According to Webster’s dictionary (1), a bias is “a tendency to believe that some people, ideas, etc., are better than others that usually results in treating some people unfairly”. Many have argued as to whether the major sports conglomerate, Entertainment and Sports Network, places a higher value on the South Eastern Conference over all other National Collegiate Athletic Association conferences. ESPN prides itself on being ‘the worldwide leader in sports’, but could a network that prides itself on representing all of North America’s favorite sports be compelled to push one college conference over all others? The argument is often made that ESPN has an SEC bias, most notably in college football. Facts and passion provide compelling data from …show more content…
both sides but the argument mostly remains undecided. With football currently at peak popularity, even with the safety drama surrounding America’s new pastime, ESPN spends plenty of air time discussing the sport. The question remains, does ESPN spend more time, and speak more favorably about the SEC? Or is this rumor about sports worldwide leader preferring the South Eastern Conference over all competitors nothing more than a mirage that college football fans have fallen victim to due to the SEC’s decided dominance over the college football landscape spanning the last decade and beyond? Both sides have pleaded to be heard and to have the opportunity to make their case, but one side’s argument seems to have more bite. ESPN is not biased toward SEC college football over other conferences because the SEC is typically the best which leads to more coverage, the SEC Network’s relationship with ESPN is strictly professional, and the SEC is hardly represented by the college football staff of ESPN. Saying that anything is ever the best is usually viewed as opinion. Claiming the SEC is the best conference is college football is an opinion, but it is one that can be backed up with pure facts. The SEC’s résumé is incredibly impressive. Not only does the SEC have multiple teams ranked in the polls every year, but they back regular season success up by preforming incredible in the post season as well. The SEC has won seven of the last 10 national championships, including seven in a row from 2006 to 2012 (2) (NCAA History). No other conference can make such claims. In a decade the SEC has won seven national championships, that is six more than second place, which is three conferences tied at one a piece. It should come as no surprise that a conference that successful is covered so heavily by the media. If team success doesn’t punctuate how dominate the SEC is than individual player performances should. The Heisman trophy is the most prestigious award handed out once a year to the best college football player in the country, voted on by past Heisman winners and selected members of the media. Of the last ten Heisman trophy winners four came from SEC schools, Tim Tebow of Florida, Mark Ingram of Alabama, Cam Newton of Auburn, and Johnny Manziel of Texas A&M. (3) (Heisman History) Once again the SEC easily holds an advantage over all other conferences. The next closest is the PAC XII and the BIG XII tied at two apiece. (3) (Heisman History) If a conference is consistently superior to the competition year in and year out doesn’t it deserved to come up in conversation more often? It should come as no surprise that the best conference in college football gets covered more than the rest of the field. Winning leads to headlines, and every sports fan knows that, so it shouldn’t bother a soul that the SEC receives the press that it does. ESPN isn’t bias; they just cover the best conference in the country due to the constant success of the South Eastern Conference. Many people point to ESPN’s relationship as unprofessional.
How can a major media outlet not have a bias while running a network exclusively for the South Eastern Conference? Well, it’s quite simple. It is not as if this type of scenario is unprecedented in sports media. SEC Network is a source of much outrage among people who claim an SEC bias. SEC Network is nothing more than a way for fans of SEC schools to watch news on their favorite schools, and sports that aren’t usually televised. What’s interesting is that the SEC Network is not alone in the ESPN family. Longhorns Network is an ESPN run network that deals strictly with the University of Texas Longhorns. It is very rare that you hear a complaint about ESPN being bias towards the University of Texas. ESPN is not the only offender. Fox Sports 1 appears to have the rights to the of the BIG XII and PAC XII conferences. Even so, nobody claims that Fox Sports 1 is biased. SEC network and Longhorn Network aren’t the only specialized college networks. The Big Ten and PAC XII each have their own network, as well as single schools such as BYU having their own networks. As big as ESPN is it’s expected that they would have relationships with all kinds of sports and leagues. According to Kevin Scarbinsky of al.com, ESPN has agreements with many major sports. Scarbinsky says, “ESPN has business relationships with every other Power 5 conference, too, as well as the NFL, the NBA, Major League Baseball, etc., etc., etc. The network …show more content…
partners with a lot of leagues in a lot of sports, and it's long walked a fine line in trying to promote those partners from a marketing standpoint as well as cover them journalistically.” (4) (Scarbinsky) ESPN has gotten to where it is by working with all kinds of sports and leagues. It should be expected that a company that calls itself ‘the worldwide leader in sports’ would have all kinds of partnerships in the sports world, so why then do people only accuse them of an SEC bias. Is it a conflict of interest? There is no reason to believe that ESPN cannot remain objective. They promote all of their programing. It is not as if they are over promoting the SEC and pushing everything else into the background. The SEC is nothing but a blip on the ESPN map. The relationship between ESPN and the SEC Network is strictly professional. The professional relationship between the two does not promote and ESPN; SEC bias. It is often times considered to be human nature to be bias toward what one knows, what they’re used to. If ESPN was so biased toward the SEC, than it would be assumed that a high number of their college football analysts are alumni of SEC schools. This is not the case. According to AC Clark of Bleacher report, only two of the ESPN college football analysts are graduates of SEC schools. (5) (ESPN Bias) the numbers are from 2011, and the staff has obviously changed since then, but not enough that SEC graduates are now the majority. The fact is that ESPN has no reason to be bias towards the SEC. It isn’t like ESPN has a bunch of SEC fans working for them. If anything, it would make sense for ESPN to have a bias toward the PAC XII or the ACC/Big East considering that the two major markets of ESPN are Los Angeles and the New York City area. Which, whether it be coincidence or otherwise, is the area that most of the college football staff of ESPN attended school. Wouldn’t these facts lead one to assume that ESPN would have an Eastern United States/ Pacific Coast bias? Maybe people are paying making poor assumptions. ESPN has no reason to have an SEC bias because the college football staff has no ties to the SEC conference. ESPN is one of the largest sports networks in the world, let alone North America.
They are many things, but bias isn’t one of them. Covering great teams is their job. ESPN does not decide what teams are going to be successful any given year. Covering great players is their job. The SEC has won more national championships and more Heisman trophies than any other conference in college football. The SEC network is not a sign of bias. The SEC Network is a tremendous business opportunity. Why would ESPN turn down the possibility of representing the most profitable conference in college football? ESPN has no reason to be bias. ESPN does not employ many SEC alumni. They have no reason to prefer the SEC over the rest of the college football landscape. In order to be bias wouldn’t one have to have an existing relationship for what they are going out of their way to support? Saying ESPN has an SEC bias is like saying any sports media company has an SEC bias. ESPN doesn’t decide who plays in the national championship. ESPN doesn’t decide who wins the Heisman trophy every year. ESPN doesn’t decide who is ranked in the top twenty-five each week. ESPN has no power on the college football landscape. All they do is report what they see and do their jobs. The SEC is covered because they win more often and more spectacularly than any other conference in college football. It is difficult to persecute the worldwide leader in sports for calling it how it is. ESPN is not biased toward SEC college
football over other conferences because the SEC is typically the best which leads to more coverage, the SEC Network’s relationship with ESPN is strictly professional, and the SEC is hardly represented by the college football staff of ESPN.
Bias is everywhere in the mainstream media whether it is political, celebrity, or worldwide news. Bias can misinform the public and most of the time leaves the whole story to suit their belief. Bias is when someone is presenting information or talking about a topic but being unfair and not showing the whole side of the story. Media keeps certain information to themselves to not make their belief seem bad but as a good thing. In everyday media there is some form of bias that can be small or big depending on the topic. Of course in today's society it seems that bias is okay and acceptable in the media. However people doing their job are bias and present the information to their beliefs. The public thinks they are getting the truth but media is
In 1986, it was hinted that people were giving money to Southern Methodist University to bolster the football program. After this was confirmed, the NCAA began taking action and started its own investigation into the program. Upon completing their investigation, they found that all prior allegations were true and began sanctioning the program. On February 25, 1987, the SMU football program, already the most penalized program in history, received the harshest sanctions ever hande...
The NCAA is a global, and well-known company that regulates collegiate sports with thousands of universities across the country. The NCAA organizational assessment shows its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to all competitors. In this current market environment, I assessed and prioritize what strengths and weaknesses were most important and which strengths have to continue to grow and what weaknesses needed to be mitigated. It is tough for the NCAA to have great competition due to the fact that it is far beyond any competitions and doesn’t seem to show any sign of slowing down soon. Issues, whether political or ethical, or whatever the case may be, as long as the NCAA continues to analyze its “SWOT” then they will always be the leader in the current market
“The old argument that the networks and other ‘media elites’ have a liberal bias is so blatantly true that it’s hardly worth discussing anymore…No we don’t sit around in dark corners and plan strategies on how we’re going to slant the news. We don’t have to. It comes naturally to most reporters.” (Bias: A CBS Insider Exposes How the Media Distort the News) This example is tremendously important in the author’s discussion because it proves that news stories do manipulate people through bias. Popular news networks are viewed by thousands of people every single day, thus making it have a huge impact on the public since they believe what they see. When news reporters present their news segments, it is natural for them to give their insights due to human nature being instinctively biased. “The news media is [sic] only objective if they report something you agree with… Then they’re objective. Otherwise they’re biased if you don’t agree, you know.” (CNN’s American Morning) In this quote, the readers are presented to current panelists agreeing that news consumers have a very hard time separating their own view of the news from the perspective of the news reporters because they are presenting their own opinions throughout their segments. This problem exists once again because of the bias that is contained in media
This an article about Kobe Bryant discussing his views on the NCAA and its impact on player. This source is credible because Bleacher Report is a sports media company associated with Turner Sports. I plan to use this information in my counter argument.
Imagine a business that brings in $60 million each year ,and the people fueling that industry receive none of the revenue(Wieberg). These same people work 40 hours in their sport every week, these “people” are college athletes. The NCAA, the governing body for major college sports, is the industry doing this to college athletes(Edelman). This is an issue of exploitation and control by large institutions over primarily poor people, the NCAA is guiding them in directions to make money for everybody while doing everything possible to keep the players out of the money. College Athletes deserve profit because they bring in large revenue into their program, the NCAA, and they invest tons of time into their sport.
Abstract: Collegiate athletes participating in the two revenue sports (football, men's basketball) sacrifice their time, education, and risk physical harm for their respected programs. The players are controlled by a governing body (NCAA) that dictates when they can show up to work, and when they cannot show up for work. They are restricted from making any substantial financial gains outside of their sports arena. These athletes receive no compensation for their efforts, while others prosper from their abilities. The athletes participating in the two revenue sports of college athletics, football and men's basketball should be compensated for their time, dedication, and work put forth in their respected sports.
Racism in Sports and the African American College Athlete The role of college athletics in the American home is known to all. The traditional football games on Thanksgiving and New Year's Day. March Madness for NCAA men's basketball as well as the year's end Rose Bowl for college football leaves fans glued to their televisions for hours.
There has been a lot of athletic scandals in colleges in most parts of the world. These scandals have been as a result of the coaches and the directors of athletics in the colleges failing to take the full force of the law and giving their players freedom to do everything even if it is against the law. One of this fatal scandals is the Baylor university basketball scandal that occurred in the year 2003. This scandal involved the players and the coaches of the team. The scandal left one player dead and the other imprisoned for thirty five years. The team was subjected to a lot of punishment by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The NCAA is a non-profit organization comprised of 1281 institutions, organizations, individuals and conferences and that organizes the athletic programs of most of the colleges and universities in the United States and Canada (The New York Times, 2003).
...liam J. "Even Playing Field? Winning Athletic Program Can Bring Millions of Dollars and Instant Notoriety to a School. but Some Say College Athletes Are Getting Played in the Process." Diverse Issues in Higher Education 28 Apr. 2011: 11+.Questia School. Web. 3 Feb. 2014.
Robe’s first appeals to logic. Logic impresses a business audience like readers of Forbes magazine. He examines the notion that college athletics help create exposure for colleges and that itself being a benefit. Robe makes the concession this does create exposure based on his own personal experience, himself unaware of some smaller universities until he saw them competing. He questions, however, the real world value this exposure provides, asking “to what end is all this exposure?” This appeal, however, could offend readers that agree with him but also value college sports, affecting the credibility of Robe’s argument for his intended audience. While the title of Robe’s article will attract both readers who agree and disagree with his thesis, the article itself targets those that agree with his thesis. This appeal to logic and potential humor appeals to rea...
It is clear that the NCAA has lost sight of their mission statement. In the last few years, the NCAA has gone from questionable to despicable. The best interest of the student-athlete is not a priority.
The NCAA and its student-athletes deal with much more than are seen by the general public. The coaches and players always have hidden agendas. Scandals or infractions are committed every year in collegiate sports and are left unnoticed. The NCAA does its best in trying to keep this under control but have difficulty doing so. Student-Athletes receiving improper benefits and breaking NCAA rules are a common group and information on these atrocities must be brought to light.
The Atlantic Coastal Conference is considered an underdog to other conferences in college football. When people think of the ACC their first thought is usually an unscrupulous thought, or that their team would beat anyone in the conference. For example, many people thought that Georgia Tech against Florida State would be a blow out. After watching the game it was completely the opposite. Throughout this past season there has been many excitingly finished games. Compared to other conferences the ACC is very underrated; it includes three top twenty-four teams, thirty-seven national championships throughout fourteen teams, and hundreds impressive wins over highly ranked teams.
Media bias is the tendency for the media to represent different people in a particular way based on their own views, the views of their sponsors, and possibly the views of society. Media bias could be blatant, but usually it is subtle. It can be expressed in the content of television shows. It can be expressed in the choices of types of stories that they show on the news. It can be expressed in the language used on shows, and that is written in the newspaper and magazines.