according to playing unfair, what percentage of news coverage is given to female athletes?
Sue Bird of the Seattle Tempest goes for the basket in a July 2018 game against the Phoenix Mercury in Phoenix, Arizona. The Seattle Times's coverage of Bird and the Seattle Storm offers a model of consistency rarely seen in a legacy outlet's coverage of women's sports
On May xviii, with the NBA and NHL playoffs making headlines beyond the land, three of the 4 stories on the front page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune sports section focused on women's sports, including the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx. On September seven, with the NFL starting upwardly, higher football game rumbling along, and Major League Baseball game nearing the playoffs, The Seattle Times wrapped its sports department in a poster of the Seattle Storm's biggest stars, 11-time WNBA All-Star Sue Bird and 2018 WNBA MVP Breanna Stewart. Inside, there were two and a half pages devoted to the women's basketball team and its upcoming WNBA Finals matchup against the Washington Mystics.
As someone who covers stories at the intersection of sports and society, it'south hard to ignore what'due south happening with women's sports coverage—and what'south non
If these sections were your introduction to America'south obsession with sports, you might have thought women'due south sports generated more than interest than men's sports. The reality is far different.
In July, NBA summer league games got far more mainstream media coverage than WNBA regular season games. Every mean solar day, men's sports stories dominate the 10 nigh popular sports websites. The bigger picture: women's sports in the U.South. receive just 4 percent of sports media coverage, according to the Tucker Eye for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the Academy of Minnesota.In a study of televised sports news, ongoing since 1989, iii LA-based stations defended, on average, three.2 pct of their sports coverage to women'southward sports, according to the 2014 results, the latest available.
"We had days where we were collecting information on local news broadcasts or on ESPN'south 'SportsCenter' and there would literally be no coverage of women's sports," says Purdue University associate professor Cheryl Cooky, a co-author of the television study. "But the local network would spend 55 seconds out of their three minutes of sports content talking about a stray domestic dog that had wandered into the Milwaukee Brewers stadium. And it's similar, 'The women's NCAA basketball tournament is going on and you can't talk almost the tournament but you can observe fourth dimension to talk about a stray canis familiaris going into a stadium?' There's a lot of missed opportunities with respect to helping build audiences for women's sport."
There are also signs of alter, cheers in part to vocal critics, social media, and a rash of sports media startups eager to build bigger audiences. "There are people in women's sports who are enervating improve coverage," says former Sports Illustrated sports media reporter Richard Deitsch, who at present writes for The Athletic. "Lynx coach and general manager Cheryl Reeve is the ultimate case. She's basically called out media people on Twitter. And I think her deportment have worked."
1 of her targets on social media: The Able-bodied. On Twitter, she asked "Why would a subscriber-based sports medium that claims 'full access to all sports' limit its earnings potential by non roofing women'due south sports?? The Athletic does but that … and it's bad business organisation. #tiredofthebias." This season, the website assigned ii writers to almost every Lynx game and practice. While regular Lynx coverage was something the website said it always planned to do, Reeve's outspokenness drew wider attention to the issue and undoubtedly prompted faster action.
Michelle Carter, who wrote a personal essay for espnW on the lessons learned from shot putting, competes at the 2016 Summertime Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, where she won gold
This fall, The Athletic held organizational meetings to discuss its approach to content in 2019 and beyond. So, how does women'south sports coverage fit into The Athletic'due south plans for growth? Paul Fichtenbaum, chief content officer for The Athletic, says, "We're right in the eye of it so I'one thousand not comfortable making projections. But we're having a thoughtful give-and-take internally on the all-time approaches. We desire to encompass women's sports. It is on the agenda and we're serious about information technology."
Just even when women's sports do go covered, a number of studies have plant, the focus is often on femininity and attractiveness, not athleticism.Also, in 2017, Cooky and her young man researchers highlighted what they telephone call "gender-bland sexism." That is when sports commentators downplay the accomplishments of female person athletes and convey less excitement nearly big wins or milestones. "To me, information technology'due south like, if we tin can't sexualize them, then we're just not going to actually talk about them at all," says Cooky. "Or, if we have to talk nigh them, then we're but going to talk nigh them in actually boring and bland ways."
Equally a sports announcer for more than xx years, I covered ane of the near thrilling college basketball games of all-time (No. 16 Harvard upsetting No. 1 Stanford in the showtime circular of the 1998 women'southward NCAA basketball game tournament) and one of the most celebrated World Cup games always (the 1999 women's soccer last between the U.S. and China before 90,185 fans at the Rose Bowl). After that, I became the Celtics beat writer for The Boston Globe and went on to comprehend the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup playoffs, the Super Basin, the Globe Serial, and the Olympics with a smattering of WNBA games, women'due south pro soccer, and the National Women's Hockey League thrown into the mix when time, space, and the sports budget permitted.
Now, every bit someone who covers stories at the intersection of sports and society for public radio and writes regular columns for The Boston Globe and the SportsBusiness Periodical that focus on women'south sports, information technology'south hard to ignore what'due south happening with women's sports coverage—and what'southward non.
More than and more, female journalists, athletes, and coaches, likewise as fans of women'due south sports are clapping dorsum, launching sports podcasts, crowdfunding sports websites, and advocating for amend women'southward sports coverage. They're introducing new voices and experimenting with different approaches to coverage in niche publications. They're showing how women'south sports and women's perspectives on sports can be entertaining, compelling, and potentially money making.
That's crucial. Because sometimes the dearth of coverage is about economics more than anything else.
If women's sports stories don't lead to more than subscriptions or more viewers, and so determination-makers question whether those stories are worth the investment of time, money, and talent. If women's pro soccer matches or women's pro hockey games barely draw crowds, then it's hard to justify sending a senior reporter or columnist to cover them, particularly for newspapers fighting for survival.
Even when women's sports practice get covered, the focus is oftentimes on femininity and attractiveness, non athleticism
For the Globe, a combination of factors has pushed aside women'southward sports coverage. They include a shrinking sports staff, fewer print pages, and a focus on digital subscriptions. The newspaper believes it can survive by increasing digital subscriptions from its current 109,000 to 200,000. To do that, the Globe sports department has concentrated about exclusively on what drives digital subscriptions. And all the internal metrics testify that the city's iv major men's professional person teams—the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins—create the most buzz on BostonGlobe.com.
"So, that's where we've devoted most of our resources," says erstwhile Globe sports editor Joe Sullivan, speaking about his department'due south approach before he recently retired. "Nosotros've added more people into covering the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, and Bruins, as much as nosotros can, to become people to come to BostonGlobe.com. Nosotros want people in California to get subscriptions to read about the Ruddy Sox. What falls past the wayside? Women's sports in full general. College sports have fallen by the wayside for usa, too."
For new World sports editor Matt Pepin, the decision tree looks the same. When it comes to women's sports, Pepin says, "Nosotros'll comprehend it when we know the stories have something that lifts them above a niche audience and gives them broad appeal." I example of when that's happened under his leadership: In November, the Globe sent a reporter to Killington, Vt. to embrace 23-year-old skiing phenom Mikaela Shiffrin.
Still, amid legacy news organizations, the Star Tribune and Seattle Times are outliers.Rana Cash, formerly banana sports editor at the Star Tribune, knew she had something special in Minneapolis with the Minnesota Lynx, winners of 4 WNBA titles. "The Lynx have high date in terms of reader interest then our coverage reflects that," says Cash, who became sports editor of the (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal on Oct. i. Meanwhile, Seattle Times sports editor Paul Barrett sees something special in the Tempest, the 2018 WNBA champions. When the team made the Finals, he says, the paper merely had "an opportunity to exercise something big for this big event and jumped on information technology." He adds: "As a newspaper, I feel like it's our duty to cover as many things too as possible and give readers a well-rounded experience, and inform and entertain. I don't think what we should practice is merely pound people with Seahawks, Mariners, and [University of Washington] Huskies coverage only and ignore everything else, fifty-fifty if that makes more sense from a business perspective."
While a grassroots button for meliorate coverage of women'due south sports is critical, it's still a top-downward media globe with alter almost e'er spurred by major outlets with wide reach. Here's a look at what sports outlets and journalists are doing to amend coverage. And what they should be doing more than.
Battle champion Heather Hardy (left), shown hither fighting Mexico's Paola Torres during an April 2018 match, told her story—in her own words—to NPR'southward "Simply a Game"
Commit to consistent coverage
If news organizations don't commit to consistent women'southward sports coverage, then they're helping perpetuate the biased, inaccurate belief that fans don't care well-nigh women'south sports. You can't build a following for women's sports when fans don't know when or where they'll find games or features or in-depth assay. "Women'southward coverage wouldn't be around four percent if nosotros had consistent coverage that wasn't cyclical," says the Tucker Middle's co-managing director Nicole LaVoi. "If you could follow women's sport in flavor and out of flavour, effectually the agenda like we do men's sport, then that would change the landscape."
The Seattle Storm's Sue Bird agrees and adds: "In that location are story lines that become missed without constant coverage throughout the season." Those story lines might focus on a scoring streak, a comeback from injury, or a quest for a franchise tape. What matters nearly is that the story lines get followed day-to-24-hour interval or game-to-game.
The Star Tribune and its Lynx coverage offer a model of consistency. Even with a budget that limits travel during the pre- and regular flavor, Greenbacks and Lynx shell writer Kent Youngblood have made certain Lynx road games go covered either past stringers or game stories compiled by copy desk-bound editors. Greenbacks says the paper's consistent Lynx coverage has paid off with a stiff following. She's heard plenty from readers who can't get enough Lynx stories. The demand has been significant enough that, before Cash left for Louisville, she constantly thought about means to offer more coverage from podcasts to newsletters to analytics packages.
Sports fandom, the kind that leads to website traffic, higher ratings, and newspaper subscriptions, is near more than coverage of a tournament or large race or championship game. Then much of fan culture relies on getting to know athletes and building anticipatory excitement, understanding strategy, knowing statistics, and arguing about contracts, trades, and lineup changes. All of that takes consistent, day-in and day-out coverage that makes an audience hungry for more.
Focus on bottom-known stories and tell backstories
Outside magazine's regular online characteristic the "Badass Women Chronicles" started with a casual brainstorming conversation at the magazine's headquarters in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Digital editorial director Axie Navas was talking with acquaintance editor Molly Mirhashem about the magazine's coverage of well-known, awe-inspiring male person firsts. "Like Edmund Hillary, the first man to summit Everest," says Navas.
Information technology's exactly the kind of conversation y'all'd expect at Outside Mag. But the conversation didn't end with Hillary and male person firsts. The editors began thinking about Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Everest. "Her story is much less known," says Navas. "Out of that came this idea: At that place are a lot of records that we just oasis't talked virtually that are insanely impressive and actually good stories that we've never covered." And those stories often vest to women.
Like inconsistent coverage, mysteries and misconceptions brand it hard for women's sports to build a passionate, loyal following
The first installation of the "Badass Women Chronicles" appeared online in October 2017. Since then, the chronicles have profiled seamstress-turned-champion-cyclist Tillie Anderson, who raced during the Victorian era, and swimmer Gertrude Ederle, who became the offset woman to cross the English Channel in 1926 and reached the other side two hours faster than all the men earlier her. Outside aims to publish ii online stories per month under the Badass banner.
And there are enough more lesser-known stories waiting to be discovered, plenty more than female pioneers from the past and elite female athletes from today with unique histories that deserve more than attention.
"When yous know the backstories of players, of teams, of leagues, and those stories are told, people are more than probable to latch on," says Bird. "I just don't know that our stories are told. I recollect our lives are these big mysteries and you lot tin can meet it in all the misconceptions that are out there about who we are, what nosotros do, what we ask for, what we don't enquire for, how much money nosotros make, how much money nosotros don't brand, everything beyond the board."
Like inconsistent coverage, mysteries and misconceptions make it difficult for women'due south sports to build a passionate, loyal following.
Bring in more women and encourage male allies
Men far outnumber women in sports media. The 2018 Associated Printing Sports Editors (Alcove) Racial and Gender Report Card plant that, at major newspapers and websites in the U.S. and Canada, 90 percent of sports editors are male person and 85 percent are white. In 2015, a report by the Women's Media Center stated that women generated only x.ii percent of sports coverage.
More effort needs to be invested in finding, hiring, and developing talented women considering when women create content the chat effectually sports changes in unexpected ways. Come across Navas and Mirhashem. All the same the responsibility for more and meliorate women'south sports coverage shouldn't rest entirely with women. Male person allies need to raise their voices, besides, whether it'southward academics who study women'southward sports or journalists who champion bang-up stories about female athletes or Her Hoop Stats founder Aaron Barzilai, the former managing director of basketball analytics for the Philadelphia 76ers who turned his attention to women'south basketball.
However, women are often backside the nearly different, unanticipated perspectives.
Look at what happened when marathoner Lindsay Crouse, who produces OpDocs at The New York Times and occasionally contributes to the paper'due south sports department, took a closer look at the results from the 2018 Boston Marathon. She observed that women finished at higher rates than men in terrible weather, including freezing temperatures, rain, and 30-mile-per-hour headwinds. Crouse wrote a Times stance piece entitled "Why Men Quit and Women Don't." And she says, "Part of why I even thought of this in the first place was because I'chiliad a adult female. So, I recall you demand more than women in the space seeing the ways women succeed."
Having women in brainstorming and decision-making positions makes an undeniable divergence when it comes to finding and prioritizing more than diverse and more inclusive narratives. "Nosotros accept some really strong editors who happen to be women," says Navas. "They're oftentimes thinking about different parts of the sports world that we might non be covering and they're bringing in new writers who nosotros might not have constitute."
When women create content, the conversation around sports changes in unexpected ways
When it comes to the value of women in decision-making positions, Alison Overholt, editor-in-chief of ESPN The Magazine and espnW, echoes those points and says, "It's crucial. It matters tremendously because you will notice and you volition tease out unlike ideas and y'all volition dilate different voices and open the door for dissimilar people."
Modify the culture in sports departments
More women assigning, writing, editing, and producing sports stories doesn't automatically interpret to more than women's stories. Consider The Washington Post'due south sports staff. It has boasted four women roofing the four major Washington, D.C. men's pro sports teams. That represents progress and gender bias at the same fourth dimension. Nigh sports journalists, male and female, desire to embrace men'south sports. Why?
"Because that'south what the culture values," says Cooky, who teaches courses on feminism and "Sport in American Culture" at Purdue. "That's where the status is. That's where the opportunity for career growth is." Meanwhile, the bylines for women's sports stories oft vest to junior reporters, part-timers, or interns. Young journalists assigned to women'southward sports teams typically view information technology as a showtime step toward bigger and better opportunities, particularly at large, traditional media outlets.
Caput coach Cheryl Reeve of the Minnesota Lynx leads a huddle during the game against the Los Angeles Sparks on May 20, 2018 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Reeve has been outspoken in demanding improve coverage for women'south sports
Past dissimilarity, at the Star Tribune, Lynx beat writer Youngblood is a veteran sports reporter who's been in the business concern for 28 years and covered three of the four major men'south professional teams in Minnesota—the Timberwolves, Vikings, and Wild—and the Green Bay Packers. He'southward been on the Lynx crush since 2013 and says, "I cover the Lynx the way I would cover the Timberwolves or the way I would encompass the Vikings." During the WNBA season, Lynx stories appear near daily,Lynx players and coach Cheryl Reeve discover themselves the focus of lengthy profiles, and columnists attend Lynx domicile games fairly regularly.
Youngblood ranks the Lynx "at or near the top" of the beats he'southward covered considering of the team'southward success and accessibility. "Information technology's a pleasance to cover the Lynx," he says. "It's fun because every bit a writer, if you have ideas, they'll work with you to do them rather than fight you." More journalists, editors, and producers need to appreciate the opportunities that come with covering women'due south sports and have advantage of them. If they do, it could institute new paths for career advancement and fix more significant changes in movement.
Prioritize storytelling
Since launching in 2010, espnW has become the virtually prominent platform dedicated to women's sports and female athletes. The number of unique monthly visitors to espnW ranges from 3 to five 1000000, though you often have to scroll fashion downwardly the ESPN homepage to find espnW–branded content. In that location's as well frequent criticism that ESPN and, by clan, espnW could exercise more for women'southward sports. That comes with the territory when a media outlet calls itself the "worldwide leader in sports."
Since launching in 2010, espnW has become the virtually prominent platform defended to women'south sports and female athletes
Yet when you accept a deep swoop into the site, it appears at that place's something for anybody. Here'due south a sampling: a long-form characteristic on a young Nepalese golfer with pro aspirations, multiple perspectives on the controversies at the U.South. Open up involving players Serena Williams and Alize Cornet, a personal essay on lessons learned from shot putting, a piece on college volleyball star Lexi Dominicus and why she transferred to Nebraska, a game story from the National Women's Soccer League final, a look at the workout Olympic rower Grace Luczak loves to hate, a slideshow featuring the top-12 players in girls high school basketball game, and a profile of a 73-year-old orienteering legend.
"We talk a lot near the value of storytelling," says editor-in-main Overholt. "Nosotros talk well-nigh opening up the stories of women athletes and women's sports to existing fans and besides to the folks who may non have known, until the moment they read a story, that they could get fans of women'due south sports. What we're now actually seeing is an emphasis on taking that women-centric storytelling and having it get everywhere at ESPN."
The long-form piece on Nepalese golfer Pratima Sherpa originated on espnW, then it was broadcast every bit part of the SportsCenter Featured documentary serial. Coverage of the WNBA's 20th anniversary started on espnW, then information technology expanded into a package for ESPN The Mag. Stories travel in the contrary management, as well. The Undefeated'due south commodity about a young, black, female lawn tennis role player fighting racist trolls found its way onto the espnW site.
Deliver knowledgeable coverage
Lynx passenger vehicle and general manager Cheryl Reeve wants reporters to dive into the complexities of the WNBA and be critical. "That'southward when you lot know you've fabricated it," she says, "when they are covering yous the same as the men and they are disquisitional, critical of me, critical of a player." But it takes knowledge of women'due south sports to sympathize its complexities, offering legitimate criticism, and tell dandy stories. "The only style you can do that is to be present more than once a week," says Reeve. "You have to watch other games. You have to know the upcoming opponent. You accept to understand matchups. Y'all have to empathize how we play." The same logic applies to men'southward sports. The departure: The information needed for deep, granular knowledge of women's sports is a lot harder to come by than the same information well-nigh men's sports. And that means it often requires more time and more than dedication to follow and to cover women'south sports.
In women's sports, statistics that get beyond the basics can be hard to find
Take statistics. They put players in historical context. They encourage the kind of contend that fuels sports passion. They also reveal the trends and anomalies that inspire a diverse assortment of stories. The more than statistics available, the more knowledgeable reporters and fans become. The more knowledgeable, the more engaged. It's been that way for decades in men's sports. But in women's sports, statistics that go beyond the nuts tin can exist difficult to detect. It's a problem the website Her Hoop Stats hopes to solve for women's higher basketball. Founded in December 2017 by Aaron Barzilai, former director of basketball game analytics for the Philadelphia 76ers, Her Hoop Stats "aims to provide consequent, reliable, and like shooting fish in a barrel-to-admission information near women's basketball" and "help grow the women'due south game by providing effective new tools to better empathise it." In August, Basketball Reference introduced a database for the WNBA, allowing reporters and fans to search the entire history of the league for actor stats. It's progress, though the site has 15 searchable databases for the NBA.
Give women in sports more than of a phonation
Amend quality coverage would await a lot like the coverage male athletes get. That means not merely a focus on the athleticism and accomplishments of female person athletes, but likewise a willingness to swoop into the complicated, chat-worthy narratives in women's sports. That's what comes through when the co-hosts of the feminist sports podcast "Burn down It All Downward" start talking. "The first thing is to not be agape of complexity," says co-host and ThinkProgress sports reporter Lindsay Gibbs. With female athletes, Gibbs finds likewise ofttimes they're boxed into an inspirational storyline, or portrayed as either a perfect person or a villain. "Information technology'due south kind of an adjunct of the Madonna/whore [complex]," says Gibbs. "The truth is that like nearly male athletes, nigh women are somewhere in betwixt, fifty-fifty the great ones."
How should journalists find and tell stories about women's sports? Start by framing ideas and asking questions in ways that aren't gender-driven. If you focus on gender first, then y'all're not truly committed to telling great stories. If you take a checklist approach to stories well-nigh female athletes, and so it will probable lead downwards a path cluttered with women's sports narratives that fall into clichéd categories nigh overcoming sexism or coming back from pregnancy.
At NPR's hour-long weekend sports show "Only A Game," senior producer Karen Given and her staff guess pitches on whether they present a compelling narrative.I contribute to the program and, during story meetings, have seen this in action. The initial conversation about pitches is gender-bullheaded, non gender-driven. Sometimes that leads to an entire bear witness filled with stories about women. Sometimes athletes tell their own stories without narration.
"I of the things that non-narrated stories allow you lot to practise," says Given, "is let people ascertain the touch of struggles on their own life, rather than accept reporters define it for them." That's peculiarly important for female athletes because, as Given adds, "often women's sports coverage focuses on the fact that information technology's about women and non the fact that information technology's about sports. When y'all allow people describe their own lives, gender might be an important factor to them or information technology might not exist."
Boxing champion Heather Hardy told her story to "Just A Game" in her own words. The 10-infinitesimal piece hits on familiar, arguably cliche, themes like overcoming economic adversity, fighting for equality, and balancing motherhood with an athletic career. But hearing Hardy describe her life story makes it feel dissimilar and more intimate. Given loves how "it'southward a story about a person who has been discriminated against, but who has never been a victim." It's likewise a reminder of how much linguistic communication and storytelling style matter when covering women's sports and female athletes.
Describing her first fight, a kickboxing match, Hardy says, "Here I am the shyest girl in the world. Similar I'thousand the girl who will walk into a room and sit by myself. Just for whatsoever reason, walking through that oversupply of 2,000 people with the spotlights and the radio on and standing in the ring and chirapsia this girl upwards so bad, I felt like a million puzzle pieces came together and simply told me, 'This is what yous're here for. This is your life.'"
By devoting prime number real estate to women'south sports, the Star Tribuneand The Seattle Times challenge the lesser-line, metrics-driven thinking that leads editors to prioritize men's coverage as the safest bet
Giving female athletes more of a vocalism helps avert some of the problems that often plague women's sports coverage. That'southward the all-too-mutual focus on femininity, bewitchery, and biological science.
In June, The New York Times faced criticism for an article entitled "America'southward Next Great Running Promise, and One of the Cruelest Twists in Youth Sports." The slice profiled high school phenom Katelyn Tuohy, and "one of the cruelest twists" was the fact that "so many gifted teenage female altitude runners fizzle out by their early on 20s." That happens because young women's bodies modify dramatically during their teenage years. So, y'all can see the problem with describing the natural maturation of the female person body, one that ofttimes involves filling out and gaining weight, as a roughshod twist. But in that location's besides this: Recognition of Tuohy's phenomenal, record-breaking success came with a sense of foreboding considering of her gender.
That'south the existent cruel twist. Too many profiles of female athletes contort success into something that comes with qualifiers, whether it'south the implication that it might not last or, most commonly, the comparing to male athletes in the same sport.
Moving forward
To create an surround where women's sports and women's sports coverage are valued, reporters, editors, players, coaches, academics, and others need to claiming the sometimes blatantly sexist, sometimes ignorantly biased civilization that persists in sports media. Information technology can exist done though publishing nifty stories nearly women, through raising awareness on social media, through hiring more than women, through making an unapologetically feminist sports podcast, through supporting new websites that give platforms to women's sports and female journalists, through publicly calling out news organizations on their lack of variety, through producing bookish studies that highlight gender inequality, and through prominently featuring women'due south sports coverage.
There need to exist more days like May 18 in the Minneapolis Star Tribune and September 7 in the Seattle Times when women's sports not only get all-encompassing coverage, simply get put front and center because they deserve to be there. Past devoting prime real estate to women's sports, the Minneapolis Star Tribuneand The Seattle Times challenge the lesser-line, metrics-driven thinking that leads editors to prioritize men's coverage as the safest bet.
The New York Times faced criticism for focusing on Katelyn Tuohy's gender rather than her record-breaking success. Here, the loftier school track phenom competes in New York's Department ane track and field championships in May 2018
As many legacy news organizations narrow their focus to men's pro sports because of budget and staff cuts, it presents an opportunity for female-focused sports websites and sports media startups. Have EqualizerSoccer.com. The website does impressive work covering women'south soccer in N America. It offers news stories, analysis, and podcasts on the National Women's Soccer League, U.S. women's national team, Canadian women'due south soccer, and NCAA women's competitions. Meanwhile, The Athletic is beginning to invest more than in women'due south sports coverage considering of critics and subscriber feedback. Demand for more than Lynx coverage prompted The Athletic to assign 2 writers to comprehend the team. Subscribers besides wanted more stories on the U.S. women'southward soccer team. Now, the site has 2 writers focusing on that team for the soccer vertical. And, according to master content officer Fichtenbaum, discussions are nether way about what's side by side.
As The Athletic's media reporter, Deitsch finds promise for the future of women's sports coverage in additions to the sports media mural like Her Hoop Stats and podcasters similar the women behind "Burn It All Down." They give a glimpse of what could encourage disruptive innovation in women's sports coverage.
At the moment, it might be hard to imagine a feminist podcast moving from its niche with about 3,200 weekly downloads to a larger audience. Simply after the U.Due south. Open women's final, when discussions well-nigh Serena Williams and sexism dominated the news cycle and after the Cristiano Ronaldo rape case made international headlines, it's articulate there is a larger audience for the kind of conversations and unique perspectives institute consistently on "Burn It All Down." Each podcast features an interview with a female sports reporter or prominent female sports effigy, as well as the "Badass Woman of the Week" which normally highlights the accomplishments of a women'southward team or female athlete.
And, of course, there's the "Fire Pile" segment. That's the point in each testify when, as the co-hosts say, they virtually "pile upwards all the things nosotros hated this calendar week in sports and gear up them aflame." The burn pile typically draws attention to discrimination, inequality, and bad behavior in the sports earth. Overall, the roughly hour-long episodes are entertaining, idea-provoking, and potentially disruptive.
"I certainly hope the podcast is disruptive," says co-host Shireen Ahmed. "Sports media definitely needs to exist disrupted." Ahmed, a freelance writer and sports activist based in Toronto, says the podcast started because the co-hosts were disappointed with the sports coverage they consumed. "Nosotros couldn't help but look at sports with a disquisitional lens," says Ahmed. "What that ways is the systems of racism, misogyny, homophobia, xenophobia that exist in sports, we desire to burn down them down." Ahmed also wants to "change the face of what sports media tin can await like." She'south a woman of color and Muslim and says, "I don't look like I would exist a sports writer. I don't look like I take in sports with a critical lens. But I am and I do." The podcast gives her an opportunity to broadcast that.
It takes all kinds of outlets, platforms, and advocates to improve coverage…in a higher place all, information technology takes a certain kind of journalistic courage and commitment
And so, what does the future of women's sports coverage await like? Perhaps it will await a lot like Oct 17 when iv of the top 10 stories on the Associated Press sports app featured women in sports. That happened fifty-fifty with the MLB playoffs nearing the Globe Series and the NBA regular season starting. Given its global attain and its business organization model, the AP and its stories exert more influence in the sports media earth than a big city paper covering a successful WNBA team.
Notwithstanding, information technology takes all kinds of outlets, all kinds of platforms, all kinds of advocates to improve coverage. It takes outlets like the "Burn down It All Down" podcast, platforms like Her Hoop Stats, and advocates like Cheryl Reeve to testify what women'due south sports coverage can exist and what women in sports tin can do. Above all, it takes a certain kind of journalistic courage and commitment.
Further Reading
Source: https://niemanreports.org/articles/covering-womens-sports/
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