Media Lack Of Interest In Women's Sports

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On the other hand there are many arguments suggesting that the media should not be required to cover male and female athletic events equally. Some of the reasoning behind this view is due to the fact that the viewers watching sport media do not want to watch women’s sports as well as because women’s sports are not as exciting as their male equivalents. Many sports networks and “television producers contend that the predominantly male audience for televised sports simply is not interest in women’s sports” (Bishop, 2003, p.187). What these companies fail to acknowledge is that they are the people who influence what the audience wants to see. Duncan and Messner (1998) explained that networks use audience-building strategies that attract viewers …show more content…

In his article Banks (2004) indicated he “suggested on the CBC Web that the media should increase airtime for women’s hockey” (as cited in Greer, Hardin, & Homin, 2009, p. 173). Banks (2004) received many harsh comments including one that brusquely stated, “there is not much interest in watching most women’s sports... Women’s sport may not have the same intensity level of the men’s sports, may be slower paced or not on the same skill level. This may be hard to swallow for some people, but it’s the truth” (as cited in Greer, Hardin, & Homin, 2009, p. 173). It can be understood where this commenter is coming from as in some sports, especially swimming and track and field the results of the women competitors are lower than the men’s. Even so, that does not infer that women’s sports are less exciting it simply indicates that each sex puts forward different results. What actually makes women’s sports appear less exciting is the manner in which the media produces their athletic event. A study conducted by Greer, Hardin, and Homin (2009) revealed “coverage of male athletes use more of everything: more time, more segments, more variation in field of view, more variation in point of view, more slow motion, and more use of rail-cam” (p.184). Due to all these contributing factors sports media networks are able to manipulate the viewer into believing that women’s

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