Sports Communication
- LAST REVIEWED: 24 April 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 April 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0073
- LAST REVIEWED: 24 April 2012
- LAST MODIFIED: 24 April 2012
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756841-0073
Introduction
Amateur and professional sports play a significant role in society and popular culture, and scholars have increasingly used sports as a backdrop for studying both human and mass communication processes. Studies in sports communication have addressed subjects such as audience reactions to mediated sporting contests; communication between coaches and athletes; media portrayals of athletes based on considerations such as gender, race, and nationality; and the professional routines of sports media practitioners. Methodologically, researchers have used both quantitative and qualitative approaches and have also approached scholarship through frameworks in critical and cultural studies. Although much of the scholarly literature in sports communication appears in peer-reviewed journals, researchers will find certain texts referenced in this article especially useful for surveying the field.
Introductory Works
In sports communication a series of texts provides valuable information for scholarly research. In these volumes authors discuss topics such as the history of sports coverage, media production processes, media constructions of high-profile athletes, and sports media audiences. Articles in these texts cite the most important studies in their respective areas and thus offer an excellent starting point for scholarship. Perhaps the broadest resource among these volumes is the handbook Raney and Bryant 2006. Wenner 1989 contains chapters from scholars who pioneered research in sports media. Hundley and Billings 2009 and Wenner 1998 address media constructions of athletes based on considerations such as gender, race, and nationality. Bernstein and Blain 2002 uses a case-analysis approach in studying media portrayals; Brown and O’Rourke 2003 approaches media constructions through rhetorical analyses; Hugenberg, et al. 2008 explores fan cultures; and Rowe 2004 visits the political economy of sports media. In addition to edited texts, Kassing, et al. 2004 offers a comprehensive review of the literature. The chapter is an excellent resource for identifying different topics and approaches to research in sports communication.
Bernstein, Alina, and Neil Blain, eds. 2002. Sport, media, culture: Global and local dimensions. London: Frank Cass.
This book discusses issues such as the Olympics as a global media event, Muhammad Ali and the politics of cultural identity, media characterizations of the soccer great Stanley Matthews following his death, press portrayals of German soccer, and coverage of the Women’s National Basketball Association.
Brown, Robert S., and Daniel J. O’Rourke III, eds. 2003. Case studies in sport communication. Westport, CT: Praeger.
This text contains a series of rhetorical analyses by sports scholars. Topics include the resurgence of Pete Rose, press coverage of professional basketball and tennis, constructions of disability in sports, moral controversies associated with ultimate fighting, coaches’ characterizations of winning and losing efforts, risk in whitewater sports, and soccer violence.
Hugenberg, Lawrence W., Paul M. Haridakis, and Adam C. Earnheardt, eds. 2008. Sports mania: Essays on fandom and the media in the 21st century. Jefferson, NC: McFarland.
This text examines differing aspects of fan culture, exploring psychological motivations, issues in identity, and the role of mass media in sports spectatorship. Researchers interested in audience studies will find this volume especially helpful.
Hundley, Heather L., and Andrew C. Billings, eds. 2009. Examining identity in sports media. London: SAGE.
This volume focuses on the role of mass media in constructing sport-related identities based on factors such as sexuality, gender, nationalism, disability, race, and ethnicity. Chapter authors use both quantitative and qualitative methods and also situate topics within critical and cultural frameworks.
Kassing, Jeffrey W., Andrew C. Billings, Robert S. Brown, et al. 2004. Communication in the community of sport: The process of enacting, (re)producing, consuming, and organizing sport. In Communication Yearbook. Vol. 28. Edited by Pamela J. Kalbfleisch, 357–392. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
This chapter offers a comprehensive examination of the depth and breadth of sports research in communication and also identifies worthwhile areas for future investigations.
Raney, Arthur A., and Jennings Bryant, eds. 2006. Handbook of sports and media. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
This text contains over thirty chapters addressing subjects such as the business of sports media, sports media audiences, and critical perspectives on how the mass media cover sports. This is a very good resource for those undertaking initial research projects in sports communication.
Rowe, David, ed. 2004. Sport, culture, and the media. Maidenhead, UK: Open Univ. Press.
Rowe addresses sports journalism and the political economy of sports media. He also discusses sports commentating as well as still and moving images in mediated sport.
Wenner, Lawrence A., ed. 1989. Media, sports, and society. London: SAGE.
An important volume containing sections on the history of sports coverage, media production processes, the content of mediated sport, and sports audiences. Chapters were written by some of the pioneers in sports-media studies.
Wenner, Lawrence A., ed. 1998. MediaSport. London: Routledge.
This volume contains chapters on sports marketing as well as media constructions of athletes based on gender, race, and nationality. The book also contains materials on media audiences and, like other volumes, offers an extensive list of references.
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Article
- Accounting Communication
- Acculturation Processes and Communication
- Action Assembly Theory
- Action-Implicative Discourse Analysis
- Activist Media
- Adherence and Communication
- Adolescence and the Media
- Advertisements, Televised Political
- Advertising
- Advertising, Children and
- Advertising, International
- Advocacy Journalism
- Agenda Setting
- Annenberg, Walter H.
- Apologies and Accounts
- Applied Communication Research Methods
- Argumentation
- Artificial Intelligence (AI) Advertising
- Attitude-Behavior Consistency
- Audience Fragmentation
- Audience Studies
- Authoritarian Societies, Journalism in
- Bakhtin, Mikhail
- Bandwagon Effect
- Baudrillard, Jean
- Blockchain and Communication
- Blogs
- Bourdieu, Pierre
- Brand Equity
- British and Irish Magazine, History of the
- Broadcasting, Public Service
- Capture, Media
- Castells, Manuel
- Celebrity and Public Persona
- Censorship
- Civic Duty
- Civil Rights Movement and the Media, The
- CNN
- Co-Cultural Theory and Communication
- Codes and Cultural Discourse Analysis
- Cognitive Dissonance
- Collective Memory, Communication and
- Comedic News
- Communication Apprehension
- Communication Campaigns
- Communication, Definitions and Concepts of
- Communication History
- Communication Law
- Communication Management
- Communication Networks
- Communication, Philosophy of
- Community Attachment
- Community Journalism
- Community Structure Approach
- Computational Journalism
- Computer-Mediated Communication
- Content Analysis
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Communication
- Crisis Communication
- Critical and Cultural Studies
- Critical Race Theory and Communication
- Cross-tools and Cross-media Effects
- Cultivation
- Cultural and Creative Industries
- Cultural Imperialism Theories
- Cultural Mapping
- Cultural Persuadables
- Cultural Pluralism and Communication
- Cyberpolitics
- 3D Media
- Death, Dying, and Communication
- Debates, Televised
- Deliberation
- Developmental Communication
- Diffusion of Innovations
- Digital Divide
- Digital Gender Diversity
- Digital Intimacies
- Digital Literacy
- Diplomacy, Public
- Distributed Work, Comunication and
- Documentary and Communication
- E-democracy/E-participation
- E-Government
- Elaboration Likelihood Model
- Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM)
- Embedded Coverage
- Entertainment
- Entertainment-Education
- Environmental Communication
- Ethnic Media
- Ethnography of Communication
- Experiments
- Families, Multicultural
- Family Communication
- Federal Communications Commission
- Feminist and Queer Game Studies
- Feminist Data Studies
- Feminist Journalism
- Feminist Theory
- Focus Groups
- Food Studies and Communication
- Freedom of the Press
- Friendships, Intercultural
- Gatekeeping
- Gender and the Media
- Global Englishes
- Global Media, History of
- Global Media Organizations
- Glocalization
- Goffman, Erving
- Habermas, Jürgen
- Habituation and Communication
- Health Communication
- Hegemony
- Hermeneutic Communication Studies
- Heuristics
- Homelessness and Communication
- Hook-Up and Dating Apps
- Hostile Media Effect
- Identification with Media Characters
- Identity, Cultural
- Image Repair Theory
- Implicit Measurement
- Impression Management
- Indexing
- Infographics
- Information and Communication Technology for Development
- Information Management
- Information Overload
- Information Processing
- Infotainment
- Innis, Harold
- Instructional Communication
- Integrated Marketing Communications
- Interactivity
- Intercultural Capital
- Intercultural Communication
- Intercultural Communication, Tourism and
- Intercultural Communication, Worldview in
- Intercultural Competence
- Intercultural Conflict Mediation
- Intercultural Dialogue
- Intercultural New Media
- Intergenerational Communication
- Intergroup Communication
- International Communications
- Interpersonal Communication
- Interpersonal LGBTQ Communication
- Interpretation/Reception
- Interpretive Communities
- Journalism
- Journalism, Accuracy in
- Journalism, Alternative
- Journalism and Trauma
- Journalism, Citizen
- Journalism, Citizen, History of
- Journalism Ethics
- Journalism, Interpretive
- Journalism, Peace
- Journalism, Tabloid
- Journalists, Violence against
- Knowledge Gap
- Language Ecology
- Lazarsfeld, Paul
- Leadership and Communication
- LGBTQ+ Family Communication
- LGBTQ+ People and Media Industries
- Mass Communication
- McLuhan, Marshall
- Media Activism
- Media Aesthetics
- Media and Time
- Media Bias
- Media Convergence
- Media Credibility
- Media Dependency
- Media Ecology
- Media Economics
- Media Economics, Theories of
- Media, Educational
- Media Effects
- Media Ethics
- Media Events
- Media Exposure Measurement
- Media, Gays and Lesbians in the
- Media Literacy
- Media Logic
- Media Management
- Media Policy and Governance
- Media Regulation
- Media, Social
- Media Sociology
- Media Streaming
- Media Systems Theory
- Merton, Robert K.
- Message Characteristics and Persuasion
- Mobile Communication Studies
- Muckraking
- Multimodal Discourse Analysis, Approaches to
- Multinational Organizations, Communication and Culture in
- Murdoch, Rupert
- Narrative
- Narrative Engagement
- Narrative Persuasion
- Net Neutrality
- News, Fake
- News Framing
- News Media Coverage of Women
- NGOs, Communication and
- Online Campaigning
- Open Access
- Organizational Change and Organizational Change Communicat...
- Organizational Communication
- Organizational Communication, Aging and
- Parasocial Theory in Communication
- Participation, Civic/Political
- Participatory Action Research
- Patient-Provider Communication
- Peacebuilding and Communication
- Perceived Realism
- Personalized Communication
- Persuasion and Social Influence
- Persuasion, Resisting
- Photojournalism
- Political Advertising
- Political Communication, Normative Analysis of
- Political Economy
- Political Knowledge
- Political Marketing
- Political Scandals
- Political Socialization
- Polls, Opinion
- Priming
- Product Placement
- Propaganda
- Proxemics
- Public Interest Communication
- Public Opinion
- Public Relations
- Public Sphere
- Queer Intercultural Communication
- Queer Migration and Digital Media
- Race and Communication
- Racism and Communication
- Radio Studies
- Reality Television
- Reasoned Action Frameworks
- Religion and the Media
- Reporting, Investigative
- Rhetoric and Communication
- Rhetoric and Intercultural Communication
- Rhetoric and Social Movements
- Rhetoric, Religious
- Rhetoric, Visual
- Risk Communication
- Rumor and Communication
- Schramm, Wilbur
- Science Communication
- Scripps, E. W.
- Selective Exposure
- Semiotics
- Sense-Making/Sensemaking
- Sesame Street
- Sex in the Media
- Small-Group Communication
- Social Capital
- Social Change
- Social Cognition
- Social Construction
- Social Identity Theory and Communication
- Social Interaction
- Social Movements
- Social Network Analysis
- Social Protest
- Sports Communication
- Stereotypes
- Strategic Communication
- Superdiversity
- Surveillance and Communication
- Symbolic Interactionism in Communication
- Synchrony in Intercultural Communication
- Tabloidization
- Telecommunications History/Policy
- Television
- Television, Cable
- Textual Analysis and Communication
- Third Culture Kids
- Third-Person Effect
- Time Warner
- Transgender Media Studies
- Transmedia Storytelling
- Two-Step Flow
- UNESCO
- United Nations and Communication
- Urban Communication
- Uses and Gratifications
- Video
- Video Deficit
- Video Games and Communication
- Violence in the Media
- Virtual Reality and Communication
- Visual Communication
- Web 2.0
- Web3 and Communication
- Web Archiving
- Webcare
- Whistleblowing
- Whiteness Theory in Intercultural Communication
- WikiLeaks
- Youth and Media
- Zines and Communication