Human
Racial Stereotyping Still Very Much Alive When It Comes To Athleticism
Kathleen Lees
First Posted: Jun 02, 2015 07:11 PM EDT
New findings presented at the 2015 International Communication Association conference suggest that there is racial stereotyping in the way media portrays athletes.
Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that media stereotypes on African-American athletes focused primarily on criminal actions, undermining those of white athletes.
"True cultural sensitivity requires the eradication of racial and ethnic stereotyping; thus, journalists and reporters must reflect on how their own unfounded beliefs about race differences in sports likely contribute to the stereotyping of black athletes as engaged in more criminal activity and innately physically gifted yet lacking in intelligence and strong work ethics," researcher Cynthia Frisby said in a statement. "Not only does negative media coverage serve to legitimize social power inequalities, but also it is likely to undermine black athletes' achievements and contribute to stereotype threat."
During the study, researchers examined over 150 news articles about male athletes from online and print news sources to determine what was going on in each piece. The themes identified included things like crime, domestic violence, training/hard work, moral success or failure, violating sports rule, undermining accomplishments and personal lifestyle.
Overall, researchers found more stories written about white athletes than black ones. For instance, they found more than 66 percent of crime stories involved black athletes while 22 percent involved white athletes.
Furthermore, over 70 percent of domestic violence stories involved black athletes and only 17 percent involved white ones.
Finally, 53 percent of the stories involving black athletes had a negative tone, while only 27 percent of stories about white athletes were negative. Frisby says these statistics point to an existence of stereotyping in the sports media.
"True cultural sensitivity requires the eradication of racial and ethnic stereotyping; thus, journalists and reporters must reflect on how their own unfounded beliefs about race differences in sports likely contribute to the stereotyping of black athletes as engaged in more criminal activity and innately physically gifted yet lacking in intelligence and strong work ethics," Frisby said. "Not only does negative media coverage serve to legitimize social power inequalities, but also it is likely to undermine black athletes' achievements and contribute to stereotype threat."
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First Posted: Jun 02, 2015 07:11 PM EDT
New findings presented at the 2015 International Communication Association conference suggest that there is racial stereotyping in the way media portrays athletes.
Researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia found that media stereotypes on African-American athletes focused primarily on criminal actions, undermining those of white athletes.
"True cultural sensitivity requires the eradication of racial and ethnic stereotyping; thus, journalists and reporters must reflect on how their own unfounded beliefs about race differences in sports likely contribute to the stereotyping of black athletes as engaged in more criminal activity and innately physically gifted yet lacking in intelligence and strong work ethics," researcher Cynthia Frisby said in a statement. "Not only does negative media coverage serve to legitimize social power inequalities, but also it is likely to undermine black athletes' achievements and contribute to stereotype threat."
During the study, researchers examined over 150 news articles about male athletes from online and print news sources to determine what was going on in each piece. The themes identified included things like crime, domestic violence, training/hard work, moral success or failure, violating sports rule, undermining accomplishments and personal lifestyle.
Overall, researchers found more stories written about white athletes than black ones. For instance, they found more than 66 percent of crime stories involved black athletes while 22 percent involved white athletes.
Furthermore, over 70 percent of domestic violence stories involved black athletes and only 17 percent involved white ones.
Finally, 53 percent of the stories involving black athletes had a negative tone, while only 27 percent of stories about white athletes were negative. Frisby says these statistics point to an existence of stereotyping in the sports media.
"True cultural sensitivity requires the eradication of racial and ethnic stereotyping; thus, journalists and reporters must reflect on how their own unfounded beliefs about race differences in sports likely contribute to the stereotyping of black athletes as engaged in more criminal activity and innately physically gifted yet lacking in intelligence and strong work ethics," Frisby said. "Not only does negative media coverage serve to legitimize social power inequalities, but also it is likely to undermine black athletes' achievements and contribute to stereotype threat."
Related Articles
Inner City Won't Increase Your Asthma Risk: Poverty And Race Might, Though
For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone