A Reason to Read

As journalists, we dictate what topics are on the minds and lips of our readers. We plastered our radios, Web sites and news sections of papers with word on Anna Nicole Smith’s death. Watergate caused people to be acutely aware of political scandal. We gave credence to the threat of a possible influenza pandemic, and we also discussed performance-enhancing drug use within our athletes.

There is a fine balance to find between giving people what they want vs. giving people what they need. Much of the news Americans ingest comes in the form of infotainment, at the loss of critical context and information on other more serious, life-changing topics. We as journalists give them that information because that is what the public wants; that is what sells our newspapers, magazines and commercial spots.

On Wednesday, ESPN.com highlighted NCAA women’s basketball when the second round of the Tournament was completed. Maryland, the defending national champion, was eliminated. That was news. But unless there is a scandal, or Oklahoma’s Courtney Paris breaks her leg, women’s basketball, or women’s sports in general, will not see the same press exposure as men’s sports.

I never saw myself as a champion for women’s sports and certainly not women’s basketball. I was in love with boy’s basketball. I didn’t even like girl’s basketball, and I played it growing up. But then I had a chance to cover the sport, and I saw things that made me change my mind and become increasingly more passionate about a game I already loved, only this time, played by females.

I can understand how people would not respect women’s sports. But that doesn’t mean I agree with that fact or have to allow others to complacently continue in their thinking.

A journalist’s job is to give people enough information to make informed choices. Our stories should reflect not only what people are talking about, but also what they should be talking about. By holding on to the status quo of promoting male sports over female sports, we are hurting no one but those that come after us.

I could go into all of the injustices done against women in history, but I won’t. We haven’t even had a hundred years of voting to our names yet. Every time journalists place women’s basketball at the bottom of an inside page, we uphold the historical barriers that have been placed on women as the weaker sex. And it’s not just basketball, it’s all women’s sports.

Then you have low-revenue sports. Lacrosse. Rugby. Gymnastics. They aren’t considered the norm for American sports, so how can they deserve space on page one? The sports aren’t riddled with high-profile athletes or deep-pocketed sponsors. Again, we perpetuate stereotypes and prevent these sports from possibly becoming high-profile because of our media coverage decisions.

In the 1970s, NASCAR founder Bill France wanted more media coverage for his races and for the sport. Autosports were a hard sell to traditional fans of stick-and-ball sports. But as the sport began to grow in fan base, television networks responded by broadcasting portions of races, and maybe a few highlights on newscasts. But in 1979, France and CBS reached an agreement to broadcast the entire Daytona 500. The race garnered one of the highest ratings in television history when the former lap leaders got into a brawl on the front straightaway after crashing into one another. That fight was watched by millions and then stuck on the front pages of newspapers across the country.

And look at NASCAR now.

People really do read into what we write and how we write it. It especially makes a difference where we place it on a page. What does this mean for our objectivity? Just because we place high school girls tennis as a sports centerpiece, doesn’t mean we like that sport more than another. It simply tells our readers that we feel it is worthy of a first-glance. We can’t make people read stories about teams they don’t want to read about. But if a subscriber finds the WNBA’s New York Liberty front and center, time and again, it might give that reader a reason to read. And that’s what my job is all about.