Correlation in Media Coverage of Sports and the Acceptance of Violence by Spectators and Competitors

826 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Violence in sports today

Hard checks, high-impact hits, rough blows, knockouts, crushing tackles; some violence occurs naturally in some sports. Those naturally violent sports (e.g., football, hockey, soccer, wrestling, and boxing) with all that aggression and violence excites audiences and enhance enjoyment. However, aggression and violence in sporting competitions are clearly becoming an issue. Destructive aggression is often deliberate and frequently encouraged by coaches, spectators, and teammates. This aggression in becoming increasing accepted by the public and ever popular in today’s sporting events. Michael Strahan a player in the NFL said in 2007 that, “It’s the most perfect feeling in the world to know you’ve hit a guy just right, that you’ve maximized the physical pain he can feel….. You feel the life just go out of him. You’ve taken all this man’s energy and just dominated him” (Coakley, 2008). Clearly, Strahan’s words show the acceptance of aggressive behavior and even glorify this aggression.

Introduction to the Problem

History of Violence in Sports

Many of the games we play today is of ancient origin and even then provided mass entertainment of fans. In the beginning, ancient sports like the Olympic Games started out as rituals to honor gods or a leader and later developed into public events with festivals that surrounded the games (Jewell, Moti, & Coates, 2012). Today festivals are still seen during the Olympics Games, pre-game and post-game activities are held for NFL games, and fan’s host parties on game day surrounding favorite sporting events. Interesting, ancient sporting events began as a way to help individuals prepare for warfare. Individuals in ancient spots competed to help prepare themselves for military fighting, t...

... middle of paper ...

...ent behavior in order to win the game. Whereas, “sports violence can be seen as either an example of laudable competitive drive present in worthy participates or an underhanded attempts at rule bending” (Raney & Depalma, 2006). Moreover, decades of media exposure may have led to an increase in the acceptance of violence. Is media coverage exploiting sports violence and aggression for ratings? It’s unclear if fans are becoming desensitized and/or imitating the violence witnessed through the medium of media. Regardless, it’s abundantly clear the changes need to be made in light of the negative effects. Identifying and examining media’s role in the public’s acceptance of aggressive behavior in sports may aid society in minimizing the violence and aggression as much as possible surrounding sporting events to make sporting events safer for both players and fans.

Show More
Related

  • Ethical Issues: The Act of Fighting in Hockey

    1181 Words  | 3 Pages

    As long as there have been sports, there has been violence in them. Ice hockey, particularly due to its increasing popularity as a professional sport, has brought up several ethical issues regarding the act of fighting in hockey. There are strong arguments for both sides of this present problem in the world of hockey. Numerous male athletes, including children as young as nine years of age, have suffered injuries as an outcome of fighting and it should be considered if it should be part of a sport that very young people grow up with (Brust, Leonard, Pheley & Roberts, 1992).On the other hand, fights create excitement and the sport of hockey might grow in terms of popularity, making the problem of fighting in hockey complex and difficult to resolve (“Towards An Explanation Of Hockey Violence: A Reference Other Approach”). Even though hockey is known to be a very aggressive and fast-paced sport, the unsportsman-like action of fighting in hockey cannot longer be tolerated.

    Read More

  • The Roman games

    1087 Words  | 3 Pages

    The spectators came from all over the Roman Empire and various other regions, like Africa. The games became a way of entertaining the wealthy, as well as the common people.

    Read More

  • Violence and Corruption in College Athletics

    1527 Words  | 4 Pages

    Reinforcement is one of the root cause of violence in athletics. Athletes are reinforced to be highly aggressive while competing either in the field or the track by the coach and captain. Their desire to be successful athletes also contribute to the aggressiveness. Sometimes, this aggressiveness may spill over into their social lives. When these athletes exaggerate their aggressiveness and direct into to their opponents, this leads to violence. The aggressive behavior in the filed or tack might sometimes be carried into other areas outside the sports arena. This can be a public place, the place of work or the domestic environment. When the athletes transfer their hostile behavior into these avenues, it is termed as violence many legal action can be taken against them.

    Read More

  • Deviance in Sports: Four Categories of Violence

    1728 Words  | 4 Pages

    Coakley, J. J., & Donnelly, P. (2007). Violence in Sports . Sports in society: issues & controversies (9th ed., pp. 198-199). Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.

    Read More

  • Sport, Aggression, Violence and Victimization

    1287 Words  | 3 Pages

    Young, K. (2007). From Violence in Sport to Sports-Related Violence: Widening the Focus. Sport in Society: A Student Introduction, Second Edition. London. Sage Publications.

    Read More

  • Criticism of SportsCenter

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    SportsCenter has become so popular due to the way it can make people, especially males, feel when watching sports. It can create feelings that connect back thousands of years to when none of the modern day sports even existed. During an episode of SportsCenter “(It) all adds up to the perfect story: a staged contest that fittingly resembles the drama inside the ancient coliseum, from which they can carve a gripping tale of heroes and villains”(Pelosi, 2012). This shows that people feel the...

    Read More

  • Media Violence

    1852 Words  | 4 Pages

    Does entertainment influence society's attitude towards violent behavior? In order to fully answer this question we must first understand what violence is. Violence is the use of one's powers to inflict mental or physical injury upon another; examples of this would be rape or murder. Violence in entertainment reaches the public by way of television, movies, plays, music, and novels. Through the course of this essay it will be proven that violence in entertainment is a major factor in the escalation of violence in society, once this is proven we will take all of the evidence that has been shown throughout this paper and come to a conclusion as to whether or not violence in entertainment is justified and whether or not it should be censored.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Gladiator Games

    1758 Words  | 4 Pages

    During the middle and late third century Roman republic era gave rise to the arena games and became a great phenomenon for the Romans. An amphitheater, also known as a coliseum, housed these dangerous games that potentially harmed the audience as well as those who participated in them. Gladiatorial combat originated as part of funerals for deceased influential Romans. These large gladiatorial games were held by emperors during funerals of important roman officials, but were also included during other occasions. Over time the connection among the gladiator games and funerals decreased, and the upper class put on the games mainly to raise their social standing and gain favor with the public. Many politicians held these highly known games to help them sway votes of power and popularity (Meijer 2003, 27). “The arena was the embodiment of the empire.” (Futrell 1997, 209). The contestants, or the gladiators, had more significance of the Roman Empire beyond that as their role of entertainment.

    Read More

  • How to Handle Violence in Youth Sports

    1510 Words  | 4 Pages

    Pallerino, M.J. (n.d.). Parental violence at youth sporting events in increasing. Retrieved February 10, 2011 from www.collegesportsscholarships.com: http://www.collegesportsscholarships.com/youth-sport-violent-ugly-parent.htm

    Read More

  • Influence Of Violence In The Media

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    The media and entertainment play a very crucial role in our perception of violence in society. Exposure to violence in the media, including television, movies, music, and video games helps us construct our own perspective on violence. According to Joel Best, his theory on random violence states that random violence and violence, in general, is patternless, pointless, and leads to the deterioration of society. Many examples can be given from national and international media coverage on various random violence acts. There are many sides to the debate about whether or not violence in the media affects us and how prevalent it is in our society. The focal discussion is the influence of violence on people through the mass media: movies, television,

    Read More

  • How Is Violence In The Media Perceived In Society

    1233 Words  | 3 Pages

    The world today has a variety of problems and violence is one of the most

    Read More

  • Influence of Violence in the Media

    785 Words  | 2 Pages

    Using material from the study of violence in the media assess the view that the media has a direct and immediate influence on their audience

    Read More

  • Roman Entertainment: Gladiator Exhibitions

    1498 Words  | 3 Pages

    The games were free to the public and paid for by politicians and emperors looking to gain popularity and win votes and to keep the poor and unemployed entertained and occupied so they would not revolt. I see that same parallel in our society today. Large companies and the wealthy provide their customers with tickets to all kinds of events in hopes of winning or keeping their business. This is really prevalent in large companies that provide customers and potential customers with every kind of entertainmen...

    Read More

  • Criminal Acts in Sport

    9585 Words  | 20 Pages

    When examining the issue of criminal acts in sports it is easy to realize that there are many places where these acts occur. The range of these acts is far more vast than just in the professional arenas. This is, however, what the public sees and hears about most often. While this is one of the major topics of this paper, criminal acts are found in all of sport ranging from professionals, to college, high school, and in youth sports, including the reaction of the fans. This paper will take an in-depth look at the four major points regarding criminal acts in sport: the acts themselves; the consequences of those acts; the possible reasons for the acts occurring; an analysis of a few major events that have occurred and the possible solutions to the problem of criminal acts in sport. In the section about fan reaction to sport, there will be an overall account of the individual acts and not personal cases due to the overload of personal events that occur.

    Read More

  • The Modern Olympics: The Traditions Of The Modern Games

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    Modern Day Olympics are a huge tradition that sweeps the screens of televisions across the world. Competitors take the arena with uniforms that dawn their countries colors and designs that are meant to resemble their designated flag. For months the news is centered around the games; the preparation, the athletes, and of course the competition. Countries aren 't obsessed, they are inspired and full of pride seeing athletes from their country compete and show their incredible skill. This tradition dates back to ancient Greece where the games began. Tony Perrottet writes about the traditions of the ancient game in his book The Naked Olympics.

    Read More

More about Correlation in Media Coverage of Sports and the Acceptance of Violence by Spectators and Competitors

Open Document