Pub Date : 2025-09-03DOI: 10.1177/21674795251377921
Andrew C. Billings
{"title":"Between Hype and Reality: The Promises and Pitfalls of Predicting Sports Media Technological Innovation","authors":"Andrew C. Billings","doi":"10.1177/21674795251377921","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251377921","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"162 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144930315","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-09-02DOI: 10.1177/21674795251375105
Daniel E. Hartman
This study applied the reasoned action approach to examine psychosocial predictors of parent-child communication intentions about sport-related concussions (SRCs). While parents are central to youth concussion safety, little research has identified which belief-based mechanisms shape their intent to initiate SRC conversations. Using a cross-sectional survey of U.S. parents of youth athletes aged 8–12 ( N = 300), both main and interaction effects of experiential and instrumental attitudes, injunctive and descriptive norms, and perceived behavioral control (operationalized as capacity) were tested. Findings showed that experiential attitudes, injunctive norms, and capacity significantly predicted intention. Moderation analyses revealed that perceived behavioral control strengthened, and perceived norms attenuated, the attitude–intention relationship. These results suggest intention formation is not merely additive but shaped by the relationships between attitudinal, normative, and control-based beliefs. Theoretically, this study expands the reasoned approach by modeling moderation across all three intention pathways and addresses calls for more granular application of theory in sport communication. Practically, it identifies belief-based levers—emotional framing, normative messaging, and confidence-building—that can improve concussion education for parents during a critical developmental window. Findings contribute both to sport health messaging and to understanding how psychosocial beliefs shape behavior in emotionally sensitive, parent-driven safety contexts.
{"title":"A Reasoned Action Approach to Parent-Child Concussion Communication in Youth Sports","authors":"Daniel E. Hartman","doi":"10.1177/21674795251375105","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251375105","url":null,"abstract":"This study applied the reasoned action approach to examine psychosocial predictors of parent-child communication intentions about sport-related concussions (SRCs). While parents are central to youth concussion safety, little research has identified which belief-based mechanisms shape their intent to initiate SRC conversations. Using a cross-sectional survey of U.S. parents of youth athletes aged 8–12 ( <jats:italic>N</jats:italic> = 300), both main and interaction effects of experiential and instrumental attitudes, injunctive and descriptive norms, and perceived behavioral control (operationalized as capacity) were tested. Findings showed that experiential attitudes, injunctive norms, and capacity significantly predicted intention. Moderation analyses revealed that perceived behavioral control strengthened, and perceived norms attenuated, the attitude–intention relationship. These results suggest intention formation is not merely additive but shaped by the relationships between attitudinal, normative, and control-based beliefs. Theoretically, this study expands the reasoned approach by modeling moderation across all three intention pathways and addresses calls for more granular application of theory in sport communication. Practically, it identifies belief-based levers—emotional framing, normative messaging, and confidence-building—that can improve concussion education for parents during a critical developmental window. Findings contribute both to sport health messaging and to understanding how psychosocial beliefs shape behavior in emotionally sensitive, parent-driven safety contexts.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"60 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-09-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144927822","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-30DOI: 10.1177/21674795251375095
Chen Kertcher
This study examines how Hebrew-language sports media framed Jewish and Arab football clubs in Israel during the 2023–2024 football season, amid the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. Focusing on the ultra-nationalist Jewish club Beitar Jerusalem, the established Arab club Bnei Sakhnin, and the emerging Arab club Bnei Reineh, the analysis reveals distinct patterns shaped by framing theory (Entman, 1993) and peace journalism (Galtung, 2002). Despite comparable visibility, Arab clubs—particularly Bnei Sakhnin—were frequently portrayed with suspicion, disloyalty, or decontextualized neutrality, reflecting selective inclusion and exclusion. In contrast, Beitar was depicted as a patriotic symbol, reinforcing nationalist narratives consistent with war journalism. Peace-oriented frames were rare, decontextualized, and easily overshadowed by dominant ethnonational discourses. Even ostensibly neutral reporting stripped Arab players of sociopolitical context, reinforcing their symbolic marginality. The findings highlight the role of “soft” media in shaping public discourse and national identity, emphasizing that sports journalism is not immune to wartime ideological pressures. Rather than fostering inclusion, it often amplifies existing hierarchies—missing opportunities to support dialogue, empathy, and coexistence in a deeply divided society.
{"title":"Soft Media, Hard Borders: Football, Media Framing, and Ethnonational Tensions in Wartime Israel","authors":"Chen Kertcher","doi":"10.1177/21674795251375095","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251375095","url":null,"abstract":"This study examines how Hebrew-language sports media framed Jewish and Arab football clubs in Israel during the 2023–2024 football season, amid the ongoing Israel–Hamas war. Focusing on the ultra-nationalist Jewish club Beitar Jerusalem, the established Arab club Bnei Sakhnin, and the emerging Arab club Bnei Reineh, the analysis reveals distinct patterns shaped by framing theory (Entman, 1993) and peace journalism (Galtung, 2002). Despite comparable visibility, Arab clubs—particularly Bnei Sakhnin—were frequently portrayed with suspicion, disloyalty, or decontextualized neutrality, reflecting selective inclusion and exclusion. In contrast, Beitar was depicted as a patriotic symbol, reinforcing nationalist narratives consistent with war journalism. Peace-oriented frames were rare, decontextualized, and easily overshadowed by dominant ethnonational discourses. Even ostensibly neutral reporting stripped Arab players of sociopolitical context, reinforcing their symbolic marginality. The findings highlight the role of “soft” media in shaping public discourse and national identity, emphasizing that sports journalism is not immune to wartime ideological pressures. Rather than fostering inclusion, it often amplifies existing hierarchies—missing opportunities to support dialogue, empathy, and coexistence in a deeply divided society.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"30 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144920955","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-23DOI: 10.1177/21674795251366968
Dinfin K. Mulupi, Shannon Scovel, Frankie Ho Chun Wong, Aman Misra
Using intersectionality and critical disability studies, this paper analyzes social media discourse from X and Instagram during the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Qualitative ( n = 1,000) and computational quantitative analysis ( n = 10,881) of social media comments posted during the Games show that the largest percentage of social media commentators discussing the Paralympics came from India, with users frequently evoking notions of nationalism, neoliberal-ableism, athlete-first accolades, and complex notions of gender identity. Findings demonstrate the contradictions of social media as a platform for social change. On one hand social media commentators portrayed disabled athletes as skilled and accomplished Paralympians and framed them as national heroes bringing pride to their country. On the other hand, they also engaged in neoliberal-ableist narratives characterizing disability as something that should be overcome.
{"title":"Golden Girls, National Heroes and Resilient Champions: An Intersectional and Computational Analysis of Social Media Commentary During the 2024 Paralympics","authors":"Dinfin K. Mulupi, Shannon Scovel, Frankie Ho Chun Wong, Aman Misra","doi":"10.1177/21674795251366968","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251366968","url":null,"abstract":"Using intersectionality and critical disability studies, this paper analyzes social media discourse from X and Instagram during the 2024 Paris Paralympics. Qualitative ( <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 1,000) and computational quantitative analysis ( <jats:italic>n</jats:italic> = 10,881) of social media comments posted during the Games show that the largest percentage of social media commentators discussing the Paralympics came from India, with users frequently evoking notions of nationalism, neoliberal-ableism, athlete-first accolades, and complex notions of gender identity. Findings demonstrate the contradictions of social media as a platform for social change. On one hand social media commentators portrayed disabled athletes as skilled and accomplished Paralympians and framed them as national heroes bringing pride to their country. On the other hand, they also engaged in neoliberal-ableist narratives characterizing disability as something that should be overcome.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"13 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144901395","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-20DOI: 10.1177/21674795251368994
Lawrence A. Wenner, Walter Gantz
Seizing on the growth of interest in and coverage of women’s basketball, this study assesses the attitudes, perceptions and viewing behaviors of males and females with expressed interest in men’s and women’s college and professional basketball. Surveying a sample of 808 USA adults participating in an ongoing national online panel for Qualtrics, this study examined similarities and differences in viewing behaviors, perceptions of production quality, assessments of skill and athleticism of players, based on respondent gender and the variant of basketball. Considerable gender- and variant-based differences emerged. At the same time, responses were remarkably similar and generally positive. No single basketball variant was dramatically stronger or inferior to the others. Yet, when forced to choose, respondents were more likely to select a men’s game to watch. We discuss findings from an active audience perspective to shed light on the changing reception to women’s sports.
{"title":"We’ve Come a Long Way Baby (Maybe): Male and Female Fans Watching Men’s and Women’s Basketball","authors":"Lawrence A. Wenner, Walter Gantz","doi":"10.1177/21674795251368994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251368994","url":null,"abstract":"Seizing on the growth of interest in and coverage of women’s basketball, this study assesses the attitudes, perceptions and viewing behaviors of males and females with expressed interest in men’s and women’s college and professional basketball. Surveying a sample of 808 USA adults participating in an ongoing national online panel for Qualtrics, this study examined similarities and differences in viewing behaviors, perceptions of production quality, assessments of skill and athleticism of players, based on respondent gender and the variant of basketball. Considerable gender- and variant-based differences emerged. At the same time, responses were remarkably similar and generally positive. No single basketball variant was dramatically stronger or inferior to the others. Yet, when forced to choose, respondents were more likely to select a men’s game to watch. We discuss findings from an active audience perspective to shed light on the changing reception to women’s sports.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"44 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144898989","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1177/21674795251363866
Katelen Cowger
Colonial ideologies are made visible through global sport, leading to misogynoir material-discursive spaces with disproportionately higher sex investigations of women from the Global South. Caster Semenya of South Africa and Annet Negesa from Uganda are two publicfacing women “outed” as intersex and barred from competition by these invasive and violent sex investigations. Well-intentioned scholars have unintentionally reproduced that same critiqued violence by attempting to discover, investigate, and settle dynamic, interconnected stories surrounding Semenya and Negesa. This article responds to the cross-disciplinary call for a methodological intervention in discourse surrounding Semenya and Negesa, particularly to feminist sport communication studies scholars Cooky and Antonovich’s (2022) call to “tell stories differently” (p. xi) by offering a theoretical argument for more scholars to adopt Jo-ann Archibald / Q’um Q’um Xiiem (Sto:lo First Nation)’s concept of “storywork” as a decolonial method. Through an example of storyworking with Semenya and Negesa’s stories, I argue that storywork as a decolonial analytical method highlights the dynamic realities and relationships within stories and individuals implicated within the same colonial assemblages of power, outlined by Jasbir K. Puar, in a way that illuminates specific, exigent experience—transforming ourselves, scholarship, and systems.
殖民意识形态通过全球体育呈现出来，导致厌恶女性的物质话语空间，对全球南方女性的性调查比例过高。南非的卡斯特·塞门亚（Caster Semenya）和乌干达的安妮特·内格萨（Annet Negesa）是两名公开露面的女性，她们是“出柜”的双性人，被这些侵入性的暴力性调查禁止参加比赛。善意的学者们无意中通过试图发现、调查和解决围绕Semenya和Negesa的动态、相互关联的故事，复制了同样的批评暴力。本文回应了跨学科对围绕Semenya和Negesa的话语进行方法论干预的呼吁，特别是女权主义体育传播研究学者Cooky和Antonovich（2022）“以不同的方式讲述故事”的呼吁（p. xi），为更多学者采用Jo-ann Archibald / Q ' um Q ' um Xiiem （Sto:lo First Nation）的“故事工作”概念作为非殖民化方法提供了理论论证。通过Semenya和Negesa的故事，我认为故事作为一种非殖民化的分析方法，突出了故事和个人之间的动态现实和关系，这些故事和个人与Jasbir K. Puar所概述的相同的殖民权力组合有关，以一种阐明特定的，紧急的经验-改变我们自己，学术和系统。
{"title":"Decolonial Storyworking and Gender “Misfits”: Transforming Selves, Scholarship, and Systems","authors":"Katelen Cowger","doi":"10.1177/21674795251363866","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251363866","url":null,"abstract":"Colonial ideologies are made visible through global sport, leading to misogynoir material-discursive spaces with disproportionately higher sex investigations of women from the Global South. Caster Semenya of South Africa and Annet Negesa from Uganda are two publicfacing women “outed” as intersex and barred from competition by these invasive and violent sex investigations. Well-intentioned scholars have unintentionally reproduced that same critiqued violence by attempting to discover, investigate, and settle dynamic, interconnected stories surrounding Semenya and Negesa. This article responds to the cross-disciplinary call for a methodological intervention in discourse surrounding Semenya and Negesa, particularly to feminist sport communication studies scholars Cooky and Antonovich’s (2022) call to “tell stories differently” (p. xi) by offering a theoretical argument for more scholars to adopt Jo-ann Archibald / Q’um Q’um Xiiem (Sto:lo First Nation)’s concept of “storywork” as a decolonial method. Through an example of storyworking with Semenya and Negesa’s stories, I argue that storywork as a decolonial analytical method highlights the dynamic realities and relationships within stories and individuals implicated within the same colonial assemblages of power, outlined by Jasbir K. Puar, in a way that illuminates specific, exigent experience—transforming ourselves, scholarship, and systems.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"24 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144899018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-08-02DOI: 10.1177/21674795251363419
Andreas Hoffmann
This article takes a communication-theoretical perspective based on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory to examine the functions of athletes’ participation in communication with coaches and the preconditions for its effectiveness. The theoretical assumption of the study is that participation can increase the success of communication if it is able to achieve mutual understanding, promote cooperative behavior and effectively regulate conflicts. A content analysis of qualitative video and interview data from elite coaches and athletes in Germany illustrates, through three empirical case studies, the functions and preconditions of purposeful athlete involvement in film sessions. The analysis shows that participation can lead to mutual understanding, cooperative behavior, and effective conflict regulation. However, this requires the establishment of appropriate expectations of participation, a specific socio-structural context, and a definition of the coach’s role. Otherwise, there is a risk that participation can lead to communication problems. The results of this study not only provide academic insights but also show practical implications for coaches and athletes in elite sports.
{"title":"Athletes’ Participation in Communication With Coaches: Functions and Preconditions in Elite Sports Using the Example of Three Film Sessions","authors":"Andreas Hoffmann","doi":"10.1177/21674795251363419","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251363419","url":null,"abstract":"This article takes a communication-theoretical perspective based on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory to examine the functions of athletes’ participation in communication with coaches and the preconditions for its effectiveness. The theoretical assumption of the study is that participation can increase the success of communication if it is able to achieve mutual understanding, promote cooperative behavior and effectively regulate conflicts. A content analysis of qualitative video and interview data from elite coaches and athletes in Germany illustrates, through three empirical case studies, the functions and preconditions of purposeful athlete involvement in film sessions. The analysis shows that participation can lead to mutual understanding, cooperative behavior, and effective conflict regulation. However, this requires the establishment of appropriate expectations of participation, a specific socio-structural context, and a definition of the coach’s role. Otherwise, there is a risk that participation can lead to communication problems. The results of this study not only provide academic insights but also show practical implications for coaches and athletes in elite sports.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"26 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144766100","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-31DOI: 10.1177/21674795251365191
Richard Jones
County cricket is a traditional mainstay of sports media in the UK, especially the local press, radio and television. However, technological disruption and financial pressures affecting local journalism and cricket itself have led to concerns the domestic game is now less visible, with media attention dominated by international fixtures and franchise leagues shown on pay TV channels. This study aims to complement scholarship on digital mediatization of sport and media work by developing empirical insights into how English domestic cricket is covered in this context. Twenty semi-structured interviews were carried out and the transcripts subjected to thematic analysis, to explore the working practices of county cricket journalists and other content producers. The operation of a network of written reporters paid by governing body the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is considered, as well as video streaming, local radio commentaries, liveblogging and in-house media. The study offers insights to help better understand how domestic cricket maintains its profile in an era of declining investment by traditional media, and the challenges and opportunities of working in county cricket media in that context. It finds notable breadth and innovation in modern coverage, although it is heavily reliant on both ECB funding and the use of precariously employed freelancers.
{"title":"The View From the Boundary: How County Cricket is Covered Amid the Digital Mediatization of Sport","authors":"Richard Jones","doi":"10.1177/21674795251365191","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251365191","url":null,"abstract":"County cricket is a traditional mainstay of sports media in the UK, especially the local press, radio and television. However, technological disruption and financial pressures affecting local journalism and cricket itself have led to concerns the domestic game is now less visible, with media attention dominated by international fixtures and franchise leagues shown on pay TV channels. This study aims to complement scholarship on digital mediatization of sport and media work by developing empirical insights into how English domestic cricket is covered in this context. Twenty semi-structured interviews were carried out and the transcripts subjected to thematic analysis, to explore the working practices of county cricket journalists and other content producers. The operation of a network of written reporters paid by governing body the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is considered, as well as video streaming, local radio commentaries, liveblogging and in-house media. The study offers insights to help better understand how domestic cricket maintains its profile in an era of declining investment by traditional media, and the challenges and opportunities of working in county cricket media in that context. It finds notable breadth and innovation in modern coverage, although it is heavily reliant on both ECB funding and the use of precariously employed freelancers.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"28 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144766106","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-28DOI: 10.1177/21674795251363427
Henk Erik Meier, Mara Verena Konjer, Swantje Müller, Michael Mutz
Female athletes and activists often advocate for ‘equal pay’ or criticize existing gender pay gaps in sport. In their efforts to draw attention to persistent gender inequalities and to initiate change, they rely on media visibility. Therefore, this article examines how athlete activism for equal pay resonated in the German media. We analyze how often equal pay was reported on, and which events prompted this coverage. Given that a variety of arguments in favor of and in opposition to these demands exist, we also examine the framing of the articles in detail. Our analysis is based on 96 articles that appeared in seven highly popular German news outlets between January 2020 and December 2024. Our findings reveal that female athletes were able to mobilize some positive media resonance, but only for shorter periods and for narrowly targeted claims. A majority of articles framed gender pay gaps in sports as unjust and unfair, but then suggested market-conform solutions. This means that a reduction of existing pay gaps would imply that women’s sports must ‘catch up’ by following the designated path of commercialization as known from men’s sports.
{"title":"Getting the Pay Gap on the Board: Female Athletes’ Demands for ‘Equal Pay’ in German Media Narratives","authors":"Henk Erik Meier, Mara Verena Konjer, Swantje Müller, Michael Mutz","doi":"10.1177/21674795251363427","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251363427","url":null,"abstract":"Female athletes and activists often advocate for ‘equal pay’ or criticize existing gender pay gaps in sport. In their efforts to draw attention to persistent gender inequalities and to initiate change, they rely on media visibility. Therefore, this article examines how athlete activism for equal pay resonated in the German media. We analyze how often equal pay was reported on, and which events prompted this coverage. Given that a variety of arguments in favor of and in opposition to these demands exist, we also examine the framing of the articles in detail. Our analysis is based on 96 articles that appeared in seven highly popular German news outlets between January 2020 and December 2024. Our findings reveal that female athletes were able to mobilize some positive media resonance, but only for shorter periods and for narrowly targeted claims. A majority of articles framed gender pay gaps in sports as unjust and unfair, but then suggested market-conform solutions. This means that a reduction of existing pay gaps would imply that women’s sports must ‘catch up’ by following the designated path of commercialization as known from men’s sports.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"39 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144715280","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-07-28DOI: 10.1177/21674795251363839
Andrew Manley, Brad Millington, Shaun P. Williams
This article utilizes empirical insight to critically reflect on the employment and life experiences of data workers in a high-performance environment. The context under study is that of elite sport and the role of performance analyst – a specialist field comprising the use of technology and data in the process of improving sport performance outcomes. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, the social and organizational environment encompassing data work is explored to examine how it may enable or constrain certain labour practices. The findings reveal implications concerning the nature of data work, and in particular how the pursuit of data at scale escalates issues regarding work-life balance. By acquiring insight into the everyday experiences of analysts and the nature of datafied knowledge production, the study demonstrates how participants find meaning in their labour through establishing credibility and a connection to the affective dimensions of work. We conclude by offering practical recommendations for those entering into this field of work that centre on the importance of enculturation and the collaborative nature of the role, reinforcing the imperative that a human-centred approach to examining data work helps us to better understand how data representations come into being.
{"title":"“It is an Incredibly Painstaking, Time-Taking Domain to Work in”: Examining the Work-Life Tensions and Meaningful Experiences of Data Work in Elite Sport","authors":"Andrew Manley, Brad Millington, Shaun P. Williams","doi":"10.1177/21674795251363839","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795251363839","url":null,"abstract":"This article utilizes empirical insight to critically reflect on the employment and life experiences of data workers in a high-performance environment. The context under study is that of elite sport and the role of performance analyst – a specialist field comprising the use of technology and data in the process of improving sport performance outcomes. Using in-depth semi-structured interviews, the social and organizational environment encompassing data work is explored to examine how it may enable or constrain certain labour practices. The findings reveal implications concerning the nature of data work, and in particular how the pursuit of data at scale escalates issues regarding work-life balance. By acquiring insight into the everyday experiences of analysts and the nature of datafied knowledge production, the study demonstrates how participants find meaning in their labour through establishing credibility and a connection to the affective dimensions of work. We conclude by offering practical recommendations for those entering into this field of work that centre on the importance of enculturation and the collaborative nature of the role, reinforcing the imperative that a human-centred approach to examining data work helps us to better understand how data representations come into being.","PeriodicalId":46882,"journal":{"name":"Communication & Sport","volume":"22 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.7,"publicationDate":"2025-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144715281","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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