Special Achievements
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Coverage can be found
in Sports Illustrated and on ESPN about the NFL draft and every preseason
game that takes place between the teams of the NBA, NFL, and MLB. However,
how many articles or game coverage is given to female athletics such
as the WNBA or any other event?
Even on
the local level this manipulation of press coverage
occurs. For instance, in my hometown our summer baseball
team received more coverage for losing the district
championship than our softball
team did for winning the state championship. Our high
schools’ boys’ basketball
team received much more coverage than the girls’ team. However,
when my friend Andrea broke the 1,000 point
mark she had a full-page
story on herself that was displayed on the front page of the sports section.
There were 2 girls that year to reach that goal and each of them received
extensive coverage in the paper. This is not an argument as to whether
or not this attention was deserved because they are certainly exceptional
athletes. The point being made is that these girls and their team were
already talented so why does it take reaching that particular goal to
get the press coverage those individuals and the team deserved? We believe
that this lack of local coverage is a reflection of the national press
coverage of women’s sports and female athletes in general.
After reading
3 recent issues of Sports Illustrated I discovered
that the majority of the articles written about women
were
due to their special achievements in their sport.
Deena Kastor won a small feature
in the For the Record section for winning the London
Marathon. However, her coverage was not due to
the fact that she
won the marathon, but that
she became the 8th woman in history to break
the 2 hour 20 minute barrier. Deena Kastor is just another
amazing female athlete that
had to break
a record in order to receive a small paragraph
in Sports Illustrated. A similar tale befell the women of the
Olympic Development 4x100 relay
team. The race was won by team USA in record time
and these women received only one or two lines of coverage
in the magazine. 
These women were overshadowed
by a men’s team that competed in the Penn Relays. There
is no question that both of these teams deserve
coverage for their achievements, but simply questions why
the bulk of the coverage continually
goes to
the
male athletes. The message that this says to female
athletes is that one of the key components to receiving
media attention
is to break a
record or do something above and beyond the norm
for your sport.
For more information on the women and issues discussed....
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