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- Creators: Reed, Sada
- Creators: Department of Marketing
Description
The term “female sportscaster” elicits a broad range of feelings among the sports media consumer base. Many of the women who fall into the category of “female sportscaster” appear to be greatly admired while many others evoke considerable scorn, making the electronic sports media industry a seemingly dangerous and often vitriolic environment for women. The gendered mistreatment of women sportscasters is not unfamiliar to sports media scholars. Indeed, phenomena such as sex biases, double standards, and harassment have been documented, primarily through positivistic or quantitative research. What has not been investigated, however, is how these phenomena persist and evolve despite the extant research.
This dissertation employs Michel Foucault’s power/knowledge paradigm to take a discursive analytic approach to understand how the “female sportscaster” subjectivity, or imagined idea, is constructed through statements, images, and practices. That is, this dissertation investigates the way society “talks about” the “female sportscaster” and how those discussions affect the experiences of women sportscasters. Using one-on-one interviews with 10 women sportscasters, focus groups with sports media consumers, netnography, and textual analysis under the umbrella of a feminist methodological approach, this dissertation finds that the American female subjectivity is constructed through postfeminist and neoliberal discourses. These discourses “empower” women sportscasters to be responsible for their own success but, in doing so, normalize the obstacles women in sportscasting endure.
As a result of this normalization, the electronic sports media industry is seemingly justified in taking little to no meaningful action toward improving conditions for women sportscasters. Specific manifestations of these discourses are traced across phenomena such as double standards, bias in hiring and development, harassment, and the expectation of affective labor. Suggestions are made for improving conditions for women sportscasters.
This dissertation employs Michel Foucault’s power/knowledge paradigm to take a discursive analytic approach to understand how the “female sportscaster” subjectivity, or imagined idea, is constructed through statements, images, and practices. That is, this dissertation investigates the way society “talks about” the “female sportscaster” and how those discussions affect the experiences of women sportscasters. Using one-on-one interviews with 10 women sportscasters, focus groups with sports media consumers, netnography, and textual analysis under the umbrella of a feminist methodological approach, this dissertation finds that the American female subjectivity is constructed through postfeminist and neoliberal discourses. These discourses “empower” women sportscasters to be responsible for their own success but, in doing so, normalize the obstacles women in sportscasting endure.
As a result of this normalization, the electronic sports media industry is seemingly justified in taking little to no meaningful action toward improving conditions for women sportscasters. Specific manifestations of these discourses are traced across phenomena such as double standards, bias in hiring and development, harassment, and the expectation of affective labor. Suggestions are made for improving conditions for women sportscasters.
ContributorsHarrison, Guy (Author) / Russomanno, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Switzer, Heather (Thesis advisor) / Reed, Sada (Committee member) / Anderson, Douglas (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
INTRODUCTION: This thesis delves into how PR-media relations evolved in the past 20 years (since 1997). It discusses several aspects of media relations, such as relationships, old and new media relations tools, pitching and predictions about the future of media relations. LITERATURE REVIEW: A review of previous literature on media relations guided this research. Past research explained stigmas about the relationship between public relations professionals and journalists, how pitching has evolved, social media's role in modern day media relations and the dynamic between earned and owned media. METHODOLOGY: The research involved a mixed method approach with qualitative and quantitative methods. First, in-depth interviews were conducted with both journalists and public relations professionals who work in Arizona. These interviews were conducted either in-person or over the phone. Second, two in-depth interviews were conducted over the phone with a public relations professional who worked at Intel for over 20 years for a case study. Finally, a survey was distributed to public relations professionals in Arizona via email and through social media websites (Facebook and Twitter) to provide insight on the media relations tactics they have recently utilized, as well as their use of social media. There were also five follow-up interviews conducted with survey respondents. FINDINGS: After conducting these three methods of research, the qualitative (quotes) and quantitative (survey) data were analyzed to provide detailed opinions about media relations including: the relationships between public relations professionals and the media, the use of old and new media relations tools, what an effective pitch looks like, the use of social media, comparisons between less and more experienced PR professionals, and predictions on the future of media relations. DISCUSSION: The findings from this research led to several conclusions regarding media relations such as: the importance of maintaining a trusting and respectful relationship, traditional tools' place in modern day media relations, email's dominance as a media relations tool, the hesitation by PR professionals to use social media as a communication tool with journalists, more experienced PR professionals' lack of hesitation to use social media as a communication tool with journalists, and the prediction that relationships will remain key in media relations despite the changes in media relations tools themselves. CONCLUSION: Based on all of the findings from this research, it was concluded that media relations has evolved to keep up with the changing media landscape, however, traditional tools and practices remain relevant and essential to media relations.
ContributorsTillman, Krista Michelle (Author) / Wu, Xu (Thesis director) / Bovio, Sonia (Committee member) / College of Integrative Sciences and Arts (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
My thesis project is a 26 minute 46 second film that documents the Arizona State hockey team's first season as an NCAA Division I program. ASU hockey was formerly a club team that competed in the American Collegiate Hockey Association (ACHA), but that all changed in the fall of 2014 after the program received a donation. The documentary explores the significance of the team, the emotion of the players and staff, and the results of the season.
ContributorsCasillas, Mauricio (Author) / Kurland, Brett (Thesis director) / Reed, Sada (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The purpose of this thesis was to undertake the creation of a newsgame to create a new teaching tool for journalism schools to better prepare journalism and mass communication majors for covering minority communities. Give It To Me Straight is a drag-and-drop puzzle newsgame that tasks players with completing real headlines from the past about the LGBT community. The written portion of this thesis analyzes the history of news coverage of gays and lesbians illustrating how the journalism industry readily discriminated against or ignored sexual minorities in the United States. The analysis also includes original research about how Cronkite School students view their role in covering minorities. The results revealed shortfalls in the Cronkite Schools curriculum and raised concerns if the school meets the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communication's standards.
ContributorsSorrell, Alex Michael (Author) / Hill, Retha (Thesis director) / Corey, Frederick (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Since the 1960's, the sport of American football has maintained its stranglehold as the most popular sport in the United States. Both in viewership and participation, football has a massive lead on all other sports, but as of late many factors have led some to believe that trouble could be on the horizon. With various issues including head injuries, player protests, and television viewership decline plaguing football and its professional league, the NFL, the door could be open for another collision sport from across the pond to surge in popularity: rugby. Played in 119 countries by millions of people, rugby is currently one of the most popular sports in the world, but because of American football's dominance in the U.S. it has yet to really find its footing here; however, despite its popularity paling in comparison to football, rugby is actually the single fastest-growing sport in the U.S. Both sports share some strong similarities, and with football facing a myriad of issues, there is real reason to believe that rugby could be on the rise while football could continue to falter. By reading through articles and statistics on the subject, this thesis was divided into four main analysis topics to compare and contrast the two sports: injury problems and how they affect viewership and participation, international following for each respective sport, culture around the games themselves and how it could appeal to American viewers, and potential for growth domestically. By examining these factors within both sports, I was able to come to the conclusion that rugby's potential to take hold in the U.S. is growing, and in the coming years as American football's safety and importance continue to be called into question, rugby could one day even supplant football as the most popular collision sport in the country.
ContributorsMartin, Drew Nicolas (Author) / Lynch, John (Thesis director) / Reed, Sada (Committee member) / School of Film, Dance and Theatre (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
In this research paper I explore former male athletes, specifically professional football players entering local journalism. Research paired with interviews in regards to the topic explain why there are nearly 10 former NFL players in local markets where an NFL team is present, and why local journalists along with future journalists should not be worried about the number of former male athletes in local journalism. The paper also dives into the side-by-side statistics of why there is significantly more former college athletes in local journalism than former NFL players. The research focused on more than 100 television stations, revealing that 100 former or current collegiate or pro athletes are journalists for local stations where an NFL team is present. The data is solely reliant on the information that the journalists provided in their bios on the station websites. This could be seen as a possible limitation, however, the likelihood of these journalists either lying or not identifying as a former athlete is minimal due to the size of the accomplishment of actually participating in college as an athlete. The basis of my research is to figure out if former NFL players and former athletes in general are taking journalism jobs from aspiring journalists. I conclude that future journalists are not at risk of losing jobs when it comes to retired football players entering the field of local journalism. With that said, aspiring journalists need to continue to develop their social media skills to compete with athletes’ audiences on social networks.
ContributorsTotri, Anthony Matthew (Author) / Kurland, Brett (Thesis director) / Reed, Sada (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor, Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This thesis looks into the world of Spartan races and the ties it has with Ancient Sparta. Spartan races are just one variation of the rapidly growing sport of Obstacle Course Racing (OCR). An application was submitted in 2017 to add obstacle course racing to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but was denied at the time. The world of Spartan racing was introduced to me by Luis Camacho and Daniele Ippoliti. In February 2017, I followed Camacho and Ippoliti as they went on to tackle the Spartan Sprint. I was curious as to what the rapidly evolving sport entailed and how it got started. Through my research I discovered that the Spartan brand offers more races than just the three commonly known races that make up the Trifecta. The Spartan series also offers many endurance challenges. While looking into the endurance challenges, I discovered a direct tie to Ancient Sparta. The hardest challenge offered by the Spartan brand is the Spartan Agoge. Spartan Race founder and CEO, Joe De Sena, created the Spartan Agoge in an attempt to bring the Ancient Spartan philosophy to modern times. Ancient Sparta is known for their military and strict training system, which is called the Agoge. "We Are Spartan" takes a look into the way of life for the ancient Spartans and how it came to life in Joe De Sena's creation of the modern day Spartan Agoge. We Are Spartan is part of the Spartan mission statement that "We are Spartans on and off the course."
ContributorsBowen, Alexis Nichole (Author) / Dieffenbach, Paola (Thesis director) / Reed, Sada (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-12
Description
The magazine industry plays an important role in shaping how women speak, act, and perceive themselves and others. This industry presents pleasure, consumerism, and a cult of femininity to its largely female readers. The purpose of the literature review was to understand the culture of women's magazines and find a method of examination that would fit best with the intent of this thesis project. Based on this research, the project involved reconstructing a series of Glamour magazine articles from a feminist perspective. This study looked at the degree to which Glamour's editorial content and graphics matched its editorial policy. By researching previous studies of women's magazines, the literature review guided the reframing of Glamour articles from a feminist perspective. Most of the studies reviewed were written in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s, when the radical feminist movement was at its peak. Since then, few analyses have been made on the topic of feminism and women's magazines. This project offered an update on that research by looking at current women's magazines and evaluating if their content/graphics have improved over the last thirty years. Twelve Glamour magazine articles over a three-year period, 2012 to 2014, were selected at random to rewrite. By reconstructing the editorial content and graphics from the selected articles, this study hoped to create a more positive and beneficial magazine for women free of gender stereotypes. Rather than produce a magazine that criticizes women, the reconstructed version of Glamour included a voice that made women feel accepted. This required removing language that reinforced negative gender stereotypes and content that urged women to be perfect, please men, look a certain way, and more. This study found that Glamour is actually a lot closer to representing this gender-neutral magazine ideal than previously thought and creating a gender-neutral magazine is possible with thoughtful editing.
ContributorsAffelt, Stacia Emily (Author) / Barrett, Marianne (Thesis director) / Hawken-Collins, Denise (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
This thesis analyzes identity construction through street style fashion in the city. The focus of this project is Roosevelt Row, the artists' district in Downtown Phoenix. The goal of this project is to compare Roosevelt Row's marketing image with the fashion seen on the streets and at events in the area. The creative project involved the creation of an iPad publication displaying the street style fashions seen on Roosevelt Row. This project aims to analyze if the street style fashion seen on Roosevelt Row reflects the marketing image of the area.
ContributorsKraus, Tamara Renee (Author) / Barrett, Marianne (Thesis director) / Gilpin, Dawn (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Marketing (Contributor) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication (Contributor)
Created2015-12
Description
Analytics has transformed many of the core principles of sports journalism, forcing journalists to work smarter, harder and more creatively than ever before. Yet reporters today are uniquely prepared to navigate the constantly evolving world of journalism, as they now find themselves armed with a plethora of statistics and data that allow storytelling at depths never previously imagined. In interviews with those at the cutting edge of the industry, journalists from around the country imparted insight into how they work to blend new age thinking with time-tested methods of journalism. This thesis expands on those insights and examines the strategies employed to best attack questions of how to best integrate analytics into writing, what role analytics should play in interviews, how to find stories using analytics and others.
The process to answer these questions began by compiling a list of 166 journalists who could provide valuable insight into the current state of sports journalism. Targeted specifically were those journalists who were either currently or had spent extensive time as a beat reporter, as a crucial aspect of the study hinged on the exploration of the role of analytics in day-to-day coverage. Of those 166 journalists, 93 made themselves available through either Twitter direct message or email. Once contacted, 47 of those journalists responded, eventually leading to 27 phone interviews and 7 email interviews.
Each interview began with the journalist establishing a baseline for what they thought the role of analytics should be in the coverage of their respective sports. From there, the conversation often took a linear turn as journalists talked about the experiences in their career that led them to that conclusion, what moments had shifted their overall opinions of analytics, their best approaches for utilizing analytics in both articles and interviews, their favorite and least favorite analytical measures, the gaps that remain in analytics, and the future of the industry as a whole.
Each interview was transcribed, and a number of compelling themes emerged. The many different themes were organized into three different groups, past, present and future, where they were further expanded on to best display the many concepts illustrated in this thesis. Among the themes explored include how journalists use coaches and players to validate statistics, what strategies work best when including analytics in conversations with athletes, how to find story ideas through analytics and the issues plaguing the analytics community. Once themes had been identified, the percentage of journalists who had indicated agreement with the themes were calculated. Thus, themes investigated were represented statistically as well as by a quote from a journalist addressing the idea.
Across 34 interviews with some of the country’s most established and well-respected voices, many of the pressing issues facing analytics in sports journalism today were explored, including the melding of analytical and narrative writing, how best to use analytics in question asking, and the “holy grail” of analytical data. Across interviews, a host of interesting strategies and ideas emerged as journalists examined how the industry reached its current point, what practices are currently most effective, and where the industry is headed. The perspective gained from this thesis gives insight into many of the lesser-discussed elements of journalism, imparting a deeper understanding of the challenges that lay ahead for sports journalism through an examination for how far the industry has come. While analytics and their usage in sports journalism remains a difficult concept to fully encapsulate, this thesis hopefully gives a better look at their complex and ever-evolving relationship.
The process to answer these questions began by compiling a list of 166 journalists who could provide valuable insight into the current state of sports journalism. Targeted specifically were those journalists who were either currently or had spent extensive time as a beat reporter, as a crucial aspect of the study hinged on the exploration of the role of analytics in day-to-day coverage. Of those 166 journalists, 93 made themselves available through either Twitter direct message or email. Once contacted, 47 of those journalists responded, eventually leading to 27 phone interviews and 7 email interviews.
Each interview began with the journalist establishing a baseline for what they thought the role of analytics should be in the coverage of their respective sports. From there, the conversation often took a linear turn as journalists talked about the experiences in their career that led them to that conclusion, what moments had shifted their overall opinions of analytics, their best approaches for utilizing analytics in both articles and interviews, their favorite and least favorite analytical measures, the gaps that remain in analytics, and the future of the industry as a whole.
Each interview was transcribed, and a number of compelling themes emerged. The many different themes were organized into three different groups, past, present and future, where they were further expanded on to best display the many concepts illustrated in this thesis. Among the themes explored include how journalists use coaches and players to validate statistics, what strategies work best when including analytics in conversations with athletes, how to find story ideas through analytics and the issues plaguing the analytics community. Once themes had been identified, the percentage of journalists who had indicated agreement with the themes were calculated. Thus, themes investigated were represented statistically as well as by a quote from a journalist addressing the idea.
Across 34 interviews with some of the country’s most established and well-respected voices, many of the pressing issues facing analytics in sports journalism today were explored, including the melding of analytical and narrative writing, how best to use analytics in question asking, and the “holy grail” of analytical data. Across interviews, a host of interesting strategies and ideas emerged as journalists examined how the industry reached its current point, what practices are currently most effective, and where the industry is headed. The perspective gained from this thesis gives insight into many of the lesser-discussed elements of journalism, imparting a deeper understanding of the challenges that lay ahead for sports journalism through an examination for how far the industry has come. While analytics and their usage in sports journalism remains a difficult concept to fully encapsulate, this thesis hopefully gives a better look at their complex and ever-evolving relationship.
ContributorsRosenfarb, Jacob Alexander (Author) / Boivin, Paola (Thesis director) / Reed, Sada (Committee member) / Walter Cronkite School of Journalism & Mass Comm (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05