory or fail- 371). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
ure, uncertainty, duels (good vs. bad guys), risks— Goldstein, J. H. (Ed.). (1989). Sports, games, and play:
sports offer an “ideal combination of the dramatic Social and psychological viewpoints (2nd ed.).
and the unexpected” (Barnett, 1995, p. 167); Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
• a sense of belonging: rooting, fandom, patriotism, Horky, T. (2003). Emotion, Spannung und
watching, and talking with friends; Anschlusskommunikation—zur Unterhaltungsfunk-
• identification with stars, icons, heroes, or even tion der Sportjournalistik aus systemtheoretischer
Perspektive. In T. Horky (Ed.), Die Fussballweltmeis-
“saints”;
terschaft als Kommunikationsthema. Untersuchungen
• sex-appeal, bodies in action and on display; und Beiträge zur Berichterstattung über die Fussball-
• mental pleasures provided by unexpected tactics weltmeisterschaft 2002 in Japan und Südkorea (Sport
and new strategies. & Kommunikation, vol. 1, pp. 7-34). Hamburg: Horky.
The media make the sports an important public issue Leconte, B., & Vigarello, G. (Eds.). (1998). Le spectacle du
and, with the help of entertaining stimuli, sell them. sport. Paris: Seuil.
Lever, J., & Wheeler, S. (1993). Mass media and the experi-
ence of sport. Communication Research, 20, 125-143.
Loy, J. W. (1981). An emerging theory of sports spectator-
References ship: Implications for the Olympic Games. In J.
Andrews, D. L., & Jackson, S. J. (Eds.). (2001). Sports stars. Segrave, & D. Chu (Eds.), Olympism (pp. 262-294).
The cultural politics of sporting celebrity. London and Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
New York: Routledge. Morris, B. S. (1984). Sports spectacle as drama: Image, lan-
Barnett, S. (1995). Sport. In A. Smith (Ed.), Television and guage, and technology. Journal of Popular Culture,
international history (pp. 148-168). Oxford: Oxford 18(4), 101-110.
University Press.

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 5

O’Connor, B., & Boyle, R. (1993). Dallas with balls: Wann, D. L., & Branscombe, N. R. (1993). Sport fans:
Televised sport, soap opera, and male and female Measuring degree of identification with their team.
pleasure. Leisure Studies, 12, 107-119. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 24, 1-17.
Rinehart, R. (1994). Sport as kitsch: A case study of the Wenner, L. A. (1998). Playing the MediaSport game. In L. A.
American Gladiators. Journal of Popular Culture, 28, Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 3-13). London and
25-35. New York: Routledge.
Rowe, D. (1995). Popular cultures: Rock music, sport, and Wenner, L. A., & Gantz, W. (1998). Watching sports on tel-
the politics of pleasure. London and Thousand Oaks, evision: Audiences, experiences, gender, fanship, and
CA: Sage. marriage. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 233-
Sargent, S. L., Zillmann, D., & Weaver, J. B. (1998). The 251). London and New York: Routledge.
gender gap in the enjoyment of televised sport. Whannel, G. (1998). Reading the sports media audience. In
Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 22, 46-64. L. A. Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 221-232).
Schramm, H., & Klimmt, C. (2003). “Nach dem Spiel ist vor London and New York: Routledge.
dem Spiel.” Die Rezeption der Fussball-Weltmeister- Whannel, G. (2002). Media sport stars: Masculinities and
schaft 2002 im Fernsehen: Eine Panel-Studie zur Ent- moralities. London and New York: Routledge.
wicklung von Rezeptionsmotiven im Turnierverlauf. Wiggins, D. K. (Ed.). (1995). Sport in America: From
Medien & Kommunikationswissenschaft, 51, 55-81. wicked amusement to national obsession. Champaign,
Sloan, L. R. (1979). The function and the impact of sports IL: Human Kinetics.
for fans: A review of theory and contemporary Zillmann, D., Bryant, J. S., & Sapolsky, B. S. (1989).
research. In J. H. Goldstein, (Ed.), Sports, games, and Enjoyment from sports spectatorship. In J. H.
play: Social and psychological viewpoints (pp. 219- Goldstein (Ed.), Sports, games, and play: Social and
262). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. psychological viewpoints (2nd ed., pp. 241-278).
Spinrad, W. (1981). The function of spectator sports. In G. R.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
F. Lüschen, & G. H. Sage (Eds.), Handbook of social
Zillmann, D. (1993). Spectators: Reaction to sports events
science of sport: With an international classified bibli-
ography (pp. 354-365). Champaign, IL: Stipes and effects on athletic performance. In R. N. Singer,
Publishing Company. M. Murphey, & L. K. Tennant (Eds.), Handbook of
Tomlinson, A. (1996). Olympic spectacle: Opening cere- research on sport psychology (pp. 600-619). New
monies and some paradoxes of globalization. Media, York: Macmillan.
Culture & Society, 18, 583-602.

3. Sports and the Press

The press is the oldest medium regularly inform- Sports pages in daily newspapers
ing people about sports. From the beginning, sports
The first newspapers were published in the begin-
teams showed keen interest in print media coverage:
ning of the 17th century and about 150 years later the
Newspapers formed the principal means of bringing
first sports-related articles appeared. In the middle of
news of coming events and results of past events.
the 18th century sports became a topic in newspapers
News of coming events built audiences for sporting
of the United States: In 1733 the Boston Gazette
contests and, together with the results of past events,
described a local boxing match between the athletes
helped to sell newspapers (Lever & Wheeler, 1993, p.
John Faulcomer and Bob Russel. Such reports about
130). Lamprecht and Stamm distinguish three cate-
sporting events originally formed a part of the newspa-
gories of print media dealing with sports:
pers’ local section. The first newspaper with a special
• sports pages in daily newspapers
sports section was the Morning Herald in England
• sports papers and magazines (with general topics
(1817), followed by other English and American
or specialized in certain kinds of sports)
papers: The Globe (England, 1818), The American
• periodicals published by sport clubs and associa-
Farmer (USA, 1819), and Bell’s Life (England, 1824,
tions (Lamprecht & Stamm, 2002, pp. 148-149)
published on Sundays). The Times, the conservative

6 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

London paper, introduced its sports section in 1829. All target groups, but sports reporting in newspapers has
these sports sections contained local news, as telegraph generally become more personalized and more event-
transmission was not yet available. oriented. Along with these changes the size of the
With the rising popularity of sports such as base- sports section in daily newspapers increased
ball in the U.S. or soccer and cycling in Europe after (Wernecken, 2000, pp. 54-55). Sports reporting in
1870, the sports sections became more important. At newspapers seems to be quite successful today:
that time, telegraph transmission made it possible to Whereas television remains the leading medium for
report sports news instantaneously from outside the sports, the daily sports sections are also very popular,
local area, thus allowing for the first time in history especially among younger readers.
collective involvement in distant sporting events. The
Sports papers and magazines
telegraph was not only used by print media journalists,
but also by sports fans themselves—bettors went to One of the first publications dealing exclusively
pool rooms and saloons equipped with receiving sets with sports appeared in 18th century England: the
(Lever & Wheeler, 1993, p. 127). At the same time, Racing Calendar edited by the English Jockey Club.
very fast rotary press techniques came along with Founded in 1751, this club for upper-class people reg-
lower production costs and therefore lower consumer ularly informed its members about sporting rules and
prices. Newspapers and magazines became a good for forthcoming horse races through its publications.
everybody. The first sports magazines were also released in
A lot of the newspaper readers were now interest- England: Sporting Magazine, founded in 1792; and
ed in popular sports. The New York World became the Sporting Life, in 1821. Both magazines mainly covered
first newspaper with a special sports newsroom in horse races—as betting on horses became very popular
1883. In the 1920s 40% of the local news of the New at that time, people needed information and hints to
York World and 60% of the local news of the New York place their bets. An American pioneer of sports writing
Tribune consisted of sports news. At that time the early was William T. Porter who founded The Spirit of the
way of sports reporting—describing an event chrono- Times at the beginning of the 1830s. The first French
logically—had already been replaced by the modern sports magazine was probably Le Sport (1854); the first
style of journalism, placing the most important infor- magazine in the German language was—apart from
mation at the beginning of the article (Garrison & various club magazines being founded in the middle of
Sabljak, 1993, p. 23). 19th century—the Austrian Allgemeine Sportzeitung
After the introduction of electronic media, espe- (1878). In the USA, the number of sports magazines
cially television, the function of the sports pages multiplied from nine by mid-century to almost 50 dur-
changed. Other media were able to report the results ing the 1890s (Lever & Wheeler, 1993, p. 126).
and the course of a match or a race much faster than the Nowadays there are even newspapers and maga-
newspapers. Nevertheless, the sports pages did not zines that specialize in one sport only. The first spe-
become useless. Live reporting on radio and television cialized weeklies were the following ones:
increased the general interest in sports, but due to a • American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine
lack of time TV and radio reporters could not give (especially horse races), 1829;
enough background information. So it became the • Spirit of the Times (especially fishing, horse races,
newspaper journalists’ task to provide this kind of cricket, rowing, and sailing), 1831.
news: analyses, comments, reports from beside the No doubt, those magazines appealed to upper class
field, track, or arena floor. The most important question gentlemen!
for them was no longer who won, but why he or she or • National Police Gazette, 1845;
the team did. Sports journalism in newspapers became • New York Clipper, 1853
more demanding and achieved a higher level of profes- These two magazines dealt with more popular sports
sionalism than before. like baseball and boxing (Riess, 1995, pp. 29-31). In
For a long time, the popular press wanted to show the Police Gazette, the best selling sports magazine in
sports “from the inside,” being close to the events and the USA, crime, sex, and sport were already interwov-
to the athletes. Quality papers also adopted this style to en, and it seems likely that its success led daily news-
a certain extent (in Europe since the 1960s). Nowadays papers to appreciate the sales potential from coverage
sports fans can find sports sections made for different of sports (Betts, 1953).

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 7

 Other well known specialized magazines and enough time and space for background information,
their founding dates are interpretation, and comment. Besides this, reporting for
• Sports Illustrated, USA, 1954; newspapers costs less than obtaining permissions for
• Le Vélocipède, France, 1868; live-transmissions on television or radio. The huge
• Le Vélo, France, 1891; variety of newspapers and magazines creates many
• L’Auto, France, 1900, today: L’Equipe; niches for many different levels, from the local to the
• In Italy, La Tripletta and Il Ciclista became Gazetta global. There are, of course, differences between the
dello Sport in 1896; penny-press and local, regional, or nationally sub-
• Kicker (specialized in soccer), Germany, 1920 scribed newspapers. The news values seem to be the
(Boyle & Haynes, 2000, pp. 27-28) same ones: identification, dynamism, negativism (suc-
Daily sports papers dealing with all kind of sports cess vs. defeat, damage, cheating), and complexity.
are very popular in countries where they don’t have to
compete with widespread popular papers, since popu- References
lar papers normally feature a very extensive sports sec-
Bertrand, C.-J. (1987). Sports et médias aux Etats-unis.
tion. L’Equipe in France, Gazetta dello Sport and
Esprit 125, 213-229.
Corriere dello Sport in Italy, Marca in Spain—these Betts, J. R. (1953). Sporting journalism in nineteenth-centu-
publications belong to the best selling newspapers in ry America. American Quarterly, 5, 39-56.
their countries. In other countries daily sports reporting Boyle, R., Dinan, W., & Morrow, S. (2002) Doing the busi-
in print media is limited to the sports sections of daily ness? Newspaper reporting of the business of football.
newspapers, which have massively extended their Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 3, 161-
sports coverage and their sports sections in the past 181.
decades. In addition, the market for sports magazines Boyle, R., & Haynes, R. (2000). Power play: Sport, the
tends to favor those specialized in certain kinds of media and popular culture. Harlow and New York:
sports or in certain aspects of sports (fitness, portraits Longman.
of athletes, illustrated features). These publications are Garrison, B., & Sabljak, M. (1993). Sports reporting (2nd
very popular. ed.). Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Goldman, P. (1983). Sporting life: An anthology of British
Periodicals published by sport clubs and sporting prints. London: British Museum Publications.
associations Lamprecht, M., & Stamm, H. (2002). Sport zwischen Kultur,
Kult und Kommerz. Zürich: Seismo/KNO.
Thousands of club magazines exist, though many Lever, J., & Wheeler, S. (1993). Mass media and the experi-
of them are only read by a few dozens of readers. These ence of sport. Communication Research, 20, 125-143.
periodical publications have several functions: They Loosen, W. (1998). Die Medienrealität des Sports:
ensure the flow of information among club members, Evaluation und Analyse der Printberichterstattung.
and they fill a gap in the offerings of the “big” sports Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag.
media by reporting events or topics which are not cov- Lowes, M. D. (1997). Sports page: A case study in the man-
ered by other media. Sometimes club magazines deal ufacture of sports news for the daily press (Canada).
with similar topics as sports books, providing back- Sociology of Sports Journal, 14(2), 143-160.
MacCambridge, M. (1998). The franchise: A history of
ground information about historical, technical, med-
Sports Illustrated Magazine. New York: Hyperion,.
ical, or other aspects of sports. Some magazines pub- Oriard, M. (1993). Reading football: How the popular press
lished by larger associations are professionally made created an American spectacle. Chapel Hill, NC:
and sold to a larger audience, so they look quite like University of North Carolina Press.
other non-club-related sports magazines. Oriard, M. (2001). King football: Sport and spectacle in the
What makes sports so popular for newspapers? golden age of radio and newsreels, movies and maga-
The language of the topic is simple and understandable. zines, the weekly and the daily press. Chapel Hill, NC:
Victory and defeat create tension and emotions in an University of North Carolina Press.
otherwise bored society. Sports create idols and objects Ormezzano, G. P. (1998). Presse und Fussball. Zibaldone.
of public voyeurism. Sports create coins of exchange, Zeitschrift für italienische Kultur der Gegenwart, 25,
i.e., content for public discussions (Lamprecht & 21-28.
Stamm, 2002, pp. 140-145). The fact that print media Ponce de Leon, C. L. (2002). Self-exposure: Human-interest
journalism and the emergence of celebrity in America,
are not live-media becomes an advantage. There is

8 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

 1890-1940. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Vincent, J., Imwold, C., Masemann, V., & Johnson, J. T.
Carolina Press. (2002). A comparison of selected ‘serious’ and ‘popu-
Riess, S. A. (1995). Sport in industrial America. 1850-1920. lar’ British, Canadian, and United States newspaper
Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson. coverage of female and male athletes competing in the
Rowe, D. (1992). Modes of sports writing. In P. Dahlgreen, centennial Olympic Games. International Review for
& C. Sparks (Eds.), Journalism and popular culture the Sociology of Sport, 3, 319-336.
(pp. 96-112). London and Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Wernecken, J. (2000). Wir und die anderen... Nationale
Seidler, E. (1964). Le sport et la presse. Paris: A. Colin. Stereotypen im Kontext des Mediensports. Berlin:
Seidler, E. (1986). Sport à la une. Trente-cinq ans de jour- Vistas.
nalisme. Paris: Calmann-Lévy. Yates, N. W. (1957). William T. Porter and the spirit of the
Thomas, R. (1993). Le sport et les médias. Paris: Vigot. Times. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University
Trujillo, N., & Ekdom, L. R. (1985). Sports-writing and Press.
American values: The 1984 Chicago Cubs. Critical
Studies in Mass Communication, 2, 262-281.

4. Sports and Radio

Up to the early 20th century, the only way to NBC, had radio sets installed in theaters, ballrooms,
share the immediate drama of a sports event was either and barns. About 300,000 boxing fans paid the
to play or to attend. But then came radio. The added entrance fee—it was spent for the reconstruction of
value of the radio—compared to the printed media—is France after the First World War!—and were fascinat-
the opportunity of live reporting. From the very begin- ed. That was the initial ignition for the tremendously
ning the radio took advantage of this asset. Live radio successful diffusion of the radio medium in the United
reporting gave the impression of being there, of being States. In 1927 about 40 million Americans listened to
a witness of something emotional and suspenseful. the live transmission of the Dempsey vs. Sharkey fight,
Announcers learned very quickly to give the impres- this time at home, in front of their own wireless-sets.
sion of dense and dramatic events. Another advantage Already in those early days, ratings showed that
of the radio was and still is its very fast speed. Results reports from sporting events were more popular among
and scores can be diffused instantaneously in a very men than among women—a pattern that still exists
flexible program. And the radio medium can reach today in most countries. In the late 1930s the fight
people at any time anywhere, i.e., in the car, at the between two heavy-weight boxers, Joe Louis and Max
workplace, on the beach, etc. Technically, radio sta- Schmeling, scored a 58% rating among American
tions and their reporters can very easily be intercon- households—radio and boxers, hand in hand, fighting
nected so that radio listeners can virtually move from their way through the market.
one place to another. Finally, radio reporting excels at At first, though, the media establishment proved
interviews, one genuine genre of radio. very hostile to the radio pioneers. Newspaper publish-
Several sporting events have been midwives for ers in various countries pushed through governmental
the commercial and social breakthrough of radio and measures in order to protect themselves. As a result,
television—a birth that led to the co-existence of sev- laws or policies limited news reporting on the radio.
eral kinds of sports with the media. In the USA it was This also affected the sports section. In Great Britain,
boxing that, via live transmissions on radio, made that for example, the BBC radio channel (British
medium and itself popular. On April 4, 1921, the radio Broadcasting Corporation, founded in 1922) forbade
station KDKA broadcast for the very first time a sport- sports news before 7 o’clock in the evening until
ing event, namely a boxing match from the Pittsburgh 1926. Even in 1928, during the Olympic Summer
Motor Square Garden. On July 2 of the same year two Games in Amsterdam, BBC sports reporters were only
New York radio stations (WJY and WJ2) broadcast the allowed to read news agency bulletins—and only after
heavyweight boxing world championship fight 6 o’clock in the evening. At the 1932 Olympic
between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier in Summer Games in Los Angeles, broadcasting time
New York. David Sarnoff, later in his life president of was limited to 15 minutes per day. This time, it was

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 9

the film industry that pushed through the measure can provide results from these contests instantaneous-
(Llinés & Moreno, 1999, p. 22). ly. Furthermore radio sets are small and portable and
Live reporting on the radio increased the number can be used in places where watching TV is impossi-
of people that could follow a sports event at the same ble. Finally, radio can be used as a supplement to tele-
time. But the organizers feared that it could also pre- vision reporting.
vent some people from going to the stadium and pay-
ing the entrance fee. Whereas in the very beginning of References
radio broadcasting, some organizers had even paid the
Bertrand, C.-J. (1987). Sports et médias aux Etats-unis.
broadcasters for having their event on the radio, there
Esprit, 125, 213-229.
was soon a switch of roles. Sports organizers obligated Boyle, R., & Haynes, R. (2000). Power play: Sport, the
the radio broadcasters to pay license fees to them, as a media and popular culture. Harlow and New York:
compensation for the organizer’s lower income due to Longman.
the possible decrease of the audience in the stadium. Cashmore, E. (2000). Making sense of sports (3rd ed.).
Already by the 1930s in the USA, the organizers of London and New York: Routledge.
baseball games and boxing matches demanded license Catsis, J. R. (1996). Sports broadcasting. Chicago: Nelson-
fees from the radio broadcasters. In the beginning sev- Hall.
eral radio stations avoided the payment by using an Gilmore, P. (1993). Sport on local radio: A producer’s view.
illegal method: The reporters listened to the programs The Sports Historian (Journal of the British Society of
of other stations, which had paid the fees, and trans- Sports History), 13, 26-30.
mitted the information to their own audiences. But the Lever, J., & Wheeler, S. (1993). Mass media and the experi-
ence of sport. Communication Research, 20, 125-143.
payment of license fees soon became commonplace.
Llinés, M., & Belén Moreno, A. (1999). The history of radio
The radio stations reporting the World Championship and television coverage of the Olympic Games. In
fight between the heavy-weight boxers Joe Louis and International Olympic Committee (Ed.), Television in
Max Schmeling in 1935 had to pay US$27,500 for the Olympic Games: The New Era (pp. 15-40).
license fees. Still, everybody made a profit. Despite the Lausanne: International Olympic Committee.
live reporting on the radio, 88,000 spectators went to Oriard, M. (2001). King Football: Sport and spectacle in the
the fight and paid entrance fees, so radio proved to be golden age of radio and newsreels, movies and maga-
no threat to sport arenas’ attendance. And because of zines, the weekly and the daily press. Chapel Hill, NC:
the high audience rating, advertisers were willing to University of North Carolina Press.
pay more than the usual rates for a radio spot before, Schaffrath, M. (1997). Sportberichterstattung im dualen
during, or after the live broadcast of a sports event Hörfunksystem. Rundfunk und Fernsehen, 45, 351-
(Cashmore, 2000, p. 277). 373.
Smith, R. A. (2001). Play-by-play: Radio, television, and
Even if it has to compete with television, radio
big-time college sport. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
remains an important medium for sports news today. University Press.
Not all professional contests are televised yet, but radio

5. Sports and Television

Television has clearly become the leading medi- ming from this medium is evident: close-ups, replays,
um in the context of sports. Like the radio, this medi- slow motion, the different angles from different cam-
um allows live reporting, but because it transmits not eras, and cameras that follow the action. It can be
only sound but also live images, the feeling of “being more exciting to be a spectator in front of the televi-
there” is even stronger for television spectators than sion screen than to be a spectator in the stadium, far
for radio listeners. So, with television, major sporting away from the playing field or the arena floor. And,
contests are no longer available just to spectators wit- what is most important, television shows live people,
nessing the event in person, but also to many millions sports-men and -women, usually perfectly built, com-
more who can view the spectacle in their own homes, pletely fit, attractive, and highly trained young people.
thanks to their television sets. The added value stem- The “ménage à trois”—i.e. sports, media, and adver-

10 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

tising—produces a highly marketable service: show- The beginning of television broadcasting was, as
business. well, already closely related to sports. As a test for the
Due to added values—stemming from dramatiza- new medium, promoters established a TV program at
tion, reporting skills, and broadcasting itself—tele- the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. The program
vised sports reaches more individuals than does on-site could be received within a distance of 10 miles from
sports. “The phenomenon of mass consumerism of tel- the sender. But as there were yet no TV sets, the organ-
evised sport has created a much different feel for sport izers also provided 21 auditoriums with large screens
than in the past.” (Rinehart, 1994, p. 25). Combining (Llinés & Moreno, 1999, p. 16). In Great Britain the
show elements with competition, television has even BBC started its TV test program at the end of the same
created a sport of its own, i.e., “American Gladiators.” year, 1936. In the following year, the BBC produced
Television is also backing and profiting from “WWF” the first live report on television from a sports event: It
and “XFL,” i.e., the World Wrestling Federation and a transmitted 25 minutes of a tennis match from the
curious hybrid of American Football and professional men’s single in Wimbledon on June 21, 1937 (Barnett,
wrestling. From a non-American point of view it is 1990, p. 5; Cashmore, 2000, p. 277). On March 19,
interesting to see that the WWF and the World Series 1938, the BBC added a report from a rugby match
both claim a label for something that is anything but between England and Scotland. The first televised soc-
spread worldwide. cer match, also England v. Scotland, followed on April
Television seems simultaneously to support, pop- 9 of the same year. These programs could be watched
ularize, and dominate sports. It has contributed to the only at the about 200 to 300 households in London that
globalization of sports. By the worldwide transmission were already furnished with TV sets (Boyle & Haynes,
of sports traditionally popular only in certain coun- 2000, pp. 38-41). In the USA, on May 17, 1939 NBC,
tries—baseball in America, cycling in France, sumo in for the first time, found a college baseball game worth
Japan—television has fueled new sporting fashions a live transmission. This was probably the first live
elsewhere, and live reports from international events transmission of a sports event in the USA. Major
like the Olympics and Soccer’s World Cup have intro- League Baseball followed on August 26 of the same
duced audiences across the world to new sports. As a year. At that time several hundred TV sets existed in
result, some sports owe their popularity in any part of New York (Crabb & Goldstein, 1991, p. 360; Catsis,
the world almost entirely to television exposure. But 1996, p. 2).
some countries fear that by this development, glam- Early television sports had several technical prob-
orous television sports could obliterate indigenous lems. The cameras were immobile, and close-ups were
sporting traditions (Barnett, 1995, p. 149). Quite simi- impossible. Therefore boxing seemed to be an ideal
lar is the fear that the opportunity to watch major or sport for television in the beginning because of the
international sports events on television could prevent small dimensions of the ring (Cashmore, 2000, p. 277).
sports fans from attending local games. After all, it can Nowadays other sports have become much more
be said that “TV has conferred its favors on only a few important. The 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s brought small-
sports, leaving the majority with insufficient resources er, more mobile cameras with more functions, world-
and exposure” (Rowe, 1996, p. 565). wide satellite transmissions, and, finally, color televi-
To be part of the party, athletes and sports man- sion. These developments were a breakthrough for
agers are ready to accept interference from the side of sports on television. The increased number of TV chan-
television. Media managers decide, for instance, at nels due to cable and satellite television made it possi-
what time a sporting event starts. Several sports have ble in 1979 to start the first network in the USA spe-
accepted changes in their rules just to make the sport cializing in sports, ESPN (Entertainment and Sports
Programming Network). Other sports channels fol-
more suited to television. Commercial breaks are
lowed. In Europe, where the monopoly of public serv-
imposed time-outs. The marriage between sports and
ice broadcasters was broken in most countries in the
television is so tight in some countries that a divorce 1970s and 1980s, Eurosport and DSF, a German sports
would mean bankruptcy for athletes and clubs. But it is channel, went on air. The specialized sports channels
a love-hate relationship with the medium in the have also changed the nature of sports reporting by
stronger position. No television—no publicity; no pub- introducing more entertaining elements. Commen-
licity—no sponsors! tators make a lot of jokes and puns; in the news sum-

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 11

maries, only the most spectacular phases of the games Andreff, W., & Nys, J.-F. (1987). Le sport et la télévision.
are presented. As a consequence, it may be assumed Relations économiques. Pluralité d’intérêts et sources
that athletes change their way of playing just in order d’ambiguités. Paris: Dalloz.
to be seen on television. In general, show business ele- Barnett, S. (1990). Games and sets: The changing face of
ments have become more and more important in tele- sport on television. London: BFI Publishing.
Barnett, S. (1995). Sport. In Anthony Smith (Ed.),
vised sports, which are placed in an increasingly com-
Television: An international history (pp. 148-168).
petitive broadcasting environment. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.
Like the radio broadcasters before them, TV Berkman, D. (1998). Long before Arledge...Sports and tele-
broadcasters soon had to pay license fees if they want- vision: The earliest years 1937-1947—as seen by the
ed to send live transmissions from sporting events. As contemporary press. Journal of Popular Culture,
sports programs soon proved to be very popular with 22(Fall), 49-62.
the audience—and therefore also with the advertis- Bertrand, C.-J. (1987). Sports et médias aux Etats-unis.
ers—these license fees for TV broadcasters became Esprit, 125, 213-229.
higher and higher. The prices for advertising spots Billings, A. C., & Tyler Eastman, S. (2002). Selective repre-
before, during, or after a sports program also rose. In sentation of gender, ethnicity, and nationality in
the USA, where commercial broadcasters competed American television coverage of the 2000 Summer
from the beginning, license fees increased from the Olympics. International Review for the Sociology of
Sport, 37, 351-370.
1960s. In Europe and Australia, where national public
Boyle, R., & Haynes, R. (2000). Power play: Sport, the
service operators at first monopolized television, the media, and popular culture. Harlow and New York:
prices only rose after the introduction of commercial Longman.
broadcasting in the 1980s. Commercial broadcasters Bryant, J. S., & Raney, A. A. (2000). Sports on the screen. In
tried to outbid their competitors for television rights to D. Zillmann, & P. Vorderer (Eds.), Media entertain-
high profile sports, in order to create wider audiences ment: The psychology of its appeal (pp. 153-174).
and to secure lucrative advertising revenue. Following Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
the rules of the market, televised sports have become Burk, V. (2003). Sport im Fernsehen. Öffentlich-rechtliche
very expensive products. und private Programme im Vergleich. Darmstadt:
As a consequence, sportsmen and sportswomen Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft.
can earn tremendous amounts of money, if broadcast- Capranica, L., & Aversa, F. (2002). Italian television sport
ers deem their sport fits television. “Fit” means that the coverage during the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.
International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 37,
respective sport creates drama, risks, sensations, and
337-350.
thrills—and enough breaks for commercials. The Cashmore, E. (2000). Making sense of sports (3rd ed.).
announcers take the role of adding some more value to London and New York: Routledge.
the show by labeling nearly every competition with Catsis, J. R. (1996). Sports broadcasting. Chicago: Nelson-
superlatives. The athletes too can bring some more Hall.
news—and entertainment value—into the game by Cellini, R. (1997). Television coverage of professional foot-
opening their private lives to a big audience. Human ball: Information versus entertainment. Dissertation
interest sells as well as scandals. Sports are a highly Abstracts International, 58 (10), 3766A. (UMI No.
marketable contemporary infotainment stimulus. In AAG9813382)
ancient Rome the emperors exploited a saying that peo- Chandler, J. M. (1998). Television and national sport: The
ple need some bread and some amusement to be quiet United States and Britain. Urbana: University of
and not rebellious: “Panem et circenses”! The “Circus Illinois Press.
Chandler, J. M. (1991). Sports as TV product: A case study
Maximus” was the arena where different kinds of sport
of “Monday Night Football.” In P. D. Staudohar, & J.
created that excitement, live. A. Mangan (Eds.), The Business of Professional Sports
(pp. 48-60). Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Crabb, P. B., & Goldstein, J. H. (1991). The social psychol-
References ogy of watching sports: From Ilium to living room. In
J. S. Bryant, & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Responding to the
Atlanta Centennial Olympics Properties (Ed.). (1996). The
screen: Reception and reaction processes (pp. 355-
television power of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games:
371). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
A research report. Atlanta: Atlanta Centennial
Elsner, M., Mueller, T., & Spangenberg, P. M. (1990). The
Olympics Properties.
early history of German television: The slow develop-

12 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

 ment of a fast medium. Historical Journal of Film, Meadow, R. G. (1989). The architecture of Olympic broad-
Radio and Television, 10, 193-219. casting. In R. Jackson, & T. McPhail (Eds.), The
Feldman, S. (1996). The hungry games: Television at the Olympic movement and the mass media: Past, present
Atlanta Olympics. Queen’s Quarterly, 103, 461-471. and future issues (pp. 7-20). Calgary: Hurford
Fischer, H.-D. (1979). From cooperation to quasi-congruen- Enterprises.
cy—Interdependencies between the Olympic Games Moragas Spa, M. de, Rivenburgh, N. K., & Larson, J. F.
and television. In H.-D. Fischer, & S. R. Melnik (Eds.). (1995). Television in the Olympics. London: J.
(Eds.), Entertainment: A cross-cultural examination Libbey.
(pp. 208-233). New York: Hastings House. Nowell-Smith, G. (1978). TV—football—the world. Screen,
Fortunato, J. A. (2001). The ultimate assist: The relationship 19(4), 45-59.
and broadcast strategies of NBA and television net- O’Neill, T. A. (1989). The game behind the game: High
works. Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press. stakes, high pressure in television sports. New York:
Freeman, M. (2000). ESPN: The uncensored history. Dallas: Harper and Row.
Taylor Publishing. Oriard, M. (2001). King football: Sport and spectacle in the
Friedrich, G. (2002). “American Gladiators”—Merkmale golden age of radio and newsreels, movies and maga-
einer massenmedialen Inszenierung am Rande von zines, the weekly and the daily press. Chapel Hill, NC:
Spiel und Sport. In J. Schwier (Ed.), Mediensport. Ein University of North Carolina Press.
einführendes Handbuch (pp. 223-242). Hohengehren: Patton, P. (1984). Razzle dazzle: The curious marriage of tel-
Schneider. evision and professional football. Garden City, NY:
Gabaston, P., & Leconte, B. (Eds.). (2000). Sports et télévi- Dial Press.
son: regards croisés. Paris: L’Harmattan. Pleitgen, F. (2000). Der Sport im Fernsehen (Arbeitspapiere
Geraghty, C., Simpson, P., & Whannel, G. (1986). Tunnel des Instituts für Rundfunkökonomie an der Universität
vision: Television’s World Cup. In A. Tomlinson, & G. zu Köln). Köln: Verein zur Förderung der Forschung
Whannel (Eds.), Off the ball: The football worldcup auf dem Gebiet der Rundfunkökonomie.
(pp. 20-35). London: Pluto. Powers, R. (1984). Supertube: The rise of television sports.
Gruneau, R. (1989). Making spectacles: A case study in tel- New York: Coward-McCann.
evision sports production. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), Prado, E., & Richeri, G. (1999). New forms of television.
Media, sports and society (pp. 134-154). London and Their impact on sports and the Olympic games. In
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. International Olympic Committee (Ed.), Television in
Gunter, M. (1994). The house that Roone built: The inside the Olympic games: The new era (pp. 151-160).
story of ABC news. Boston: Little Brown. Lausanne: International Olympic Committee.
Hitchcock, J. R. (1991). Sportscasting (electronic media Rader, B. G. (1984). In its own image: How television has
management). London and Boston: Focal Press. transformed sports. New York: Free Press and
Horowitz, I. (1977). Sports telecasts: Rights and regulations. London: Collier Macmillan.
Journal of Communication, 27(3), 160-168. Rannsbjerg, P. (1998). TV sport and rhetoric: The mediated
International Olympic Committee (Ed.). (1996). Olympic event. Nordicom Review, 19(1), 159-173.
broadcasting analysis report: Centennial Olympic Rinehart, R. (1994). Sport as kitsch. A case study of the
Games 1996. Lausanne: International Olympic American Gladiators. Journal of Popular Culture,
Committee. 28(2), 25-35.
Jackson, R., & T. McPhail (Eds.). (1989). The Olympic Rowe, D. (1996). The global love-match: Sport and televi-
movement and the mass media: Past, present and sion. Media, Culture & Society, 18, 565-583.
future issues. Calgary: Hurford Enterprises. Smith, R. A. (2001). Play-by-play: Radio, television, and
Klatell, D. A., & Norman, M. (1988). Sports for sale: big-time college sport. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
Television, money and the fans. New York: Oxford University Press.
University Press. Spence, J. (1988). Up close and personal: The inside story of
Llinés, M., & Belén Moreno, A. (1999). The history of radio network television sports. New York: Atheneum.
and television coverage of the Olympic games. In Steinmann, M., Meienberger, R., & Messerli, F. (2002).
International Olympic Committee (Ed.), Television in Sport am Fernsehen und sein Publikum. Bern: SRG
the Olympic games: The new era (pp. 15-40). SSR idée suisse media services.
Lausanne: International Olympic Committee. Sugar, B. R. (1978). “The thrill of victory”: The inside story
Maitrot, E. (1995). Sport et télé: les liaisons secrètes. Paris: of ABC sports. New York: Hawthorn.
Flammarion. Sullivan, D. B. (1991). Commentary and viewer perception
Masters, C. (1995). Barbarians at the game. Media of player hostility: Adding punch to televised sports.
International Australia, 77, 15-29. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, 35,
487-504.

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 13

Tyler Eastman, S., Newton, G. D., & Pack, L. (1996). Whannel, G. (1992). Fields in vision: Television sport and
Promoting primetime programs in megasporting cultural transformation. London and New York:
events. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, Routledge.
40, 366-388. Williams, B. (1977). The structure of televised football.
Whannel, G. (1986). The unholy alliance: Notes on televi- Journal of Communication, 27(3), 133-139.
sion and the re-making of British sport. Leisure Williams, J. (1994). The local and the global in English soc-
Studies, 5, 129-145. cer and the rise of satellite TV. Sociology of Sport
Journal, 11, 376-379.

6. Sports and the Internet

Since the mid-1990s, not only television but also even if the website has a lot of visits. So numerous
the Internet can transmit live pictures of sports events. sports portal sites have already had to close down due
However, the memory capacity of personal computers to a lack of money. Only the biggest services can sur-
and data transfer rates have set limits to this kind of vive. The best positions are obtained by websites
sports broadcasting so far. Therefore television still embedded in other media activities (see Medau &
remains the most important medium for sports report- Reutner, 2001). For example, a website providing
ing. But the Internet already offers a lot of interesting additional information is mentioned in the print media
options for sports fans today (see, e.g., McDaniel & or on the radio or television programs of the same
Sullivan, 1998; Bieber & Herbecker, 2002). Statistics, owner, and it profits from the good reputation of the
plans, and background information can be consulted well-established media. Furthermore, many sports por-
without any problems because of the almost unlimited tals hope to make money with additional billed servic-
memory capacity of the World Wide Web. So the new es, for example short-message news services for
medium may be used as a sports encyclopedia. mobile phones.
Furthermore, the Internet is a platform on which ath- Websites are comparatively easy to produce and
letes can present themselves: Almost all sports clubs use; with the aid of a search engine, fans can easily
and successful athletes have their own websites. And find even detailed information about special topics. So
finally, the Internet is an interactive medium, so sports the World Wide Web is also an ideal place for sports
fans can also act as web publishers. Some of them col- information and for those sports neglected in other
lect information about their idols and publish it on the media. One of the first websites successfully covering
web; others use discussion forums; and sometimes fans a sports event did not deal with one of the major sports:
place their bets at online betting offices. All in all, it The event was the Whitbread around-the-world sailing
can be said that the Internet has become a popular race in 1997 (Bertrand, 1999, p. 138).
medium for sports fans, too.
The Internet allows a fast worldwide transfer of References
data, so it is well suited to the transmission of short
Bertrand, J. (1999). Internet: Foe or ally? In International
sports news. Portal sites specialized in sports and the Olympic Committee (Ed.), Television in the Olympic
official websites maintained by organizers of sports games: The new era (International Symposium,
events continuously report the latest news and results. Lausanne, 19th-20th October 1998) (pp. 131-142).
These services are very popular, especially during big Lausanne: International Olympic Committee.
sports events. The official websites of the 2000 Bieber, C., & Hebecker, E. (2000). You’ll never surf alone:
Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, the 2002 Winter Online-Inszenierungen des Sports. In J. Schwier (Ed.),
Olympics in Salt Lake City, and the 2002 Soccer World Sport als populäre Kultur. Sport, Medien und Cultural
Cup in Japan and Korea registered billions of page Studies (pp. 211-232). Hamburg: Feldhaus/Czwalina.
views within a few weeks (Settele, 2002). Independent Boyle, R., & Haynes, R. (2000). Power play: Sport, the
sports portal sites are also frequently used. But many media and popular culture. Harlow and New York:
of the free services can hardly recover their expenses. Longman.
The income made by advertising banners is limited,

14 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

Delphy, L., & Bosetti, H. (1998). Sport management and Rowe, D. (1999). Sport, culture and the media. The unruly
marketing via the World Wide Web. Sport Marketing trinity (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies).
Quarterly, 1, 21-27. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
McDaniel S. R., & Sullivan, C. B. (1998). Extending the Settele, C. (2002, June 14). Das runde Leder zappelt im
sports experience: Mediating in cyberspace. In L. A. Netz. Die Fussball-WM bietet dem Internet eine ideale
Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 266-281). London and Arena. Neue Zürcher Zeitung.
New York: Routledge. Stoddard, B. (1997). Convergence—Sport on the informa-
Medau, T., & Reutner, C. (2001). Die Zukunft des Online- tion superhighway. Journal of Sport and Social Issues,
Journalismus aus Sicht des Sports. In G. Roters, W. 1, 93-102.
Klingler, & M. Gerhards (Eds.), Sport und Temple, B. (1995). Sports on the net: Surfing the world of
Sportrezeption (Forum Medienrezeption Band 5, pp. Internet sports. Indianapolis: Que.
185-202). Baden-Baden: Nomos.

7. Sports Journalists

Sports journalists face a very demanding job. was hardly possible for a sports journalist to change
They have to make their comments quickly and pre- departments and to write about other topics.
cisely, and a large audience closely follows their work. Recent studies show that sports journalists have
Still, for a long time, many newspapers considered the gained self-confidence. They are better educated and
sports section as the “toy department” (Rowe & consider their work to be more prestigious than they did
Stevenson, 1995, p. 67), with the sports journalists 20 or 30 years ago. Nowadays, they find that entertain-
being the “outsiders in the editorial office” ment is one of their most important tasks, which differs
(Weischenberg, 1978). Sports journalism had little from the results of earlier surveys. On the other hand,
prestige. Possible reasons for this situation included they aren’t very critical of commercialism and of the
the alleged popularity of the sports section among the role of sponsorship in sports. Apart from that, the atti-
lower classes (although there were always sports fans tudes of sports journalists and other journalists are quite
in all social classes) and the lower education level of similar. Weischenberg (1994) even states that regarding
sports journalists in comparison to other journalists. their attitudes, journalists working for other depart-
Some journalists also criticized their sports journalist ments now approach the attitudes of the former “out-
colleagues who made friends with athletes, thus caus- siders.” All in all, sports journalists seem to be more
ing a lack of professional distance. accepted and more integrated today than ever before.
The lack of training in journalism could in fact be
a problem among sports journalists. Even some References
decades ago, a personal relationship to sports and
Gilmore, P. (1993). Sport on local radio: A producer’s view.
knowledge about sports were much more important
The Sports Historian (Journal of the British Society of
than knowledge or training in journalism for many Sports History), 13, 26-30.
media companies seeking to hire a sports journalist. In Görner, F. (1995). Vom Aussenseiter zum Aufsteiger.
the 1950s and 1960s, the Berner Tagblatt, a Swiss Ergebnisse der ersten repräsentativen Befragung von
daily newspaper, boasted about the fact that the articles Sportjournalisten in Deutschland (Schriftenreihe des
in its sports section were written by active athletes. For Instituts für Sportpublizistik 4). Berlin: Vistas.
many years, this information could be read on almost Hug, H. (1997). Sportinformation (SI) 1922ff. 75 Jahre SI.
every sports page of this paper (Hug, 1997, pp. 27-28). Zürich: Sportinformation SI.
Many sports journalists felt they occupied an iso- Koppett, L. (1994). Sports illusion, sports reality: A
lated position at work: They had more contact with reporter’s view of sports, journalism and society.
sports journalists working for other media than with Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
their colleagues working for other sections of the same Lowes, M. D. (1997). Sports page: A case study in the man-
ufacture of sports news for the daily press (Canada).
medium. Furthermore, as the qualifications for sports
Sociology of Sports Journal, 14(2), 143-160.
reporting and other reporters were quite different, it

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 15

Lowes, M. D., & Stebbins, R. A. (1999). Inside the sports rative Fallstudie. Medien & Kommunikationswissen-
pages: Work routines, professional ideologies, and the schaft, 51, 82-104.
manufacture of sports news. Toronto: University of Tunstall, J. (1971). Journalists at work. London: Constable.
Toronto Press. Weischenberg, S. (1978). Die Aussenseiter der Redaktion.
Rowe, D. (1992). Modes of sports writing. In P. Dahlgren, & Struktur, Funktion und Bedingungen des
C. Sparks (Eds.), Journalism and popular culture (pp. Sportjournalismus. Theorie und Analyse im Rahmen
96-112). London and Newbury Park, CA: Sage. eines allgemeinen Konzepts komplexer
Rowe, D. (1999). Sport, culture and the media: The unruly Kommunikatorforschung. Bochum: Universitätsverlag
trinity (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies). Dr. Norbert Brockmeyer.
Buckingham, UK: Open University Press. Weischenberg, S. (1994). Annäherungen an die
Rowe, D., & Stevenson, D. (1995). Negotiations and media- “Aussenseiter.” Theoretische Einsichten und verglei-
tions: Journalism, professional status and the making chende empirische Befunde zu Wandlungsprozessen
of the sports text. Media Information Australia, 75, 67- im Sportjournalismus. Publizistik, 39, 428-452.
91. Whannel, G. (2000). Sport and the Media. In J. Coakley, &
Schaffrath, M. (2003). Mehr als 1:0. Bedeutung des Live- E. Dunning (Eds.), Handbook of sports studies (pp.
Kommentars bei Fussballübertragungen—eine explo- 291-308). London, Thousand Oaks, CA, and New
Delhi: Sage.

8. Sports and Gender

“There is a close fit between sport and masculin- bodies. Female athletes were often called “girls,” and
ity; each is a part of the other, so that prowess in sport commentators made much more frequent use of their
seems to be, and is seen as, the completion of a young first names than they did when describing male ath-
boy’s masculinity.... To be in sport poses a threat to letes. Furthermore, according to several studies, sports
femininity, and to be feminine poses a problem for journalists used many more attributions of weakness
sporting activity” (Whannel, 1992, p. 126). Since (“weary,” “frustrated,” “panicked,” “dejected”) when
sports descended from hunting and from the fitness reporting about women than when reporting about
that was and still is important for being successful in men; reporting more often showed women in tears and
the fight for survival, some hold that sports manifest a being consoled by others after a defeat; and while they
hegemonic masculinity and that the roles of women as attributed men’s failure mostly to their opponent’s
both sports reporters and athletes threaten that hege- competence, they attributed women’s failure more
mony. But this situation is changing. That means that likely to their own incompetence: “Female athletes
we write this section from the point of view of dis- were nervous, not aggressive enough, too emotional, or
crimination, equal opportunity, and the establishment uncomfortable” (Duncan & Messner, 1998, p. 177).
of parity between the sexes in the media. Sport is no The conceptions of masculinity prevailed.
longer a male religion! It has also been stated that “commentators...focus
In their beginnings women’s sports were limited on personalities as opposed to athletic abilities when
to a few so-called female sports like swimming, figure covering women’s sports” (Horne, Tomlinson, &
skating, tennis, aerobics, or gymnastics. The nature of Whannel, 1999, p. 172). Women were reduced to their
such sports over-determined femininity in an evident appearance or to sex-symbols. Their dream-bodies
way, to the point that some people even regarded served male voyeurism and had to fit generally accept-
female athletes as lesbians. When women competed in ed patterns of attractiveness. This could be shown at its
other, non-traditional female sports, these same best in the so called female sports mentioned above. On
observers doubted their femininity. Gender stereotyp- the other hand, men were stars in combat sports like
ing in televised sports followed the old clichés. football, ice-hockey, boxing, or soccer. The preferences
Portrayals of men showed them as athletic, physically of male and female audiences also mirrored this gender
strong, and aggressive, while the portrayal of women divide. And there was also a difference in the quantity
focused on beauty, traditional roles, physical attrac- of media reporting. Female athletes and sports were
tiveness, and desirability, with a special view of their highly underrepresented, and some major media sports,

16 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

most notably football and baseball, were male only, Duncan, M. C., Messner, M. A., & Cooky, C. (2000).
without parallel female teams for the media to cover. Gender in televised sports: 1989, 1993, and 1999.
From the point of view of parity, sports reporting Published grant report. Los Angeles: The Amateur
is getting better. While some old clichés still appear, Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles. Also available
equality between the two sexes has become more and online: Retrieved October 20, 2003 from http://
www.aafla.com/9arr/ResearchReports/tv2000.pdf.
more accepted. The number of female sports journalists
Guttman, A. (1991). Women’s sports. A history. New York:
has increased, and media coverage of men’s and Columbia University Press.
women’s sports has become—from a quantitative as Hallmark, J. R., & Armstrong, R. N. (1999). Gender equity
well as qualitative point of view—more and more sim- in televised sports: A comparative analysis of men’s
ilar. Sport as a male preserve is largely a thing of the and women’s NCAA Division I basketball champi-
past. This goes even for the representation of sexuality. onship broadcasts, 1991-1995. Journal of
While the swimsuit issues of Sports Illustrated (start- Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 43, 222-235.
ing 1964) showed attractive women for years, now the Hargreaves, J. (1994). Sporting females: Critical issues in
sports industry is looking for new markets for both out- the history and sociology of women’s sports. London
fits and equipment. More and more, the depiction and and New York: Routledge.
exploration of the body, sex, and sexuality has become Harris, J., & Clayton, B. (2002). Femininity, masculinity,
the same for men and women. physicality and the English tabloid press. International
Review for the Sociology of Sport, 37, 397-414.
Hartmann-Tews, I., & Rulofs, B. (2002). Die Bedeutung von
References Geschlechterkonstruktionen in der Sportberichterstat-
Baker, A., & Boyd, T. (Eds). (1997). Out of bounds: Sports, tung. In J. Schwier (Ed.), Mediensport. Ein einführen-
media, and the politics of identity. Bloomington, IN: des Handbuch (pp. 125-150). Hohengehren:
University of Indiana Press. Schneider.
Birrel, S., & Cole, C. L. (Eds.). (1994). Women, sport, and Heywood, L. (2000). The girls of summer: Social contexts
culture. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. for the year of the woman at the `96 Olympics. In K.
Birrel, S. & McDonald, M. G. (2000). Reading sport: Schaffer, & S. Smith (Eds.), The Olympics at the mil-
Critical essays on power and representation. Boston: lennium: Power, politics, and the games (pp. 99-116).
Northeastern University Press New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Burstyn, V. (1999). The rites of men: Manhood, politics, and Horne, J., Tomlinson, A., & Whannel, G. (1999).
the culture of sport. Toronto: University of Toronto Understanding Sport. An introduction to the sociolog-
Press. ical and cultural analysis of sport. London and New
Creedon, P. J. (Ed.). (1994). Women, media, and sport: York: Routledge.
Challenging gender values. Thousand Oaks, CA: Kennedy, E. (2000). Bad boys and gentlemen: Gendered nar-
Sage. rative in televised sport. International Review for
Creedon, P. J. (1998). Women, sport, and media institutions: Sociology of Sport, 35, 59-73.
Issues in sports journalism and marketing. In L. A. Lapckick, R. E. (Ed.). (1996). Sport in society: Equal oppor-
Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 88-99). London and tunity or business as usual? Thousand Oaks, CA:
New York: Routledge. Sage.
Daddario, G. (1998). Women’s sport and spectacle: Lengskyj, H. J. (1998). “Inside Sports” or “On the
Gendered television coverage and the Olympic games. Margins”? Australian women and the sport media.
Westport, CT: Praeger. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 33,
Davis, L. R. (1997). The swimsuit issue and sport: 19-33.
Hegemonic masculinity in Sports Illustrated. Albany: McDonald, M. G. (2000). The marketing of the Women’s
State University of New York Press. National Basketball Association and the making of
Duncan, M. C., & Brummett, B. (1993). Liberal and radical postfeminism. International Review for the Sociology
sources of female empowerment in sport media. of Sport 35, 35-47.
Sociology of Sport Journal, 10, 57-72. McKay, J., Messner, M. A. & Sabo, D. (Eds.). (2000).
Duncan, M. C., Jensen, K., & Messner, M. A. (1993). Masculinities, gender relations, and sport. Thousand
Separating the men from the girls: The gendered lan- Oaks, CA: Sage.
guage of televised sport. Gender & Society, 1, 121-137. Messner, M. A. (2002). Taking the field: Women, men, and
Duncan, M. C., & Messner, M. A. (1998). The media image sports. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota
of sport and gender. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport Press.
(pp. 170-185). London and New York: Routledge. Miller, T. (2001). Sportsex. Philadelphia: Temple University
Press.

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 17

Pedersen, P. M. (2002). Examining equity in newspaper pho- Schwier, J. (2002). Sport im Fernsehen—Angloamerikan-
tographs. International Review for the Sociology of ische Studien zum Phänomen des Mediensports. In J.
Sport, 37, 303-318. Schwier (Ed.), Mediensport. Ein einführendes
Remley, M. L. (1991). Women in sport. An annotated bibli- Handbuch (pp. 73-100). Hohengehren: Schneider.
ography and resource guide, 1900-1990. Boston: G. K. Whannel, G. (1992). Fields in vision: Television sport and
Hall. cultural transformation. London and New York:
Riess, S. A. (1995). Sport in industrial America. 1850-1920. Routledge.
Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson. Whannel, G. (2002). Media sports stars: Masculinities and
Robinson, L. (1992-1993). Images of women athletes. A moralities. London and New York: Routledge.
content analysis of the British media. Working Papers Wörsching, M. (2000). Sporting metaphors and the enact-
in Sport and Society, 1, 65-83. ment of hegemonic masculinity: Sport and advertising
Sargent, S. L., Zillmann, D., & Weaver, J. B. (1998). The in the German newsmagazine “Der Spiegel.” Journal
gender gap in the enjoyment of televised sport. of Popular Culture, 34, 59-85.
Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 22, 46-64.

9. Sports and Race

In the United States people of color suffered from According to sports reporting, their performances were
the very same shortcomings in comparison to white due to uncontrollable external forces, while perform-
people as did women in comparison to men. They were ances of white athletes were due to controllable inter-
underrepresented as sports reporters and they were also nal forces (Davis & Harris, 1998, p. 158). Alternative
underrepresented as athletes. Most studies on racial explanations for African-American athletic success
relations in sports focus on African-American athletes, were often neglected. Other media stereotypes painted
because media coverage of them is still more extensive African-American athletes as self-centered, selfish,
than the very limited coverage of Native-American, and arrogant, whereas white athletes were described as
Latino-American or Asian-American athletes. Up to hard-working team players. Some studies show that
the 1970s, African-American athletes hardly became a still in the 1990s, the media sometimes applied an even
topic in the white mainstream press. Performances of more negative stereotype: the depicting of male
black athletes were only covered when these athletes African-American athletes as uncontrolled, oversexed,
were exceptionally successful, like Joe Louis, Jesse or violent (Davis & Harris, 1998, pp. 160-164). On the
Owens, or Wilma Rudolph. The extent of coverage other hand, stereotypes that appeal to many white
increased when more and more black players entered Americans also exist: African-American athletes are
the major league sports (basketball, football, and base- often considered as hip and cool. Superstars like bas-
ball), but the media presence of black athletes is still ketball player Michael Jordan are presented as accom-
not at levels comparable to their white peers, and it is modating and sometimes even as race-transcendent.
concentrated in particular sports, mainly basketball, But one can argue that such images only set particular
track and field, and boxing. Black superstars being athletes with a privileged status apart from other
successful in former white “elite sports” today, like the African-Americans (Davis & Harris, 1998, p. 165).
tennis players Venus and Serena Williams or the golfer The media played the same role in the construc-
Tiger Woods, still seem to be exceptional, pointing out tion of those images as they did in the depiction of
that social constraints limiting African-American par- female athletes. There were fewer black sports
ticipation in many sports may still exist today. reporters and journalists; the portrayal of black people
Black athletes were not only underrepresented, was guided by old clichés. The bulk of research find-
but also portrayed in a distorted way. While reporters ings shows evidence of covert racism. But recent stud-
and fans praised white athletes for their tactical skill, ies point out a heightened sensitivity of sports media
their strategy, and their intelligence, they celebrated when reporting about black athletes: for instance,
black athletes for speed, power, leg power, and stami- physical descriptors and negative evaluations are less
na. Blacks were mostly described as natural athletes: often used (Sabo, Jansen, Tate, Duncan, & Leggett,

18 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

1996, p. 13). So again, things seem to be changing for Jarvie, G. (Ed.). (1991). Sport, racism and ethnicity. London
the better! and New York: Falmer.
Kirsch, G. B., Harris, O., & Nolte, C. E. (Eds.). (2000).
Encyclopedia of ethnicity and sports in the United
References States. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Ashe, A. (1988). A hard road to glory: A history of the Afro- Lapchick, R. E. (Ed.). (1996). Sport in society: Equal oppor-
American athlete, 1619-1986 (Vols. 1-3). New York; tunity or business as usual? Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Warner Books. Riess, S. A. (1995). Sport in industrial America. 1850-1920.
Baker, A., & Boyd, T. (1997). Out of bounds: Sports, media, Wheeling, IL: Harlan Davidson.
and the politics of identity. Bloomington, IN: Sabo, D., Jansen, S. C., Tate, D., Duncan, M. C., & Leggett,
University of Indiana Press. S. (1996). Televising international sport: Race, ethnic-
Birrel, S., & McDonald, M. G. (2000). Reading sport: ity, and nationalistic bias. Journal of Sport and Social
Critical essays on power and representation. Boston Issues, 20(1), 7-21.
Northeastern University Press. Shropshire, K. L. (1996). In black and white: Race and
Booth, D. (1998). The race game: Sport and politics in South sports in America. New York: New York University
Africa. London and Portland, OR: F. Cass. Press.
Carrington, B., & McDonald, I. (Eds.). (2001). “Race,” Tudor, A. (1998). Sports reporting: Race, difference and
sport, and British society. London and New York: identity. In K. L. Brants, J. Hermes, & L. van Zoonen
Routledge. (Eds.), The media in question: Popular cultures and
Cashmore, E. (1982). Black sportsmen. London: Routledge public interest (pp. 147-156). London and Thousand
and Kegan Paul. Oaks, CA: Sage.
Davis, L. R., & Harris, O. (1998). Race and ethnicity in U.S. Wiggins, D. K. (1986). From plantation to playing field:
sports media. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. Historical writings on the black athlete in American
154-169). London and New York: Routledge. sports. Research Quarterly, 57, 101-116.
Harrison, K. C. (1998). The assassination of the black male Wiggins, D. K., & Miller, P. B. (Eds.). (2003). The unlevel
image in sport. Journal of African American Men, playing field: A documentary history of the African
2(3), 45-56. American experience in sport. Urbana, IL: University
of Illinois Press.

10. Sports, Drugs, and Violence

Where big money is at stake people go as far as taken doses of strychnine and brandy in order to stay
possible. In sports, that means that some readily risk on his feet. However, he was allowed to keep his medal
damage to their own health and to the health of com- (Cashmore, 2000, p. 191). Later, progress in sports
petitors. Athletes who take drugs create—as long as they medicine improved pharmaceuticals to treat sports-
are caught!—scandals and sensations, i.e., news values related injuries; at the same time, new supplements to
for the media. Athletes who are utterly violent against promote competitive performance were developed.
their opponents create entertainment value. Both values But up to the 1960s, the risks of taking drugs in sports
are highly marketable and profitable for media. (that had become obvious with the amphetamine-relat-
The history of drug use in sports is as long as ed death of the British cyclist Tom Simpson at the 1967
sports history itself. The Greeks and Romans were Tour de France) were discussed rather than the moral-
already known to use plants, mushrooms, or animal ity of it. Harsh denunciations of sports performers
parts such as horns or the secretions of testes as a way found to be taking drugs began to appear only from the
of improving physical or mental performance. In the 1980s (Cashmore, 2000, pp. 192-193). The famous
modern era, already in the 19th and early 20th century, cases of drug enhancement by short distance runner
riders, cyclists, and long distance runners took various Ben Johnson at the 1988 Summer Olympics, by soccer
chemicals to aid performance. Thomas Hicks, player Diego Maradona at the 1994 World Cup, or by
marathon winner of the 1904 Olympic Games in St. various cyclists at the 1998 Tour de France as well as
Louis, collapsed after the race—he had repeatedly the systematic supply of East German athletes with

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 19

pharmaceuticals during the Cold War show that nowa- spectators could lose their interest in these sports.
days, taking drugs to improve performance in sports is Moreover, because athletes are means of production,
unanimously considered wrong, as it is not fair and not their managers and employers are interested in their
consistent with the principle of equal opportunity productivity and wish to maintain it at the highest level
among all competitors at a sports event. So the media all the time. Last but not least, the increased awareness
label athletes taking drugs as cheaters. Nevertheless, by the media played an important role in the lower tol-
several scholars have noted that cases of athletes taking erance of drugs and violence in every sport. But, at the
drugs are often reported as extraordinary single events same time, it must be said that some athletes will
and that structural problems in sports that may be relat- always try to win by unlawful means.
ed to drug use are almost never mentioned (Donohew,
Helm, & Haas, 1989; Hills, 1992; Vom Stein, 1988). References
Since sport is a kind of war with strict rules to
Armstrong, G., & Harris, R. (1991). Football hooligans.
limit extreme violence, the violence in sports should
Theory and evidence. The Sociological Review, 39,
never exceed a certain level. However, violence in 427-458.
sports (like drug taking) receives extensive discussion Bryant, J. S. (1989). Viewer’s enjoyment of televised sports
nowadays. Violence by athletes occurs, for example, violence. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), Media, sports and
when they try to win by foul, mainly in sports which society (pp. 270-289). London and Newbury Park, CA:
allow a great deal of body contact. Sports fans can also Sage.
be very violent. Hooliganism is a problem at big sports Bryant, J. S., Zillmann, D., & Raney, A. A. (1998). Violence
events and has made it necessary that police forces and the enjoyment of media sports. In L. A. Wenner
guard stadiums at these events. Whereas Americans (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 252-265). London and New
have primarily studied player violence, British scholars York: Routledge.
have mainly examined spectator violence, focusing on Cashmore, E. (2000). Making sense of sports (3rd ed.).
soccer hooligans (see overview in Kinkema & Harris, London and New York: Routledge.
Donohew, L., Helm, D., & Haas, J. (1989). Drugs and bias
1998, p. 45). Whereas the media sometimes legitimize
on the sports page. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), Media,
player violence as part of the job of professional ath- sports and society (pp. 225-240). London and
letes, reinforce the “sports as war” metaphor, and report Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
violent acts extensively (Trujillo, 1995), they blame the Dunning, E., Murphy, P., & Williams, J. (1986). Spectator
hooligans for driving away more “respectable” fans and violence at football matches. The British Journal of
see the source of spectator violence in the hooligans’ Sociology, 27, 221-244.
mindlessness, without discussing broader societal prob- Dunning, E., Murphy, P., & Williams, J. (1988). The roots of
lems that may contribute to the situation (Young, 1991). football hooliganism: An historical and sociological
But violence in sports is not a new phenomenon. Many study. London: Routledge.
claim that the amount of violence in sports has even Giulianotti, R., Bonney, N., & Hepworth, M. (Eds.). (1994).
decreased during the past centuries. In ancient times and Football, violence and social identity. London:
in the Middle Ages excesses of violence at sports events Routledge.
Goldstein, J. H. (1989). Violence in Sports. In J. H.
seem to have been much more common than after the
Goldstein (Ed.), Sports, games and play: Social and
introduction of strict rules in early modern age psychological viewpoints (2nd ed., pp. 289-297).
(Goldstein, 1989). And when the media began to cover Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
sports events, they commented on cases of violence in a Goldstein, J. H. (Ed.). (1998). Why we watch: The attrac-
negative way: They stated that winning by foul was not tions of violent entertainment. New York: Oxford
fair, and they made it obvious that violence among University Press.
spectators was dangerous for other spectators. So they Hahn, E., Pilz, G. A., Stollenwerk, H. J., & Weis, K. (1988).
also contributed their share that strict rules avoiding Fanverhalten. Massenmedien und Gewalt im Sport
violence could be pushed through. (Schriftenreihe des Bundesinstituts für Sportwissen-
Today organizers and sponsors make it an impor- schaft 60). Schorndorf: K. Hofmann.
tant aim to ban drugs and to keep the amount of vio- Hills, L.A. (1992). Mass media portrayals of drug use in
lence low. Since taking drugs as well as excessive vio- sports. Unpublished master thesis, University of North
Carolina at Greensboro.
lence are considered to be unfair, these abuses could
Kerr, J. H. (1994). Understanding soccer hooliganism.
harm the good image of certain sports. As a result, Buckingham: Open University Press.

20 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

Kinkema, K. M., & Harris, J. C. (1998). MediaSport studies: Trujillo, N. (1995). Machines, missiles and men: Images of
Key research and emerging issues. In L. A. Wenner the male body on ABC’s Monday Night Football.
(Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 3-13). London and New York: Sociology of Sports Journal, 12, 403-423.
Routledge. Vom Stein, A. (1988). Massenmedien und Spitzensport.
Kübert, R., Neumann, H., Hüther, J., & Swoboda, W. H. Theoretische Konkretisierung und ausgewählte
(1994). Fussball, Medien und Gewalt. München: empirische Analyse von Wirkungen der
KoPäd. Mediensportrealität auf den Spitzensport in der
Pilz, G. A. (2000). Sport, Medien und Gewalt. In J. Schwier Bundesrepublik Deutschland. Frankfurt am Main:
(Ed.), Sport als populäre Kultur. Sport, Medien und Peter Lang.
Cultural Studies (pp. 243-262). Hamburg: Wilson, W., & Derse, E. (Eds.). (2001). Doping in elite
Feldhaus/Czwalina. sport: The politics of drugs in the Olympic movement.
Schaffer, K., & Smith, S. (2000). The Olympics at the mil- Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics.
lennium: Power, politics, and the games. New Young, K. M. (1991). Sport and collective violence. Exercise
Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press. and Sport Sciences Reviews, 19, 539-586.

11. Sports and Religion

Developments in contemporary spectator sports cultic actions, and ecstasy are part of experiencing a
reflect changes in our value systems. Individual values sense of community among sports fans. The mass
have become more important than social ones. media are ready and willing to make sure that those
Societies run the risk of being reduced to a collection fans will always have something to celebrate.
of individuals who keep looking for personal perfec- The deeper link between sports and religion can
tion (great bodies, permanent stimulation—mood man- be found in the fact that they both create “systems of
agement and hedonism—and personal enlightenment). sacred symbols that endow the world with meaning
Nevertheless individuals remain social beings, looking and value” (Chidester, 1996, p. 744) as well as oppor-
for social networks. Due to different reasons (secular- tunities to “figure the Gemeinschaft ideal” (Albanese,
ization, mobility, and the lessened importance of polit- 1996, p. 736). Sports and religions alike are structured
ical institutions), sports have become community by clear rules and they both create a sense of the super-
building institutions. To be a fan—like being a believ- natural and superhuman. Believers as well as sports
er—means that individuals are members of a network fans are willing to worship saints or heroes and are
that shares the same value system. equal in the quality of devotion brought to the ceremo-
Sports have the potential to substitute for reli- ny. Both sports and religions can create religious feel-
gions. Mass media create heroes and icons, gods for ings of inspiration, arousal, and enthusiasm up to
some people. Those athletes play the roles of super- ecstasy. To sum it up with David Chidester: “The
humans in well orchestrated spectacles—spectacles ‘church of baseball’ is much more than merely the rule
with a clear liturgy (songs, national anthem, incanta- book. It is a religious institution that maintains the con-
tions, processions) and familiar rituals (rituals of com- tinuity, uniformity, sacred space, and sacred time of
munity, conflict, separation, and reconciliation) in well American life” (1996, p. 745).
looked after sanctuaries (the holy lawn of Wimbledon Sport events can be interpreted as religious per-
or shrines like halls of fame) along a calendar that is formances that are full of symbolic and ritualistic
defined by big events like the Super Bowl. There is a actions, thus creating what Victor Turner called liminal
time for preparation, performance, and celebration. experiences and “communitas,” i.e., Gemeinschaft.
Soccer, for example, has become a world-wide accept-
The kind of communitas desired by tribesmen in
ed replacement of different religions with goals as the their rites and by hippies in their ‘happenings’ is
main goal for many faithful supporters who regularly not the pleasurable and effortless comradeship
make a pilgrimage to special places where they wor- that can arise between friends, coworkers, or
ship a group of chosen ones like David Beckham or professional colleagues any day. What they seek
Zinedine Zidane. Quasi-religious elements like ardor, is a transformative experience that goes to the

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 21

 root of each person’s being and finds in that root Sports is a global vernacular religion, ruled and run by
something profoundly communal and shared. the Olympic Committee and mediated by the mass
(Turner, 1969, p. 138) media!
Fan clubs can be seen as “communitates” and sport
events as “happenings.” And the experience of belong- References
ing together and witnessing outstanding performances Albanese, C. L. (1996). Religion and American popular cul-
can evoke at least quasi or vicarious religious feelings. ture. An introductory essay. Journal of the American
“Religious suggestiveness evoked by producers and Academy of Religion, 59, 733-742.
participants in the culture of baseball” (Albanese, 1996, Chidester, D. (1996). The church of baseball, the fetish of
p. 737) shows that in this regard supply and demand fit Coca-Cola, and the potlatch of Rock ‘n’ Roll.
perfectly well together. Another symbiotic relationship! Theoretical models for the study of religion in
Academic attention has focused more and more on the American popular culture. Journal of the American
relationship between religions and popular culture: Academy of Religion, 59, 743-765.
Drucker, S. J. (1994). The mediated sports hero. In S. J.
In contemporary American society, religion is a Drucker, & R. S. Cathcart (Eds.), American heroes in a
personal, highly individual matter. Yet through- media age (pp. 82-93). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton Press.
out popular culture, particularly in sports and Goethals, G. T. (1990). The electronic golden calf: Images,
entertainment, communal values and dreams religion, and the making of meaning. Cambridge, MA:
effervesce and form themselves into public Cowley Publications.
mythologies and rites. (Goethals, 1997, p. 117) Goethals, G. T. (1997). Escape from time: Ritual dimensions of
popular culture. In S. M. Hoover, & K. Lundby (Eds.),
With regard to sports the author goes on: “Various Rethinking media, religion, and culture (pp. 117-132).
sports—basketball, baseball, football—and entertain- Thousand Oaks, CA, London and New Delhi: Sage.
ment events provide a series of familiar liturgical cal- Higgs, R. J. (1995). God in the stadium: Sports and religion in
endars and sacred sites” (p. 120). Ove Korsgard sees America. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky.
the link between sports and religions in the fact that Korsgard, O. (1990). Sport as a practice of religion: The
“sport is a ritual” (1990, p. 121). record as ritual. In J. M. Carter, & A. Krueger (Eds.),
And what is the role of the media in this context? Ritual and record: Sports records and quantification in
They give access to those rituals. Michael Real sets the premodern societies (pp. 115-122). New York:
equation of “The Super Media Olympics as Global Greenwood Press.
Real, M. R. (1989). Super Media: A Cultural Studies
Mythic Ritual” (1989, p. 223). Olympics are considered
Approach. London and Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
as mythic ritual because they “organize meaning in a
Turner, V. W. (1969). The ritual process: Structure and anti-
culture” (p. 224) and provide “mythic heroes for imita- structure. Chicago, IL: Aldine.
tion” (p. 226). With much enthusiasm, Real comes to Tyler Eastman, S., & Riggs, K. E. (1994). Televised sports
the following conclusion: and ritual: Fan experiences. Sociology of Sport
Journal, 11, 249-274.
Olympic media coverage provides a single event
Williams, P. (1994). The sports immortals. Deifying the
in which seemingly everyone in the world can
American athlete. Bowling Green, OH: Bowling
share. The super media Olympics is the interna-
Green State University Popular Press.
tional tribal fire around which we gather to cele-
brate shared events and values. (p. 240)

12. Sports, Media, and Economy

Since the mass media, especially television, cre- events such as the Olympic Games. The Olympic
ate big audiences, they have become interesting part- Games can help promote sports that rarely get the
ners with sports for economic and political purposes. attention that the aforementioned professional sports
This development mainly concerns professional do. And so the history of the modern Olympic games
sports like football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soc- has become a history of Olympic commercialism. Big
cer, tennis, or motor sports, but also major sports money is at stake! Selling the television property

22 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

rights was and still is like having the right to print willingly paid more than their competitors. This high
money. No wonder that members of the Olympic demand for sports transmissions had several causes.
Committee asked for a “fair” share and took bribes. In today’s highly segmented media market, big sport-
(See, e.g., Lenskyj, 2000; Jennings 1996; Jennings & ing events such as the Olympic Games or the Soccer’s
Sambrook, 2000, about the scandals with IOC mem- World Cup are some of the very rare events which
bers involved.) still command a large audience, regardless of class,
Why have sports become big business? age, or other interests. Furthermore, language barriers
Professional athletes participate in more and more do not matter much in sports, so an event can be trans-
intensive training and use more and more sophisticated mitted internationally (Gaustad, 2000, pp. 111-112).
sports apparatus; so elite sports at these levels become Finally, for a long time, sports transmissions did not
expensive. In addition, the athletes demand high cost very much to produce and were easy to prepare.
salaries or high prize sums from the organizers of Later, they mainly became expensive due to the
sports events. The organizers pay these sums, since the license fees.
presence of famous athletes makes their events more Therefore the demand for sports transmissions is
attractive—but only if the audience needn’t pay much high, but they are in short supply. Only a very small
higher entrance fees. That’s why there are sponsors number of big sports events generate the really vast
who help the organizers finance the event. audiences. Media companies which don’t manage to
Sports sponsors have existed for a long time. In get the license to transmit a big event, e.g. the
pre-industrial time, noble families not only supported Soccer’s World Cup, can hardly find competitive
artists, but also sportsmen in order to get a good repu- alternatives to fill their programming during the
tation among the common people. This kind of patron- event. Furthermore, live transmissions can only be
age was replaced by commercial sponsorship in the transmitted once, unlike other entertainment pro-
19th century. The English food producer “Bovril” grams such as movies. The repetition of a sports game
sponsored the Nottingham Forest soccer club in 1896, or a race on TV normally doesn’t make much sense.
and the French sports journal L’Auto (which later The thrill is gone when the audience already knows
developed into L’Equipe) was the first organizer and the result. Therefore, the length of the sports program
main sponsor of the famous “Tour de France” bicycle is extended in order to take full advantage of the
race, first held in 1903 (Boyle & Haynes, 2000, p. 48). expensive exclusive rights. A soccer match on TV
But only with the introduction of television has sports does not last the regulation 90 minutes any longer;
sponsoring become omnipresent. Live transmissions including additional reports, analyses, and interviews,
greatly increased the number of people able to read an it could take more than four hours.
advertisement in the stadium. So the sponsors were But problems can emerge. Exclusive rights can
willing to pay the organizers much more money. make the prices go up so high that it becomes more and
At the same time the organizers earned more more difficult for television stations to recoup their
and more money from media license fees for live expenses. A program will lose its attractiveness if it is
transmissions. These programs reached enormously interrupted by advertising spots too often. Several
large audiences and achieved high ratings on TV, and sports programs on pay TV have proved to be of little
so the media could demand extraordinarily high success, especially in countries with a wide range of
prices for advertising spots before, during, and after competing free TV channels. And there is also a certain
a sports event. At least for a while, expensive sports risk of sports programs for media companies. If the
programs could be easily refinanced like this, and most popular athletes have a poor season, TV stations
everybody took advantage. The advertisers could risk losing money. The number of spectators will
send their message to a vast audience; the media decrease as they lose interest, and therefore the prices
could produce an attractive program; the organizers for advertising spots will fall.
earned a lot of money; and the athletes could earn Apart from financial problems, commercialism
higher salaries or prizes. causes other negative consequences for the media. For
In the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s organizers, instance, organizers can dictate the conditions under
media, and sponsors continually raised the prices of which media with exclusive rights must to do their job.
live transmissions. More and more television broad- For example, the International Committee of the
casters wanted to transmit sports events and therefore Olympic games reserves the right to accredit journal-

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 23

ists at the games. Privileges and gifts are included in Guttmann, A. (2002). The Olympics: A history of the modern
this deal. Furthermore, several media companies have games. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press.
themselves bought sports clubs or act as sponsors, thus Jennings, A. (1996). The new lords of the rings: Olympic
creating privileges for their own broadcast properties corruption and how to buy gold medals. New York:
or newspapers in reporting certain events. But in this Simon & Schuster.
way, the companies can also ensure that media cover- Jennings, A., & Sambrook, C. (2000). The great Olympic
age includes no negative news about these events. An swindle: When the world wanted its games back. New
interesting consequence is that organizers of sporting York: Simon & Schuster.
events maximize their revenues from the media but Kistner, T., & Weinreich, J. (1998). Das Milliardenspiel.
make them dependent and vulnerable. In the end, Fussball, Geld und Medien. Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer
though, journalists lose what is their most important Taschenbuch Verlag.
good: independence! Klatell, D. A., & Norman, M. (1988). Sports for sale:
Television, money and the fans. New York: Oxford
University Press.
Law, A., Harvey, J., & Kemp, S. (2002). The global sport
References mass media oligopoly. International Review for the
Barney, R. K., Wenn, S. R., & Martyn, S. G. (2002). Selling Sociology of Sport, 37, 279-302.
the five rings: The International Olympic Committee Lenskyj, H. J. (2000). Inside the Olympic industry: Power,
and the rise of Olympic commercialism. Salt Lake politics and activism. Albany: State University of New
City: The University of Utah Press. York Press.
Bellamy, R. V. (1998). The evolving television sports mar- Maitrot, E. (1995). Sport et télé: les liaisons secrètes. Paris:
ketplace. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 73- Flammarion.
87). London and New York: Routledge. Rowe, D. (1999). Sport, culture and the media: The unruly
Boyle, R., Dinan W., & Morrow, S. (2002). Doing the busi- trinity (Issues in Cultural and Media Studies).
ness? Newspaper reporting of the business of football. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press.
Journalism: Theory, Practice and Criticism, 3, 161-181. Schaffer, K., & Smith, S. (Eds.). (2000). The Olympics at the
Boyle, R., & Haynes, R. (2000). Power play: Sport, the millenium: Power, politics, and the games. New
media and popular culture. Harlow and New York: Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Longman. Schwier, J. (2002). Sport im Fernsehen— Angloamerikanis-
Brinkman, T. (2000). Sport und Medien—Die Auflösung che Studien zum Phänomen des Mediensports. In J.
einer ursprünglichen Interessengemeinschaft? Schwier (Ed.), Mediensport. Ein einführendes
Sportvermarktung und Berichterstattung im Handbuch (pp. 73-100). Hohengehren: Schneider.
Widerstreit. Media Perspektiven, 11, 491-498. Tyler Eastman, S., Newton, G. D., & Pack, L. (1996).
Dietl, H. M. (2003). Globalisierung des wirtschaftlichen Promoting primetime programs in megasporting
Wettbewerbs im Sport. Schorndorf b. Stuttgart: K. events. Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media,
Hofmann. 40, 366-388.
European Television Rights Business. (1999). Spending on Wenner, L. A. (1991). Media, sports, and society (2nd ed.).
sports overtakes movies costs. Screen Digest, 12, 325- Newbury Park, CA, London, and New Delhi: Sage.
332. Whannel, G. (1986). The unholy alliance: Notes on televi-
Gannet Center for Media Studies. (1988). Media economics sion and the re-making of British sport. Leisure
and sports coverage: A conference report. New York: Studies, 5, 129-145.
Gannett Center for Media Studies. Whitson, D. (1998). Circuits of promotion: Media, market-
Gaustad, T. (2000). The economics of sports programming. ing and the globalization of sport. In L. A. Wenner
In U. Carlsson (Ed.), The 14th Nordic Conference on (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 57-72). London and New York:
Media and Communication Research, Kungälv, 14- Routledge.
17th August 1999. Special Issue of Nordicom Review,
21(2), 101-113. Göteborg: Nordicom.
Gorman, J., & Calhoun, K. (1994). The name of the game:
The business of sports. New York: Wiley.

24 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

13. Sports, Media, Politics, and National Identity

The fact that the whole world is looking at a cer- country the athlete comes from (Von Krockow, 1996,
tain country or a city makes the organization of world pp. 361-367).
championships or Olympic games very attractive. For a long time, the relationship between sports
Several countries and political parties tried to show and politics was not an important topic for sports jour-
their power and achievements via television to millions nalists. When events in the world of sports became
of viewers. It all started in Berlin in 1936 when Leni politically relevant, e.g., when the USA and the Soviet
Riefenstahl produced a great documentary called Union boycotted the Olympic Summer Games in the
“Olympia” with the side effect of celebrating mascu- early 1980s, the comments were mostly written by
line beauty and the start of a new future. political journalists and not by sports journalists. But
Not only the ruling classes try to take profit from during the 1980s and 1990s, an awareness of political
the worldwide focus on a given country or event. background information related to sports has increased
Opposing forces, too, try to create news-value to get among sports journalists, probably because of better
the attention of the media: for example, in 1968, stu- education and changing editorial policies.
dents on the Tlatelolco square in Mexico or the “Black But are sports really important for the image and
Power” gesture of Tommie Smith and John Carlos in the prestige of a nation? In fact, sports media influence
the stadium; in 1972, Palestinian terrorists in Munich; the way people look at their own and other countries.
and in 1988, trade unionists and students in Seoul. The media focus on athletes starting for their own coun-
The close relationship between sports and politics try, and they have spread the same clichés about other
is not only striking at Olympic Games or at similar big countries for ages: Germans are hard-working and
events. Several surveys showed that spectators often ambitious, Italians are passionate, French are proud and
consider athletes as representatives of the social and also ambitious, Brits are tough and fair, Asians are
political system of their country (see Riggs, Eastman, quick and nimble. Applying such national stereotypes
& Golobic, 1993; Rivenburgh, 1993). Therefore, suc- has several functions in sports reporting: It can be used
cess in sports seems to be good for the prestige of a to describe an event in a simplified way, to comment on
country. It can also be useful for domestic politics, as it it, or to raise certain expectations in a forthcoming
can strengthen the feeling of belonging together in a event. The clichés reported in the media often corre-
country or a region. Rooting for a team is a part of the spond to the traditional clichés of the spectators and
process of putting down roots (see Bairner, 2001; readers (see Wernecken, 2000; Riggs, Eastman, &
Bromberger, 1995; Boyle, 1996). Success in sports can Golobic, 1993; Rivenburgh, 1993). Since an important
also distract from the problems of everyday life. These part of the news about certain countries consists of
functions help to explain the large amount of money sports reporting (Pütz, 1993), we should not underesti-
paid for sports development plans not only in former mate the ways that sports media can stabilize such
communist countries before 1989, but also in demo- clichés. The importance of national stereotypes in sports
cratic countries even today. Good results at internation- reporting explains to a certain extent why success in
al sports events seem to be an important goal mainly in sports can increase the prestige of a country, because in
smaller countries. case of success, rather positive stereotypes are high-
There is a paradox here. The great interest of pol- lighted. Nevertheless, the media use national stereo-
itics in sports is probably related to the fact that sports, types and clichés in quite flexible ways: Sometimes
after all, are apolitical. Sports games are a world of “Brazilian style” soccer is also played by Germans.
their own, with clear rules being valid everywhere in
the world. The results and scores are measurable and References
verifiable. Under these conditions, a success in sports
Bairner, A. (2001). Sport, nationalism and globalization:
must be accepted worldwide as a great performance,
European and North American perspectives. Albany:
regardless of the political and social system of the State University of New York Press.

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 25

Baker, A., & Boyd, T. (Eds.). (1997). Out of bounds: Sports, Maguire, J. (1999). Global sport: Identities, societies, civili-
media and the politics of identity. Bloomington, IN: sations. Cambridge: Polity Press.
University of Indiana Press. McKay, J., Lawrence, G. A., Rowe, D., & Miller, T. (2001).
Barry, J. M. (2001). Power plays: Politics, football, and Globalization and Sport. London: Sage.
other blood sports. Jackson, MS: University Press of O’Donnell, H. (1994). Mapping the mythical: A geopolitics
Mississippi. of national sporting stereotypes. Discourse and
Blain, N., Boyle, R., & O’Donnell, H. (1993). Sport and Society, 5, 345-380.
national identity in the European Media. Leicester: Puijk, R. (Ed.). (1997). Global spotlights on Lillehammer.
Leicester University Press. Luton: University of Luton Press.
Bourg, J.-F. (1988). Le sport en otage. Paris: La Table Pütz, W. (1993). Das Italienbild in der deutschen Presse.
Ronde. Eine Untersuchung ausgewählter Tageszeitungen.
Bourg, J.-F., & Gouguet, J.-J. (1998). Analyse économique München: Ölschläger.
du Sport. Paris: Presses universitaires de France. Randy, M., & Miller, T. (Eds.). (1999). SportCult.
Boyle, R. (1992). From our Gaelic fields: Radio, sport and Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
nation in post-partition Ireland. Media, Culture and Rees, R. C., & Miracle, A. W. (Eds.). (1986). Sport and
Society, 14, 623-636. social theory. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics
Boyle, R. (1996). “The grand old game”: Football, media Publishers.
and identity in Scotland. Media, Culture and Society, Riggs, K. E., Tyler Eastman, S., & Golobic, T. S. (1993).
18, 549-565. Manufactured conflict in the 1992 Olympics: The dis-
Bromberger, C. (1995). Le match de football. Ethnologie course of television and politics. Critical Studies in
d’une passion partisane à Marseille, Naples et Turin. Mass Communication, 9, 253-272.
Paris: Bayard Ed. Riordan, J., & Krueger, A. (Eds.). (1999). The international
Brookes, R. (2002). Representing sports. London: Hodder & politics of sport in the 20th century. London: E & FN
Stoughton. Spon; New York: Routledge.
Chandler, J. M. (1988). Television and national sport: The Rivenburgh, N. (1993). Images of nations during the 1992
United States and Britain. Urbana: University of Barcelona Olympic opening ceremony. In
Illinois Press. International Olympic Committee (Ed.), Olympic
Crolley, L., & Hand, D. (2002). Football, Europe and the Centennial Congress Bulletin (pp. 32-39). Lausanne:
press. London and Portland, OR: Frank Cass. International Olympic Committee.
Duke, V., & Crolley, L. (1996). Football, nationality and the Rowe, D., McKay, J., & Miller, T. (1998). Come together:
state. London: Longman, 1996. Sport, nationalism and the media image. In L. A.
Giulianotti, R., & Williams, J. (Eds.). (1994). Game without Wenner (Ed.), MediaSport (pp. 119-133). London and
frontiers: Football, identity and modernity. Aldershot, New York: Routledge.
UK: Arena, 1994. Schwier, J. (2002). Sport im Fernsehen— Angloamerikanis-
Goldlust, J. (1987). Playing for keeps: Sport, the media and che Studien zum Phänomen des Mediensports. In J.
society. Melbourne: Longman Cheshire. Schwier (Ed.), Mediensport. Ein einführendes
Gumpert, G., & Drucker, S. J. (Eds.). (2002). Take me out to Handbuch (pp. 73-100). Hohengehren: Schneider.
the ballgame: Communicating baseball. Cresskill, NJ: Simon, R. L. (1985). Sports and social values. Englewood
Hampton Press. Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Guttmann, A. (2002). The Olympics, a history of the modern Von Krockow, C. G. (1996). “Sieg oder Tod.” Über Sport und
games. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Politik. In H. Sarkowicz (Ed.), Schneller, höher, weit-
Hill, C. R. (1996). Olympic politics: Athens to Atlanta 1896- er. Eine Geschichte des Sports (pp. 356-368).
1996. Manchester and New York: Manchester Frankfurt am Main: Insel.
University Press (distributed in the U.S. and Canada Wann, D. L., & Branscombe, N. R. (1993). Sport fans:
by St. Martin’s Press). Measuring degree of identification with their team.
Hill, C. R. (1999). The cold war and the Olympic movement. International Journal of Sport Psychology, 24, 1-17.
History Today, 49, 19-25. Wenner, L. A. (1991). Media, sports, and society (2nd ed.).
Houlihan, B. (1997). Sport, policy and politics: A compara- Newbury Park, CA, London, and New Delhi: Sage.
tive analysis. London and New York: Routledge. Wernecken, J. (2000). Wir und die anderen. Nationale
Maguire, J. (1990). More than a sporting touchdown: The Stereotypen im Kontext des Mediensports. Berlin:
making of American football in England, 1982-1990. Vistas.
Sociology of Sport Journal, 7, 213-237.
Maguire, J. (1993). Globalization, sport development, and
the media/sport production complex. Sport Science
Review, 2, 29-47.

26 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

14. Conclusions

The rise of the mass media is the most significant ed new media realities. At the end television changed
development in modern sports, a development in the sports into a money-making show business.
context of market forces. The relationship between The importance of televised sports made it also
sports, media, and the advertising industry is symbiot- interesting for media studies. The long list of books and
ic—a mutually dependent relationship. This means that articles on sports and television gives evidence for the
all elements in that system get a fair share, a share growing interest of media scholars in what has become
the most important non-important issue in contempo-
everyone only gets with the help of others while help-
rary societies. The development from sports news in
ing others. One could also say that the cooperation of
the local columns of newspapers to the creation of
the above mentioned partners is crucial for the survival sports-only television channels gives further evidence
of the three of them. of the importance of sports in leisure societies.
Sports generates news as well as entertainment Since the category “sports” plays such an impor-
values. That makes it highly attractive for the media. tant role for the media, they improved the professional
And the history of the media shows that they exploited competence of the persons who cover sports events and
that lucrative source from the very beginning. their actors. Sports reporters became well regarded and
Following their own logic, they added highly mar- highly respected journalists in their media concerns.
ketable qualities to the business of sports reporting. Their main good is entertainment.
Sporting events underwent dramatization and personal- Sports has the capacity of creating strong and
ization, and became producers of sensations and stories long lasting images for athletes and their countries.
of human interest. The medium of radio—following Performances of sportsmen and -women quite often are
the telegraph—allowed live transmissions and added the filters through which the whole world sees a nation,
speed to sports reporting. Television added the person- a country, a society, or a party. No wonder that politi-
al experience of authenticity and offered the possibili- cians show interest in apolitical events. Good perform-
ty of witnessing sporting events without going to the ances, fine success, and glorious athletes create—with
stadium or arena. In addition to that, with the help of the help of the media—identity and integration. And
different techniques (close ups, slow motion), it creat- this, after all, is something every social unit needs.

Editor’s Afterword
William E. Biernatzki, S.J.

As the authors of this issue’s review article right- social functions like those of religion, bringing people
ly remark, sports perform many useful social functions together for emotionally absorbing rituals and giving
in contemporary civilizations. They are especially them a sense of unified “belief” and action for a com-
valuable as a kind of “social glue,” providing common mon cause.
topics for conversation that enable people to meet and Sports are usually represented as inspiring the
interact with relatively little danger of conflict, as they development of higher virtues, such as fairness, “play-
discuss sporting events that are familiar to all but affect ing by the rules,” self-discipline, etc. Public opinion
few at such a deeply visceral level that disagreements supports this function when violators of “fairness,” for
about them might lead to violence. In a real sense, example, are found out and subjected to public
then, sports can be seen as a means for the sublimation ridicule. In the early days of the Greek Olympic games,
of rivalries that might otherwise be expressed in vio- an athlete who was found to have cheated was required
lence or other socially unacceptable ways. Viewed to pay for a human-sized statue of the god Zeus that
from another perspective, sporting events perform was then installed at the entrance to the stadium in

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 27

Olympia and inscribed with the name of the cheater, sion of ethics is essential, and a perennial return must
his violation, and the name of his hometown. The row be made to the fundamental principles of constructive
of such statues that all had to pass to enter the games sport. The corrupting influence of big money and of the
served as a warning to all athletes of the social stigma tendency for media sports to fall into the trap of “bread
they would entail by cheating—a disgrace that would and circuses” must be monitored and resisted.
follow them throughout their lives; extend to their fam- Sports, like other media offerings, may encourage
ilies, descendants, and towns; and endure for centuries, the passivity of the proverbial “couch potato,” and in
as long as the statues remained standing! doing so they may have many ill effects, for example
In the modern world, the mass media play the role channeling the attention of viewers away from more
of the statues at the ancient Greek games. The use of important matters that they might otherwise be able to
steroids and other drugs to gain an advantage over influence for the better, notably politics with its impli-
other competitors has become a major violation, and cations for future world peace. Continuing attention to
fear of committing it is greatly reinforced by media education in the correct use of media by their children
publicity concerning such cases. Ethics in sports has and by adults themselves is the only evident means of
become especially important, as the mass media look combating this tendency.
for “scandals” they can turn into “news”—but, unfor- Sports do not necessarily pose a liturgical chal-
tunately, ultimately into profit as well. lenge to religion, even though they might seem to com-
The profit motive is undeniably intermeshed with pete in filling some of the same social functions. In the
the development of mass-mediated sporting events— United States, Notre Dame’s football team actually
especially those with national or world-wide audi- may have performed a valuable unifying role among
ences, such as the World Cup, the Summer and Winter American Catholics challenged by their dissolving
Olympics, Wimbledon, the Tour de France, and the immigrant identities in the mid-20th century. Steel
American Superbowl and World Series. Increasing workers whose names all ended in -ski or -wicz could
emphasis on the profit motive by athletes, teams, join those of German and Italian extraction to become
leagues, and media networks has changed sporting the “Fighting Irish” on autumn Saturday afternoons,
events significantly from what they were a few decades and their Catholic identity was at least implicit.
ago. For example, televised American professional
football games now schedule timeouts to fit the need Book Reviews
for advertising time slots on the TV networks. Sports
sections of newspapers often dedicate more space to Brungs, Robert, S.J., and Marianne Postiglione,
contract negotiations or the sexual foibles of prominent R.S.M. (Eds.). Advances in Neurocience: Social,
sports figures than they do to reporting on the games Moral, Philosophical, Theological Implications
themselves. Many athletes continue to give good (Proceedings of the ITEST Workshop, September
example by their personal lives, but often news about 2002). St. Louis: Institute for Theological Encounter
them is eclipsed by the vast attention devoted to other with Science and Technology/ITEST Press, 2003. Pp.
athletes’ violations of basic moral standards. When that vi, 230, ISBN 1-885583-11-7 (pb.) $19.95 (available
happens, notoriety tends to become valued, rather than from ITEST, 3601 Lindell Blvd., St. Louis, MO 63108,
high standards of virtue. To continue the Greek paral- USA. E-mail: [email protected]; website: http://ITEST
lel, it seems almost as if some strive to erect monu- .slu.edu)
ments to their own degeneracy; and the media then The 2002 workshop on neuroscience continued the
seem willing to help bear the cost of the sculptures. annual series of workshops sponsored by the Institute for
It would be naive to expect the nexus among big Theological Encounters with Science and Technology
sport, big media, and big business to ever disappear, as and designed to explore the interfaces between theology
long as contemporary cultural norms persist. But if reg- and the whole range of modern scientific and technolog-
ulatory bodies are well-constituted and do their work ical developments. The topic selected for discussion in
conscientiously, we can expect some kind of ethical the 2002 workshop was the particularly difficult one of
status quo to be maintained. That picture has many “the state of scientific knowledge of the biology of the
deficiencies, but sport can, even within that frame of brain... [and the] complex moral, social and theological
reference, continue to supply some of the social and questions raised by the ‘new neuroscience’,” according
personal needs it has done in the past. Constant discus- to Dr. Amalia Issa of the Southern Illinois University
School of Medicine, in her foreword, “Searching for

28 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

Truth in the Gray Matter” (p. i). Dr. Issa went on to note and emerging concerns spawned by recent advances in
that while “we did not attempt to seek consensus on the the neurosciences” (pp. 44-45).
issues raised,” the book offers “sophisticated insights Carla Mae Streeter, O.P., Associate Professor of
and reflections” on those issues, and that “the partici- Systematics as Aquinas Institute of Theology, in St.
pants left fortified knowing that the important questions Louis, explains “Organism, Psyche, Spirit—Some
were being considered and that there is yet much work Clarifications Toward an Anthropological Framework
to be done both in the scientific realm and in its interface for Working with Neuro-Psycho-Sciences.” The quest
with faith” (p. iii). for an adequate anthropology can no longer start from
Four papers were presented for discussion. Dr. theory—as Aristotelian and Thomistic rational psychol-
Keith Crutcher, Professor and Director in the ogy has traditionally done—but must begin with “empir-
Department of Neurosurgery at the University of ical observation of the functioning human being,” to
Cincinnati Medical Center, asked “Is There a God Spot account for “what is going on when the human comes to
in the Brain?” admitting that “there are limitations to know anything” (pp. 58-59). At the same time, “from a
evaluating any evidence that might bear on an answer” faith perspective, anthropology can never be the same
(p. 1). He concludes that while individuals may report after the incarnation.” While “neurological and brain sci-
an “awareness of God,” nevertheless “the interpretation ence must be taken seriously, ... sound self-appropriation
of such states is highly problematic and ultimately must that reclaims the contemplative wonder in our awareness
be left to the individual having the experience” (p. 17). needs to be taken just as seriously” (p. 65).
Dr. J. Michael Wyss, Professor of Cell Biology at Following presentation of the four papers, the
the University of Alabama, Birmingham, discussed remainder of the workshop was devoted to open dis-
“The Neurobiology of Choice: What Studies into cussion among the panelists and the 28 other attendees,
Learning and Memory Tell Us.” He says that “the philo- whose expertises covered a wide range of scientific and
sophic definition of ‘free will’ remains ambiguous, and theological specializations. Some of the discussion
there is little scientific data with which to understand it centered on the question of the morality of gene thera-
better” (p. 22). He describes a model that offers py that would treat a disorder and that would move
beyond treatment into the area of genetic enhancement
a realization of the human being free to make
of normal capabilities. A theologian noted that “to play
choices among alternative behaviors that will
best accomplish the ends, one of which may be
God” would be sinful, “but it is not a sin to cooperate
the greater release of dopamine in the cortex. But with God by further perfecting what God has made.”
will such a model ever be able to approximate But to do so morally one would have first to understand
our intuitive feeling of consciousness and free nature and preserve all its goodness. “To produce
will? (p. 34) someone who is all muscle but has little intelligence is
not perfecting human nature,” but to perfect human
He concludes that the brain is able to balance the feel- intelligence and free will would be fine, “since it is
ings that arise from sensory and emotional information highest in human nature” (p. 164). On the other hand,
it receives, “and calculate a course of action that best making the proper distinctions can be difficult.
fits the present and past contingencies” (p. 34). An additional point was made that the numbers
Dr. Amalia Issa, whose Ph.D. is in Neurological and proportions in the general population of those with
Sciences, and who has done work in both medical ethics neuro-degenerative diseases are steadily increasing,
and Alzheimer’s disease and the ageing brain, discusses especially as the population ages. It was suggested that
“Emerging Moral Questions for Twenty-first Century an ecumenical quasi-religious order might be estab-
Neuroscience.” One question is “whether there is a neu- lished to mobilize dedicated care givers to meet this
ral basis for morality and where it resides. (p. 39) ... growing problem.
Studies that suggest that the brain is hardwired for — W. E. Biernatzki, S.J.
morality, while interesting, challenge our understanding
of human identity, free will, and responsibility” (p. 41). Coles, Robert A. (Ed.). Issues in Web-Based
These challenges encounter the principles of natural law Pedagogy: A Critical Primer. Westport, CT:
which insist on “the dignity and worth of each human Greenwood Press, 2000-2001. Pp. v, 414. ISBN 0-
life [which] is the necessary starting point for the moral 3133-1226-5 (hb.) $99.95; 0-3133-2158-2 (pb.)
reasoning required to begin to grapple with the present $32.00.

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 29

 Issues in Web-Based Pedagogy offers a much- public performance. Karaoke, amateur singing per-
needed and very useful collection of critical essays on formances of previously recorded songs that have had
a rapidly developing area of pedagogy. The collection the main lyrics digitally removed, is part of the “local
is divided into two parts. The first part focuses on the- music” scene in communities all across the United
oretical issues such as the proper philosophical and States. Karaoke cuts across ethnic, socioeconomic,
political aims and governing policies that should guide regional, and cultural lines; fans can find Karaoke
web-based pedagogy. A number of the essays offer nights at establishments ranging from neighborhood
very helpful historical backgrounds that help orient pubs to gay bars, hot downtown clubs, biker bars, hotel
readers not already familiar with the role web peda- lounges, and private parties. Drew explores these dif-
gogy and distance learning in general play in American ferent settings as a full participant, performing songs
education. The second part focuses on empirical and on stages and acting as an appreciative audience mem-
practical considerations involved in actually conduct- ber at show after show.
ing web-based teaching and learning. The articles Drew and his fellow performers embrace “the
address key issues such as technology integration, the radical notion that culture is ordinary—that music is
large up-front demands of time and resources of web- not marginal to daily life, something to be supplied by
based teaching, how to encourage active learning, a chosen few artists, but a necessary part of living” (pp.
teaching effective research skills, building online learn- 17-18). How Karaoke situates public singing by ama-
ing communities, and facilitating productive online teurs as a popular cultural art form and enables indi-
discussion. vidual to claim a public voice is the question that drives
While generally supportive of web-based teach- this book.
ing and learning, the authors do not generally sink to Karaoke Nights traces the introduction of
the level of uncritical boosterism. Rather, the authors Karaoke from its Japanese roots to the U.S., through its
take web-based teaching and learning as a experiential heyday as a craze, and into its persistent presence in a
fact that needs to be critically understood and respond- myriad of local settings. Drew examines the music
ed to appropriately. Orienting the entire collection is industry, celebrity culture, and the silencing of average
the question: “What assumptions should be challenged voices in a world that glorifies the abstract perfection
and which skeptical questions should be addressed by of elite performers. He demonstrates that Karaoke per-
those presently using this technology or those thinking formance has both deeply personal significance for its
of embracing it?” Naturally, some authors do a better devotees and social significance for reading contempo-
job of responding to the question than others. A partic- rary culture. For Karaoke is not so much about being
ular strength of the collection is the extensive and var- the center of attention, as it is about the “capacity to
ied treatment of the vast political implications of web- realize desire, cultivate empathy, and enlarge identity
based pedagogy for education. College and university through performance” (p. 63). Performing the songs of
teachers, administrators, and support staff who wish others can provide a meaningful way to understand
better to understand the quiet revolution that is trans- ourselves and to connect with people who are very dif-
forming American higher education would we well- ferent from our own selves.
served by reading articles such as Michael Margolis’ I highly recommend Karaoke Nights for scholars
“Using the Internet for Teaching and Research: A and instructors of popular culture and cultural studies;
Political Evaluation.” this would be an excellent supplementary text for upper
—Richard Cain division undergraduate or graduate courses that address
Wheeling Jesuit University the intersections of music, culture, performance, and
identity. Moreover, instructors of ethnography will find
Drew, Rob. Karaoke Nights: An Ethnographic that Drew’s conversational writing style, engaging nar-
Rhapsody. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2001. ratives, and thoughtful connections between theory and
Pp. 160. ISBN 0-7591-0046-2 (hb.) $72.00; 0-7591- everyday life form an outstanding exemplar of contem-
0047-0 (pb.) $24.95. porary ethnographic work. Perhaps most impressively,
Drew’s extraordinary ethnography of the world of Drew accomplishes the difficult feat of artfully inter-
Karaoke combines vivid narratives of performance weaving abstract postmodern, performance, and social
with critical commentary on the popular music indus- theory throughout his descriptions and reflections on
try, celebrity culture, and social norms surrounding Karaoke performances. The result is an accessible and

30 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

fascinating discussion that is deeply grounded in rich Gunter cites extensive studies of media and their users
details and illustrative of the real-world implications of in the U.S., Europe, and the Middle East that document
“high” theory for contemplating—and celebrating— the confusion among editors and publishers about the
contemporary life. nature and purpose of Internet journalism and how to
The book features a combined subject and author profit from it. Many newspapers began by placing their
index. print content online, hoping that consumers might buy
—Laura L. Ellingson online editions and advertisers support such journal-
Santa Clara University ism. However, consumers expected to access most
Internet content for free and advertisers were unsure
Gunter, Barrie. News and the Net. Mahwah, NJ and what they were buying. A constant theme of this book
London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. Pp. x, is that these problems still have not been solved.
218. ISBN 0-8058-4499-6 (hb.) $59.95; 0-8058-4500- Indeed, News and the Net concludes by stating that the
3 (pb). $24.50. need to develop an effective business model is one of
During the 2003 basketball season, I stole odd the most urgent tasks for online journalism (p. 177).
moments during the day to search the Internet to see News organizations are only now starting to deter-
what national news sources were saying about mine who their online readers are, how their usage of
Creighton University’s Top 25-team. Across town, a online news information is similar to and different from
Nepali student who lives with us was reading a their print usage, how writing styles need to change, and
Kathmandu newspaper online. In California, my father how journalists can use the Internet to source stories. A
started the day by checking a worldwide weather news great strength of this book is its focus on the concerns
service to which he subscribes. of working journalists such as questions about the reli-
Each of us exemplifies trends in Internet news con- ability of much web site information. Gunter notes that
sumption highlighted and analyzed in News and the Net newspapers increasingly are expecting reporters to
by Barrie Gunter. This readable, well-documented book obtain background online that in-house library research
is an outstanding summary of the impact of the Internet staffs formerly obtained—a risky assumption consider-
on journalism and news consumers. It also is an excel- ing the widely varying Internet search skills among
lent reference, teaching tool, or source of supplemental reporters. The book’s suggestions about effective news
readings on Internet journalism for courses in media the- writing on the Internet are specific and helpful. Readers
ory, journalism history, news writing, and public rela- seem to like initial summaries of stories and links to
tions. Gunter’s 16-page bibliography alone is probably sidebars—but these can be too short as well as too long
worth the price of the book to scholars. His practical (p. 153). Ease of navigating a news site and the fre-
insights and accessible language should recommend this quency of its updating are other predictors of its popu-
book to publishers and editors trying understand where larity with readers (p. 164).
the convergence of media is taking their field. A fascinating chapter, “Readers and Electronic
News and the Net opens with a mass communica- Newspapers” cites studies that found that checking
tions theory analysis of the Internet that provides the news is the fourth most popular Internet activity after
base for the book’s discussion of the way the Internet is Web surfing, email, and finding hobby information (p.
changing journalism. Gunter states that the Internet is a 144). There are surprisingly weak links to education
“hybrid communications technology, the use of which and income levels (p. 149) even though computer
can switch between mass communication and one-on- access is essential. Many users substitute electronic
one interpersonal communication,” (pp. 14-15). As a information for time spent on more traditional forms of
result of the Internet’s hybrid nature, “there is a need media consumption such as television (p. 152). They
for an evolution in conceptual modeling in which theo- frequently use online media at work or school instead
ry grounded in a one-directional flow of information of at home where they usually read print newspapers.
context embraces thinking that can accommodate bidi- Often they are looking for specific information, like my
rectional message flows” (p. 15). search for Creighton basketball coverage. Emigrants,
According to Gunter, many newspapers began like our Nepali student, read online newspapers from
their Internet editions in the 1990s because their com- home (p. 154).
petitors were doing so—the bandwagon effect–rather The Internet also has spawned new forms of
than for journalistic or business purposes (p. 38). news, some of which take advantage of its interactive

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 31

structure to enable readers like my father to “pull” in sion are warranted” (p. viii). Also, is television really as
selected information services. These formats include “permeated by violence” as the critics suggest? The
user newsgroups, bulletin board newsgroups, web-site research reported on in this book attempts to provide
based bulletin boards, e-mail lists, online news feeds, scientifically-founded answers to these and related
ClariNet, and online news services (p. 58). Some of questions. “The research itself took place within a
these formats raise questions about whether there is wholly British context,” but “a comparison was made
still a distinction between journalists and news con- between these British findings and data provided by a
sumers if everyone is empowered to put “news” con- similar American study conducted at the same time.
tent online. Other concerns include the weakening dis- The comparison indicated considerable degrees of sim-
tinction between news content and advertising, espe- ilarity in the nature of television violence in the two
cially with “pushed” technology such as online busi- countries...” (p. viii).
ness news letters, list serves, and the like (pp. 26-27). After surveying the “parameters of concern”
Other chapters address important unsettled issues about TV violence, in Chapter 1, the authors go on, in
such the upheaval in media law that the Internet has Chapter 2, to consider the difficult area of measure-
created. Traditional rules about libel, slander, copy- ment and analysis both of the occurrence of violence
right, and privacy must be reconsidered, especially in and of its effects. An initial problem is even to arrive at
light of the Internet’s global character. There’s even a a definition of “violence,” given its many possible
section on the impact of the Internet on the practice of dimensions, contents, and categorizations (pp. 18f.).
public relations. Chapter 3 deals with studies of the amount and
The greatest disappointment of this excellent distribution of TV violence. Chapter 4 considers the
book is its conclusion. The final chapter, “The Future many forms violence can take and how they have been
of News Online,” offers mostly platitudes about coping found to be distributed among British television chan-
with what might be coming next. “To survive, news nel offerings. The motives and consequences of vio-
organizations will need to learn quickly how to operate lence are significant factors in judging its harmful
effectively in this new business environment where effects, as studied by research described in Chapter 5.
consumer expectations are different. Success will Research on violence as related to gender, children,
depend on a corporate willingness to embrace change” soap operas, and news is discussed in chapters 6
(p. 177). This seems a little lame but may be as far as through 9, respectively.
an honest author can go at this time. Overall, however, Comparisons between British and American
anyone seriously interested in understanding Internet research findings are described in Chapter 10, based on
journalism will benefit from reading this book. data from the National Television Violence Study in the
—Eileen Wirth U.S. in its first two years, 1994-1996, and the “British
Creighton University television violence content analysis study that covered
the same two years” (p. 224). Although methodological
Gunter, Barrie, Jackie Harrison and Maggie Wykes. differences inhibited comparisons in some key areas,
Violence on Television: Distribution, Form, Context, broad similarities between the two countries were evi-
and Themes. Mahwah, NJ and London: Lawrence dent on many criteria. “Although the American terrestri-
Erlbaum Associates, 2003. Pp. xi, 307. ISBN 0-8058- al television schedules may contain more violent pro-
3719-1 (hb.) $59.95; 0-8058-4644-1 (pb.) $29.95. graming than their British counterparts, the average vio-
Society, especially the “ruling establishment,” lence saturation levels of violence-containing programs
often expresses fears about the effects of violent mass did not vary that much between the two countries” (p.
media—especially television. According to the 241). “Whereas a majority of violent acts on both British
Preface, criticism deriving from such fears often and American television involved the use of weapons,
eclipses recognition of the positive social functions the the most prevalent single type of violence involved the
medium might serve. A major fear is the power of tele- use of the perpetrator’s own body...” (p. 242).
vised violence to promote various forms of violent Chapter 11, on “helping the audience,” discusses
behavior in its audience. viewers’ attitudes towards violence and efforts to pro-
“The important question for those who regulate tect audiences from violent television in Britain, other
the medium and who are the appointed guardians of the European countries, the U.S., and Australia.
public interest is whether these concerns about televi-

32 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

 An extensive bibliography (pp. 266-286) is pro- approach to media. To get a better basic grasp of the
vided, as are author and subject indexes. method, Lynch and Bogen in the first chapter refer
—WEB back to the origin of the approach by Garfinkel. In the
late 1950s Garfinkel was studying jury behavior in
Jalbert, Paul L. (Ed.). Media Studies: Ethnomethod- sorting out how jurors would go about their work. To
ological Approaches. Lanham, MD: University Press his surprise he found that they followed a “common
of America, Inc., 1999 Pp. xx, 284. ISBN 0-7618- sense” process or method (everyman’s approach or
1286-5 (hb.) $57.00; 0-7618-1287-3 (pb.) $38.50. “ethno”-methodology) and came up with a method that
The first chapter of this collection seeks to distin- was useful for handling the carrying out of an ordinary
guish ethnomethodology from media sociology or from activity. Thus was born the method that was later elab-
sociology in general. It spends a good deal of time dis- orated into a more scientific version of the everyday
secting David Morley’s well known Nationwide study activity displayed by the jurors in Garfinkel’s study.
in order to make the point. At the end of a somewhat This book applies the method to the study of media
repetitious chapter, the authors manage to put the dis- texts that shows a consistency with its origins. Though
tinction succinctly: “Sociologists and ethnomethodolo- media study is only a minor topic in a much larger field
gists both address themselves to ‘social structures’ yet for ethnomethodology, its analytical approach that
each conceives of them very differently. The difference eschews explanation and sticks with description fits
can be seen as one of description (ethnomethodology) nicely with media textual analysis. Some examples
versus explanation (sociology)” (p. 29). In short, the from other chapters will illustrate both its strengths and
specific responses given by media audiences in media weaknesses.
studies are taken as explanations of class, power, gen- Stetson, using a newspaper story from Japan about
der, etc. by media sociologists like Morley but as sim- a drunk man’s death under a train because a woman he
ple descriptions of how people respond to media texts was harassing on a loading platform pushed him away,
by ethnomedologists. This does not capture the whole shows how multiple are the categories of people and
thrust of the book as subsequent chapters make clear, their relation to each other that a seemingly simple story
but it is a good beginning. holds. He points out that for this method, one must look
Paul Jalbert, the editor of this volume, has a chap- for not only the category but the action that is implied
ter that seems to belie the assertion of “ethnomethod- in the social relationships among people. The story goes
ological indifference” asserted in the first chapter, i.e., through a number of sequences as the details are
that the communication scholar is committed to ana- brought out in a subsequent trial of the woman and her
lyze texts “without any commitment to their adequacy, eventual acquittal. What one is reminded of by the
correctness, or otherwise” (p. 34). In other words, eth- author is that rules help him do an analysis of the moral
nomethodologists should not be advocates or bring action and not a causal explanation of the happenings.
their own biases to their work, yet Jalbert uses his Many of the authors in this book are careful to make
chapter to show that his analysis of the U.S. television their analyses on the basis of a variety of axiological
treatment of the 1982 Lebanon/Israeli war was not pro- rules that look at a given text in order to make clear how
Palestinian and anti-Israel as some of his critics have the story is told and not what it means or what it says
argued. He contends that he was just being perfectly about the actors in the text or the world at large.
logical in his analysis of the media texts while one of The remaining chapters take journalistic practices
his critics was reading the same texts in a biased way with sports organizations, ethnographic film making,
to show that television treatment was anti-Israel. The radio talk show methods of organizing an audience,
argument illustrates how difficult to grasp are some of and a print story of a Montreal massacre to illustrate
the distinctions that enthnomethodology makes in the variety of ways that ethnomethodology can eluci-
applying its approach to media texts. Looking careful- date a text. But all of these approaches carefully stick
ly to Jalbert’s argument, one finds so many fine dis- to a descriptive analysis of how the texts produce their
tinctions between the validity of his conclusions and particular stories. They are not interested in theory that
the bias of his opponent’s that we often lose the thread. may explain the behavior or event in a larger, sociolog-
All of the eight chapters, including the first chap- ical or communicative sense, but rather in how the text
ter’s critical re-examination of Morley’s study, contain works. In a few cases, the authors try to show conse-
media texts that are analyzed using ethnomethology’s quences but more in a logical or linguistic sense and

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 33

not to explain anything about what were the motives This edition of the annual communication year-
for actions of people in the texts nor the meaning that books, sponsored by the International Communication
audiences may make. Association, arranges its chapters around the theme of
The last chapter by Bjelic is an interesting con- “communication and empowerment.” According to the
trast in that the author reports about a media encounter editor, Pamela Kalbfleisch,
he had with a television news story. Here he is able to
Generally, empowerment is a change from the
recount his own actions and motivations, but the analy-
status quo. Empowerment can lift an individual
sis has quite another purpose. He is intent to refute the or group from the mundane, helping them to
assertion of Baudrillard and later of Virilio that the achieve excellence. Empowerment allows peo-
media has emptied all meaning of what is real or unre- ple to have a say in the outcomes of their exis-
al since all has been reduced to a simple simulacrum tence, and communication is the mechanism
that has no relation to the real world. He cites through which empowerment may be accom-
Baudrillard’s essay that denies that the 1991 Gulf War plished. (p. xi)
ever took place. Bjelic gives examples of how televi-
Consequently, each of the volume’s 11 chapters
sion news often uses stock footage to illustrate differ-
addresses some aspect of the theme. Each chapter con-
ent stories not at all related to the footage as it was orig-
sists of an extended review of the literature, appropri-
inally intended. This seems to reinforce the Buadrillard
ate definitions, and, in some cases, applications.
assertion that the news is the story that the media or a
Chapter 1, “An organizational communication
government or a corporation wants told and is unrelat-
challenge to the discourse of work and family research:
ed to the reality of the event on the ground. But the
From problematics to empowerment” (Erika Kirby,
author asserts that even in a seeming stretch of the truth
Annis Golden, Caryn Medved, Jane Jorgenson, and
in a news story, there is some relation to the broader
Patrice Buzzanell), organizes its material around the
reality being reported. He illustrates this by an example
four areas of boundaries, identity, rationality, and
of his own media experience: Acting as a translator
voice. Each of these has framed research about work
from Serbian to English for a refugee mother newly
and family.
arrived from Bosnia with a sick son who was to be
The second chapter, “Recovering women’s voice:
given care in a U.S. hospital, the author made up a
Communicative empowerment of women of the South”
response for the woman when asked how she felt about
(Rashmi Luthra), shifts the view to the larger world sit-
her arrival. The woman was simply not willing to say
uation. Luthra defines “women of the South” as
anything so the translator made up an appropriate
“women living in poverty and deprivation in every
grateful response. With considerable analysis and
region of the world” (p. 45) and organizes the review
quotes from philosophers about translation, he argues
around two moments. The first, recovering women’s
that he was telling the truth in the broad context of the
voices through deconstructive critique, examines
given situation and was not creating an empty media
deconstructing colonial discourse, deconstructing news
simulacrum. What is clear here and elsewhere is that
and academic discourse, and deconstructing develop-
the limits placed on scholars by ethnomethodology
mental discourse. The second moment traces how
often make analysis of media texts contorted or too
women have exploited openings to create change
detailed for readers to come to more common sense
through the use of women’s media and through the use
conclusions. Even though the approach stemmed from
of new technologies.
the work of unsophisticated jurors in working out an
Everett Rogers and Arvind Singhal define
everyday “folk” method to accomplish a task, the task
empowerment as ‘the process through which individu-
of analyzing media texts may have become too com-
als perceive that they control situations” (p. 67) in
plex to make sense to the everyday educated readers!
Chapter 3, “Empowerment and communication:
—Emile G. McAnany
Lessons learned from organizing for social change.”
Santa Clara University
After introducing the models of active participation
(Paulo Freire) and of dialogic communication, they
Kalbfleisch, Pamela J. (Ed.). Communication
examine case studies of female empowerment training,
Yearbook 27. Mahwah, NJ and London: Lawrence
the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, the Lutsaan Village
Erlbaum Associates, 2003. Pp. xiv, 436. ISDN 0-8058-
study, the Taru Project, and people living with AIDS.
4819-3 (hb.) $135.00. (Special prepaid price $70.00).

34 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

 In Chapter 4, Thomas Jacobson reviews material the 21st century: Integrating perspectives on source,
dealing with participatory communication, applying message, and media credibility in the contemporary
Habermas’s theory of communicative action. After media environment,” Miriam Metzger, Andrew
reviewing trends in the research dealing with social Flanagin, Keren Eyal, Daisy Lemus, and Robert
change, Jacobson presents Habermas’s theory in some McCann apply these traditional categories of credibili-
detail before bringing the two discourses together. ty research to Web-based materials.
Chapter 5, “The problematics of dialogue and power” Chapter 11, “Communicating disability:
(Scott Hammond, Rob Anderson, and Kenneth Cissna) Metaphors of oppression, metaphors of empowerment”
raises questions about how dialogue might work, par- (Stephanie Coopman) looks to the experience of dis-
ticularly when faced with struggles over power. The ability and the varying ways of how people approach it:
authors distinguish convergent dialogue from emergent disability as a medical problem, as cognition, in culture
dialogue; following Foucault, they also distinguish or as culture, as politics, or as community. Coopman
juridical and contingent power. Their model identifies proposes using the community metaphor as a ground-
five areas of tension in dialogue faced with power rela- ing for future research.
tions: tensions over identity, outcome, meaning, voice, As befits the literature review genre, each chapter
and field. features an extensive bibliography. The book has both
The next two chapters attend more carefully to author and subject indices.
media. Chapter 6, “The megaphone effect: The interna- —Paul A. Soukup, S.J.
tional diffusion of cultural media via the USA” (Linda- Santa Clara University
Renée Bloch and Dafna Lemish) examines the cultural
effects of globalization, especially through the power Kevin, Deirdre. Europe in the Media: A Comparison
of U.S.-based media companies. Their case studies of Reporting, Representation, and Rhetoric in National
include CNN, children’s programming, and popular Media Systems in Europe. Mahwah, NJ and London:
music. Chapter 7, “The effects of television on group Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. Pp. xix, 203.
vitality: Can television empower nondominant ISBN 0-8058-4422-8 (hb.) $45.00 (Special prepaid
groups?” (Jessica Abrams, William Eveland, Jr., and price $22.50).
Howard Giles), focuses on groups and the concept of Kevin’s book “draws together the results of sever-
“vitality.” “Vitality has grown from an ethnolinguistic al research projects that examined media coverage of
concept to a theory used to address a broad range of European political and cultural affairs and media repre-
issues related to ethnicity, age, gender, and intergroup sentations of Europe” (p. xvii). It approaches the topic
communication and behavior” (p. 196). The question from two angles. First, it examines the relationship
remains as to the extent and mechanism of television’s between the media and democracy, specifically the prob-
influence on groups and the chapter applies both culti- lem of the democratic deficit in the European Union
vation and uses and gratifications theory to the issues. (EU) political processes, and the issues of public partic-
Chapter 8 turns to public relations, “The empow- ipation and opinion formation. Second, the research
erment of feminist scholarship in public relations and explores the question of media and identity formation.
the building of a feminist paradigm” (Linda Aldoory). National and regional press, both quality and
Here the concern is with both the growing numbers of tabloid/popular titles, from France, Germany, Ireland,
women in public relations and the role of feminist Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United
scholarship. The chapter explores the possibility of a Kingdom were included in the analysis, as well as tel-
feminist paradigm for the research. In Chapter 9, evision programs, both public service and commercial,
Patricia Parker applies the feminist framework to the from the above mentioned countries and Poland. The
work experience of African American women, questions that the research sought to answer included
“Control, resistance, and empowerment in raced, gen- “the role of the media in the democratic process at the
dered, and classed work contexts: The case of African European level and the extent to which the media con-
American women.” The critical communication per- tributes to and reflects the process of European inte-
spective underlies both the organizational communica- gration” (ibid.). Researchers
tion study and the critique of the research.
began with the simple premise that economic
Chapter 10 turns to new communication tech-
and social integration between people in Europe
nologies, particularly the Internet. In “Credibility for is a reality, and that it impacts on people’s lives.

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 35

 It affects the nature of production and distribu- “Public Access and Participation: Challenges in
tion of goods and services, increases the variety Contemporary Applications.”
of goods, and has led to changes in the regula- The two editors introduce the book by discussing
tion of working life. Assuming that the media “Broadcasting and Convergence: Rearticulating the
should play a role in informing people of issues Future Past.” They note how successive advances in
that affect their daily lives and in orientating
media technology have promised “some technological
people and helping them understand central
aspects of integration was the basic area of inter-
utopia.” As most recently stated, “convergence is the
est for the project. (p. 166) premise, digitization is the platform, but as always
utopia remains the promise.” “Convergences” have
Europe in the Media summarizes the results of a been going on a long time, but most recently the word
large number of national studies which consisted of “has mainly been applied to describe digital integra-
content analysis and interviews with media profession- tion.” They insist, however, on the role of culture and
als and politicians. Chapter 1 offers a concise explana- ideology. Conflicts in perspectives are especially evi-
tion of some key notions about the EU, such as dent in the encounter between European ideals of pub-
Europeanisation, Subsidiarity, and Intergovernmental- lic service broadcasting and the “ubiquitous and per-
ism. Chapter 2 briefly outlines characteristics of the suasive American influence,” with its “striking empha-
media landscape in Europe, both the EU-wide and indi- sis on the supreme value of the individual and the sanc-
vidual national systems. The remaining chapters present tity of the private sphere” (p. 19). The American “ide-
and discuss the results of individual national studies. ology of individualism” has fostered wealth creation,
The book provides “several comparative snap- but the editors claim that it has led to a “cumulative
shots of media activity in order to outline characteris- deterioration in standards and principles that would
tics, similarities, and differences in European coun- highlight any recognition that private privileges obli-
tries” (p. 167). The nature of the research object, name- gate social responsibilities” (p. 19).
ly media systems of different nation states, remain too This confrontation of broadcasting philosophies
diverse to allow for anything more than quite general, is especially evident in countries with mixed models.
descriptive, and non specific comparisons. Hal Himmelstein and Minna Aslama point out, for
—Peter Lah example, that, “Lofty ambitions notwithstanding, the
Loyola University of Chicago audience for European public service broadcasting has
declined in many nations to around a 40% share of tel-
Lowe, Gregory Ferrell, and Taisto Hujanen. (Eds.). evision viewers. In the U.S. public television viewing
Broadcasting and Convergence: New Articulations of has historically never risen much above its current
the Public Service Remit. (Papers from the level of a 3% share in prime time” (p. 256).
RIPE@2002 Conference on Broadcasting and This trend is seen as disadvantageous to inde-
Convergence). Göteborg, Sweden: Nordicom/ pendent producers increasingly inhibited by the ideo-
Göteborg University, 2003. Pp. 335. ISBN 91- logically and fiscally influenced gatekeeping of station
89471–18-0 (pb.) n.p. and network managers. Conflicts over regulatory poli-
This report is part of an ongoing initiative, “Re- cies also have proven disruptive, as, for example, in the
Visioning Interpretations of the Public Enterprise” case of European digital television standardization, in
(RIPE), designed “to strengthen collaborative relations which an “inconsistent ‘light touch’ regulation has
between media scholars and practitioners,” focusing on over-ridden public interest principles,” according to
the remit for public service media. The 2002 confer- Pertti Näränen (p. 57).
ence was organized jointly by the Department of Another view of public service broadcasting can
Journalism and Mass Communication of the University be seen in the “state TV model” that dominated many
of Tampere and Yleisradio (YLE), the Finnish Public countries of the “Socialist” block, and others. Whereas
Broadcasting Company. Authors represent 11 coun- the western European model “provides clear evidence
tries, eight in Europe, plus Canada, USA and Australia. that the state as a social agent is not an entirely antag-
The 21 papers are about evenly distributed among onistic force to public service,” in post-socialist soci-
three sections on, “Public Service Concepts in Context: eties a tendency has been present to subordinate former
Media Policy Dynamics,” “Public Service Principles state monopolies to local political elites who try to
and Priorities: Strategy and Accountability,” and ensure they remain instruments of power. While the

36 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

dangers of commercialization have been recognized in tural overview, both of the book and of the role of com-
Russia, for example, distrust of any government-sup- munication in seminaries while Bishop Vadakel exam-
ported system remains strong. “So far,” according to ines the situation in India. White provides a larger pic-
Elena Vartanova and Yassen N. Zassoursky, “politicisa- ture, tracing the interest of integrating communication
tion and entertainisation have become the major trends in seminary education back to the 1970s. His history
in the development of Russian TV, and both stand far presents the various possibilities that communication
from the concept of public service broadcasting” (p. offers to theology, from the ways in which people
106). But the authors strongly emphasize the critical express God’s love to the ways in which the Church
social role of PSB for the future: “public service broad- communicates. He encourages the formation of future
casting is both a part of and a condition for developing ministers to include the interpersonal approach—that
civil society in Russia” (p. 106). is, to include speaking from the heart as well as the
A study reported on by Pirkko Raudaskoski and expression of knowledge.
Tobe Arendt Rasmussen explored the “cross-media and The larger section on method offers a number of
(inter)active media use” in Danish homes. Recognizing challenges to any kind of communication theology. In
the rapidly changing character of media technologies “Theologizing with insights from communication,”
and their uses by families, the authors also felt that Palakeel reviews how literacy affects consciousness and
“consumers/citizens seem to be marginalised in the outlines the “new literacies” in contemporary culture,
present broadcast and convergence discussion, and which provide sites for theological reflection. He con-
therefore we want to bring them more forcefully into cludes by identifying specific features for a communi-
the picture through studies that are inspired by ethnog- cation theology: experiential theology, symbolic theolo-
raphy” (p. 313). gy, aesthetic theology, natural theology, and ecological
This book, in the tradition of the many fine prod- theology. This theme is taken up by Antony Kalliath,
ucts of NORDICOM, offers valuable insights into the C.M.I., who considers the “epistemology of the visual”
experience of convergence/digitalization/globalization, in the context of proposing communication theology as
especially as it has affected public service broadcasting one of inculturation in the contemporary world.
in Europe and, secondarily, by its comparisons with Michael Amaladoss, S.J., challenges the “a priori
similar experiences in North America and Australia. A nature of the whole process” of communicative theolo-
work on such a diverse and complicated field would gy and suggests instead an experiential approach. Here,
have profited by an index, but cost and production time an experience of the media will correct the traditional
obviously may have argued against providing one. over-emphasis on the word in theology and open up
—WEB reflection on sacraments (as symbolic action), on com-
munity life, on prayer, on communion, and even on the
Palakeel, Joseph (Ed.). Towards a Communication modern deception introduced by media manipulation.
Theology. Bangalore, India: Asian Trading Jacob Parappally, M.S.F.S., proposes that the very act of
Corporation, 2003. Pp. 280. ISBN 81-7086-298-1 (pb.) theology is communication and examines it from four
Rs. 300, $20.00. (Asian Trading Company; 58, 2nd perspectives: intra-communication, inter-communica-
Cross, Da Costa Layout; St. Mary’s Town, P.B. No. tion, extra-communication, and ex-communication.
8444; Bangalore 560 084; India). Both John Edappilly, C.M.I. (“Image and sound in
Catholic Church authorities, in documents pub- theologizing”), and Sebastian Elavathingal, C.M.I. (“Art
lished over the last 25 years, have asked for theological and theological communication”), explore image and
reflection on communication. This collection of papers sound in theologizing. The former fixes our attention on
from a 2003 conference at Ruhalaya Theological perception and experience, while the latter develops a
College (Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh, India) responds to sustained investigation into theological aesthetics, sym-
that request in the context of theological education. bolic expression, and revelation. The section on method
Joseph Palakeel, M.S.T., has organized the material in concludes with essays on liturgy as communication
three parts: context, method, and practice. (Pauly Maniyattu) and ways of seeking God in popular
Palakeel, Bishop Sebastian Vadakel, and Robert media and culture (George Sebastian, S.J.).
A. White, S.J., situate the search for communication True to its title, the second major section of the
theology and the integration of communication in the- book addresses practical issues. Sebastian Periannan
ological education. Palakeel’s essay provides a struc- (“Communication theology for formation and mis-

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 37

sion”) outlines ways of teaching theology from the per- Payne, Kay E. Different but Equal: Communication
spective of communication, proposing it as a contextu- Between the Sexes. Westport, CT: Praeger, 2001. Pp. xi,
al theology. His commentary covers all the major 222. ISBN: 0-275-96522-8 (hb.) $65.95.
approaches to theology. Henry D’Souza (“A response Kay Payne’s choice of title for this book is
to new media culture”) approaches the question from extremely well suited to the traditional perspective she
the opposite direction by asking how the media culture, takes within it. Like cultural feminists, she asserts that
specifically as experienced in India, has changed the women and men are fundamentally different from each
context for theology. Two later essays elaborate the other, and that equality between the sexes must involve
complementary approaches of these contributions: (1) recognizing and appreciating, even celebrating, those
Jacob Srampickal, S.J., describes his over 20 years of differences. At no time in the text does Payne call her-
experience in integrating communication into theolog- self a feminist, however.
ical education, considering both the situation in India Payne labels her approach to communication and
and what he judges the more fruitful areas of contact gender as “pluralistic” and contrasts that perspective to
between the two disciplines. (2) George Plathottam, gender communication books written from a feminist
S.D.B., (“Strategy for integrating communication in perspective, which she claims “[depict] females as vic-
theological formation: The Salesian experience”) tims, or females as oppressed” (p. viii). She argues that
reports on the development, content, and use of U.S. society moved to the extreme Left beginning in
Shepherds for an Information Age (Mumbai: Boscom, the 1960s, and she aims through her book to “move the
2000), a book and educational program created by the pendulum back to the center, where we recognize and
Salesian community for their theology students. In an accept men who want to be masculine and women who
attempt to situate these various practical programs, want to be feminine, and all people in between” (p.
Victor Sunderaj surveys the institutions of Catholic viii). Her book succeeds quite well in advancing the
theological education in India and reports on courses, cause of the masculine men and the feminine women,
degrees, and general communication approaches. but does not do as well by the “people in between.”
In the final section’s most theoretical piece, Payne draws on research and theory from a number of
Augustine Savarimuthu, S.J., reconsiders the basis for well known feminist writers and activists, as well as
theology and theological discourse from the perspec- many socially conservative, even antifeminist,
tive of communication study (“Communication chal- researchers and writers.
lenges to theological education”). Rather than limit The most unique aspect of Payne’s book is the
communication to information transmission, as many extensive coverage of religion—both integrated
do, he stresses the constitutive role of communication throughout text and in a chapter devoted to the topic—
in identity, community formation, and reality percep- as a significant force in defining gender roles for both
tion. In this light, communication and communication women and men. Mainstream communication and gen-
practices form the conditions for the possibility of the- der books rarely discuss religion as a primary topic, but
ology; in so doing, they redefine theology as an inter- Payne cites a variety of theologians, philosophers, and
active and contextualized process. proponents of various religious groups. Her chapter on
The essays in this volume, particularly those deal- religion is framed as a debate between the “traditional-
ing with theological method provide an excellent sacred” and the “humanist-feminist” perspectives on
resource and much food for thought. A number of the religious life, and discusses the communication strate-
authors (Amaladoss, Elavathingal, and Savarimuthu in gies used by supporters on each side. She also provides
particular) break new ground as they argue for a redef- a very interesting review of the various strategies that
inition of theology and theological method in the light women and men employ to alleviate the cognitive dis-
of communication. In doing so, they show how taking sonance they experience as they attempt to reconcile
communication seriously will change the lived experi- (or compartmentalize) more traditional religious
ence of reflecting on faith. beliefs with the current realities of communication at
Sadly, the book contains neither an index nor a work, in the family, and within society in general.
bibliography. Some individual essays do feature refer- When discussing gender role development, parenting
ence lists while others have footnoted references. decisions, and other such topics, Payne includes reli-
—PAS gious beliefs as one of the factors women and men con-
sider. The chapter on religion includes sections on the

38 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

major beliefs of Hinduism, Confucianism, Buddhism, impact on our experience of gender. I agree that our
Taoism, Judaism, and Islam and how gender figures as response to oppression is vitally important, but my
part of their teachings. Throughout the remainder of the response as a person with tremendous social privilege
book, religious views are almost always specific to is necessarily different from that of a disempowered
Christianity. and underserved person from a marginalized group,
Other strengths of the book include the explicit and that difference is critically important to under-
focus on the gendered nature of self esteem, a topic standing what gender means.
which most gender and communication textbooks men- In a few instances, I found Payne’s coverage of
tion briefly in more general discussions of child devel- topics objectionable and inaccurate. For example, when
opment; coverage of the language of sex, including sex discussing ecofeminists, Payne quotes a writer, Ebeling,
education, pornography, and changing sexual values; as contending that “many ecofeminists ‘hate men and
and a chapter devoted to examining the relationship want women to control the world’” (p. 27). Payne pro-
between gender and leadership styles. Payne draws on a vides no support for this assertion, nor does she cite
range of scholars representing research and rhetoric another writer with a different perspective on ecofemi-
from both feminists and traditionalists, and she covers nism. In contrast to Ebeling, ecofeminists consistently
the major theoretical perspectives on the gendered portray themselves as having the goal of ending all
nature of communication. In addition to the topics oppression of people which is based in the dominance
already mentioned, the book includes chapters on of humans over Mother Earth, not of hating men (e.g.,
women’s and men’s movements in America; gendered Chase, 1991; Diamond & Orenstein, 1990; Mellor,
communication in close relationships; gendered differ- 1998; Reuther, 1975; Sales, 1987; Wood, 2003).
ences in language, gender and power; nonverbal com- Payne’s choice to quote only one extreme, unrepresen-
munication; and gendered expectations of attractiveness. tative view is unfortunate. Likewise, her choice to
Like any textbook author, Payne had to make explore extensively the flaws of one widely cited study
strategic decisions about what issues to cover and of rape was not complemented by even a mention of
which to leave out, given the constraints of space. how devastating rape can be or of how often rape goes
However, I was disappointed by the lack of considera- unreported by victims who blame themselves. Nor was
tion given to the complex intersections of gender with her discussion of the sinfulness of homosexuality
race, socioeconomic class, sexual orientation, and dis- (including a suggestion that Christians would have
ability—issues that pervade most current communica- more success at helping homosexuals if they “con-
tion and gender textbooks. Payne makes it clear that vinced them with the gospel” instead of using scriptures
she does not view persistent structural inequalities as a to criticize them, p. 97), balanced with a discussion of
significant issue for discussion. Indeed, she claims that gays and lesbians as human beings worthy (at mini-
despite the social privilege and approval she experi- mum) of tolerance, respect, and basic civil rights.
ences as a middle class, married, Caucasian woman, Payne’s book may be well suited to instructors at
she has been subject to “hostility” from others. Based conservative religious institutions whose students
on this hostility, would benefit from a text that reflects ideals similar to
their own. For these students, Different but Equal could
I know what it’s all about to have experienced
function as a stepping stone towards greater apprecia-
those kinds of feelings and that kind of thinking.
My position is that we all experience oppression
tion of women and femininity and of the ways in which
at some level, but, in the final analysis, it’s our women and men often engage in communication from
response to it that matters most (p. ix). very different perspectives.
The book contains both a bibliography and an
Payne remains consistently uninterested in index.
exploring the concrete differences in experience that —LLE
correspond to being at “some level” different from her References
own. At no point does Payne provide any evidence or Chase, S. (Ed.). (1991). Defending the earth: A dialogue
explanation of “what it’s all about” for people whose between Murray Bookchin and Dave Foreman.
sexual orientation, race or ethnicity, income level, or Boston: South End.
bodily abilities are not approved by mainstream cul- Diamond, I., & Orenstein, G. F. (Eds.). (1990). Reweaving
ture. There is virtually no mention of racism, the reali- the world: The emergence of ecofeminism. San
ties of living in poverty, or disability, all of which Francisco: Sierra Club.

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 39

Ebeling, K. (1991, Summer). Ecofeminists and pagan poli- Chapter 6 provides an overview of the common
tics. The Human Life Review, 1-6. quantitative and qualitative methods used in provider-
Mellor, M. (11998). Feminism and ecology. New York: NYU patient communication research. Importantly, the
Press. authors comment on the limitations of the individual
Reuther, R. R. (1975). New woman/new earth: Sexist ideolo- methods, the lack of theoretical models to guide
gies and human liberation. New York: Seabury.
researchers, and the infrequency of multi-method
Wood, J. T. (2003). Gendered lives: Communication, gender,
and culture (5th edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
research. They call for “new models of analysis that are
integrative rather than parallel or competing” and stress
Thompson, Teresa L., Alicia M. Dorsey, Katherine that “nontraditional thinking” will be needed to break
I. Miller, and Roxanne Parrott (Eds.). Handbook of outside the box of current conceptualization of
Health Communication. Mahwah, NJ, and London: provider-patient communication (p. 133). Chapter 7
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003. Pp. 765. ISBN 0- synthesizes research on outcomes of provider-patient
8058-3857-0 (hb.) $145.00; 0-8058-3858-9 (pb.) interaction. The authors explore outcomes relevant to
$59.95. patients—such as satisfaction with health care deliv-
The Handbook of Health Communication repre- ery—and those directly relevant to provider—such as
sents an extraordinary collaboration of noted scholars incidence of medical malpractice suits. Chapter 8
in health communication. The volume provides a com- focuses in on disclosure, a critical element of provider-
prehensive review and critique of contemporary theory patient communication, and its relation to decision-
and research in the field and a detailed map to guide making. Topics include medical disclosure, delivery of
both new and experienced researchers of health care bad news, establishing informed consent, and negotiat-
organizations, public health initiatives, health care ing end-of-life decisions. The final chapter in this sec-
provider-patient interaction, media representations of tion explores how provider-patient interaction varies
health, and social support. The book is divided into six among different types of patients—children, older
sections, each of which begins with an introduction by adults, and women. Historically, these groups have
one of the editors and contains several chapters. been among those marginalized in health communica-
Part I: Introduction. Following an introductory tion research. The authors summarize key findings on
chapter, Part I offers three chapters that broadly sketch the variability of issues across patient groups and pro-
theoretical approaches to health communication. vide sound recommendations for further research in
Chapters address the social construction of health, an these areas.
ecological perspective on health, and a consideration of Part III: Social and Community Health Issues.
the dialectical tension between those who drive towards The five chapters in this section position their discus-
unification and those who see more value in the diversi- sions in the area between the highly specific context of
fication of health communication theorizing. Together, provider-patient communication and the broadly con-
these chapters provide an overview that sets the stage for ceived context of public health messages by exploring
the remaining sections, each of which focuses on a par- local health issues and everyday communication as it
ticular context of health communication. relates to health. Chapters 10, 11, and 12 explore com-
Part II: Provider-Patient Interaction Issues. The munity organizing, community health risk manage-
chapters in this part all stress the importance of effec- ment, working within marginalized groups to effect
tive communication between health care providers and positive change in health, and the role of communica-
patients for improving the process of health care deliv- tion in all of these endeavors. Chapter 12 in particular
ery and for fostering individuals’ health. Chapter 5 provides an outstanding explanation of the “ideology
explores communication skills of both providers and and principles of community-based health communica-
patients. Historically, research has focused on the skills tion scholarship” (p. 241). Admirably, the authors
of health care providers. More recently, researchers explore the privileged view point that they and other
have broadened their scope of inquiry to include scholars occupy and the negative implications of unex-
patients’ communication skills, preferences, and styles. amined privilege for understanding and communicat-
This chapter brings together both of these areas of ing with underprivileged communities. A dialectical
research, providing a helpful critique of communica- approach to exploring community-based research and
tion between providers and patients through careful health interventions is offered, along with pragmatic
consideration of both parties in the interaction. strategies. The other two chapters in this section

40 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

explore the daily communication of social support as it paigns and explores the importance of formative
relates to both health and illness. Chapter 13 reviews research in developing effective campaigns. Chapter 21
contemporary research on social support networks, focuses on strategic message design, particularly in the
while Chapter 14 explores interpersonal communica- area of self-efficacy, fostering the belief in individuals
tion and how health and illness are expressed in every- that they can effect positive change in their health sta-
day talk related to HIV/AIDS. tus. Chapter 22 builds on the previous three chapters
Part IV: Organizational Issues. In this section, the and explores audience segmentation, targeting, and tai-
centrality of the health care organization as the context loring of strategic health messages to specific groups to
for communication is explored. Health care organiza- maximize effectiveness. The next four chapters high-
tions have undergone tremendous change in the last 20 light a variety of media issues. Chapter 23 posits how
years with the shift to managed care systems, evolving telemedicine can reduce barriers to health care access
technology, the preponderance of chronic, incurable and increase efficiency of health care delivery by
but manageable diseases, and the ageing of the U.S. negating the impact of geographical distance between
population. Chapter 15 takes an institutional perspec- providers and patients. Chapter 24 points out that much
tive on the organization, regulation, financing, and of the health care system is for-profit and explores the
delivery of health care, providing an excellent strategic use of public relations theory and practices by
overview of the current structure and context of health this sector. Chapter 25 moves outside the purview of
communication in organizations. Chapter 16 takes on health promotion and investigates how popular media
the critical topic of stress and burnout among health constructs health and the impact of these portrayals in
care workers. While social support is typically seen as TV, film, news, and other entertainment media. This
an issue for suffering patients, it is also a central issue chapter is particularly well written, offers insightful
for health care providers, whose overwhelming stress analysis, and provides a well reasoned agenda for
can adversely affect their job performance and quality future research. The final chapter in this part docu-
of life. The authors outline a vital research agenda for ments the negative effects of low health literacy and the
this area of health communication. Chapter 17 charts challenges of increasing health literacy so that individ-
the history and development of teams in health care uals can access, understand, and appropriately use the
organizations, reviews the approaches to studying health information they encounter.
teams (including an extensive table of research exem- Part VI: Lessons and Challenges from the Field.
plars and their medical area, methods, type of team, The final part of this handbook focuses on the utiliza-
and findings), and explores the determinants of team tion of health communication theorizing and research
effectiveness. Chapter 18 presents an innovative dis- in real-world settings outside of academe. Chapter 27
cussion of the role of health care policy as it relates to illustrates how health communication scholarship
the organization of the health care sector. The authors shapes health policy and programs at the National
provide an insightful analysis of “the structure and Cancer Institute; the author urges communication
processes of policymaking, the ideological bases of scholars to embrace opportunities for large-scale stud-
health discourse, and the rhetoric of healthcare reform” ies that will shape future health policy, and provides
(p. 404). Finally, Chapter 19 shifts the focus out of excellent resources and suggestions for doing so.
health care organizations and into the communication Similarly, Chapter 28 imparts critical lessons the
of health, wellness, and preventative care in organiza- authors have learned throughout their years of design-
tional workplaces. The authors explore some of the ing and evaluating several national health promotion
hazards of contemporary working environments and campaigns, and Chapter 29 describes an exciting proj-
organizational cultures for the health of employees and ect that fosters collaboration between academic
critique efforts of organizations and individuals to fos- researchers and public health agencies. Finally,
ter wellness among employees. Chapter 30 identifies some of the many ethical issues
Part V: Media Issues. Health messages pervade involved in health interventions and explores the chal-
all forms of contemporary media. The chapters in this lenges for health communication researchers and prac-
section present a comprehensive exploration of the for- titioners in the current social context of health.
mation of strategic health messages as well as a broad- As is evident in the above description, this vol-
er consideration of how media and health inter-relate. ume is an outstanding resource for scholars, practition-
Chapter 20 reviews the history of mediated health cam- ers, and students in health communication, public

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 41

health, health care administration, health policy, and framings of international events are peculiar to particu-
related fields. I highly recommend it as a reference for lar countries or media outlets, and how nations’ unique
all graduate students in health communication and as a histories and media systems influence coverage and
graduate level textbook; no other volume reaches the shape public opinion.
bar set by this handbook’s comprehensive overview Wasburn’s central theme is the role news plays in
and cutting-edge analysis. The Handbook of Health the social construction and legitimation of national
Communication is well worth the investment and will institutions. Journalism, he writes, creates a “symbolic
undoubtedly prove vastly influential in the field of universe in terms of which most Americans understand
health communication for years to come. our nation and its place in the structure of international
The book features a name index and a subject political, economic, and military relations” (p. 20). He
index; bibliographies appear at the end of each chapter. finds similarly ethnocentric national interests driving
—LLE coverage in the non-U.S. news outlets he examines.
Indeed, by assuming a unified set of national interests
Wasburn, Philo C. The Social Construction of and aiming to show how they are reflected in reporting,
International News: We’re Talking about Them, Wasburn’s approach is more functionalist than con-
They’re Talking about Us. Westport, CT and London: structionist. A more thorough social constructionist
Praeger, 2002. Pp. xv, 184. ISBN 0-275-97810-9 (hb.) might question whose definitions of Japanese or
$62.95. Canadian interests are reflected in NHK or CBC’s
As the Cold War ended and U.S. news media cut news about the U.S.
back on costly international coverage, the world reced- Because the writing is accessible to undergradu-
ed from Americans’ television screens and newspapers ates, case study chapters could be used in courses on
in the 1990s. A people notoriously unfamiliar with international communication, or media and politics.
international affairs probably became even less The book does not offer a current summary of either
informed, until the attacks of September 11, 2001 field. Nine tables, references, and author and subject
reminded America and its media that there was a world indexes are included.
elsewhere. The ensuing “war on terrorism” may offer —Chad Raphael
the next master frame that will replace the Cold War as Santa Clara University
an organizing principle of international news, notes
Purdue University professor of sociology Philo In the Journals
Wasburn in his conclusion to this book.
But Wasburn’s work focuses on a prior era of Three themes appear in journals received from
uncertainty and transformation in international news Canada, Colombia, England, Mexico, Norway, and
coverage—from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s— Spain: globalization, new communication technologies,
when the demise of the Eastern Bloc left American for- and narrative style in television. Other articles range
eign policy elites and reporters without a clearly- from the topics of women and media to the educational
defined, shared purpose or framework of assumptions uses of communication products, to journalism history.
about the world. At the same time, former allies and As more and more people become aware of glob-
opponents redefined their relationships to the U.S. The alization, we see more articles addressing its various
book offers case studies, most involving original aspects. Media Development takes as its theme com-
research, that compare American and international munication in China in Volume 44, No. 4 (2002), with
media coverage of a broad range of military, econom- five articles:
Banisar, David. (2002). The great firewall of China: Cyber-
ic, and political stories during this period. These cases
policing dissent. Media Development, 44(4), 23-25.
include the Falklands War, the Iran-Iraq War, the Chin, Yik-chan. (2002). China’s regulatory policies on
Tiananmen Square revolt, political assassinations, transnational television drama flow. Media
U.S.-Japanese trade disputes, the 1987-1993 Development, 44(4), 17-22.
Palestinian Intifada, and the 1996 American party con- Schiller, Dan. (2002). Communications and power:
ventions and presidential inauguration. Interpreting China’s emerging role. Media
The book’s strength is its comparative method. Development, 44(4), 12-16.
Scholars of media and politics are increasingly turning Sparks, Colin. (2002). China, the WTO and the mass media:
to this kind of work to show how taken-for-granted What is at stake? Media Development, 44(4), 3-7.

42 — VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS

Zhao, Yuezhi. (2002). Transnational capital and market ten- Gomez, Guillermo O. (2002). Mediaciones tecnologicas y
sions in Chinese communications. Media des-ordenamientos comunicacionales. Signo y
Development, 44(4), 8-11. Pensamiento, 21, No. 41, 21-33.
Other journals raise the globalization issue in a number Hernandez, Miguel A. V. (2002). Capacitación a distancia
of ways, in terms of program content, general knowl- con apoyo en las tecnologias de información y la
edge, media workers, the public sphere, or audience comunicación TIC. Interacción: Revista de
positioning. Comunicación Educativa, 32-33
Felix, Claudia B. (2003). Hacia la construcción del especta- Martín-Barbero, Jesús. (2002). Pistas para entre-ver medios
dor modelo de los reality shows. Signo y Pensamiento, y mediaciones. Signo y Pensamiento, 21, No. 41, 13-
22, No. 42, 57-68. [The article explores the possibili- 20.
ties of establishing a dialogue between the model Montoya, Ancizar N. (2002). Nuevas tecnologicas de comu-
author and the model reader of the “globalized” reali- nicación. Desigualdad economica y cultural. Signo y
ty show genre.] Pensamiento, 21, No. 41, 34-46. [The author looks at
Horsti, Karina. (2003). Global mobility and the media. the significance and implications of ICT’s on the tech-
Presenting asylum seekers as a threat. Nordicom nical, social, and economic convergence of the subor-
Review, 24(1), 41-54. dinated or less powerful countries, states, or commu-
Kwansah-Aidoo, Kwamena. (2003). Events that matter: nities with the first or developed world.
Specific incidents, media coverage, and agenda-setting Valencia, Daniel G. (2002). Institucionalidad e industrias de
in a Ghanian context. Canadian Journal of la comunicación en la modernidad. Signo y
Communication, 28, 43-66. Pensamiento, 21, No. 41, 47-57.
Leydesdorff, Loet. (2003). The construction and globaliza- A third theme deals with varieties of aesthetics,
tion of the knowledge base in interhuman communica- narrative style, presentation, and audience responses in
tion systems. Canadian Journal of Communication, film and television.
28, 267-289. Barros de Andrade, Roberta M. (2003). El receptor y el texto
Luchessi, L., & Bakmas, G. C. (2002). Voces divergentes, de ficcion. Telenovelas y publicos en Brasil. Signo y
voces excluyentes. El papel de los medios en la con- Pensamiento, 22, No. 42, 69-79.
strucción de identidades globales. Signo y Felix, Claudia B. (2003). Hacia la construcción del especta-
Pensamiento, 21 No. 41. dor modelo de los reality shows. Signo y Pensamiento,
Marques de Melo, Jose. (2002). Mujeres, comunicación y 22, No. 42, 57-68. [The article explores the possibili-
globalización. Interacción: Revista de Comunicación ties of establishing a dialogue between the model
Educativa, 32-33, 2-4. author and the model reader of the “globalized” reali-
Martín-Barbero, Jesús. (2003, marzo-abril). La global- ty show genre.]
ización en clave cultural. Una mirada Latinoameri- Mazziotti, Nora. (2003). Sobre las relaciones entre etica y
cana. Renglones, 53,18-32. [The author analyzes two generos de ficcion audiovisual. Signo y Pensamiento,
major tendencies in the Latin American communica- 22, No. 42, 47-55. [The author states that each genre of
tions development: the technological convergence theater, movies, and television has a moral commit-
between telecommunications (public services in accel- ment that is closely related to values and the social cul-
erated process of privatization) and mass communica- ture of a certain era.]
tion; and communications trends in the field of major Rincon, Omar. (2003). Realities: La narrativa total de la tel-
financial investments.] evision. Signo y Pensamiento, 22, No. 42, 22-36.
Ortiz, Renato. (2002). Globalización y esfera publica. Entre Sanchez, Rosario. (2003). Ficcion contra realidad. Viejas
lo nacional y lo transnacional. Signo y Pensamiento, tensiones, nuevos generos. Signo y Pensamiento, 22,
21, No. 41. No. 42, 37-46.
Reguillo, Rossana. (2003, marzo-abril). Politicas de repre- Segura, Yadira A. (2002). Niveles de percepcion estetica en
sentación y desafios culturales. La visibilidad de el arte. Interlenguajes: Revista de Semiotica y
America Latina. Renglones, 53, 34-42. Linquistica Teorica y Aplicada, 3(1), 19-28.
A second recurring theme features new communi- Sundholm, John. (2003). Narrative machines, or, from
cation technologies, their uses, and particularly their “Bottom to Top”: Early discourses on the novel and
cultural effects. Some of the essays already cited under film. Nordicom Review, 24(1), 107-114.
globalization address that topic under the rubric of the Vilches, Lorenzo. (2003). La contaminación ambiental:
Entre la ficcion y los formatos de realidad. Signo y
new technologies (Martín-Barbero, 2003; Schiller,
Pensamiento, 22, No. 42, 9-21.
2002). Signo y Pensamiento, Volume 21, No. 41, —Masha Rotfeld
devotes the issue to the question of new technologies. Santa Clara University

COMMUNICATION RESEARCH TRENDS VOLUME 22 (2003) NO. 4 — 43