Sports History: Media's Detrimental Impact on Athletes

This essay argues that the media's influence on sports organizations is detrimental to athletes' interests. While media plays a crucial role in promoting sports and athletes, its interference often leads to negative consequences. The essay highlights how media pressure, negative publicity, and biased decision-making affect athletes' mental well-being, performance, and career prospects. Examples like Miki Ando's case and the Chinese Olympic team's experience illustrate the adverse effects of media interference. The essay concludes that media's role should be to support athletes, not create undue pressure or ethical dilemmas.

Running head: SPORTS
Sports
Name of the student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1SPORTS HISTORY
Many people all around the world often take sports as a profession. The media has a key
role to play in promoting such sportsman (Levermore & Moore, 2015). Moreover, if a sportsman
is a newcomer or a sports organization is a newly formed one, then the support of the media is
inevitable (Shank & Lyberger, 2014). However, with the increase of the interference of the
media on the sports organization, the effects on the athletes are often adverse (Bennett, 2014). It
has been seen that the strong influence that the media has on the sports organizations often
results in detrimental effects on the interest of the athletes (Martin, Ewing & Gould, 2014). This
assignment provides a strong argument for the notion that the powers, that the media has on the
sports organizations are detrimental to the interest of the athletes.
It is true, that media is powerful and has a significant role to play in the lives of a
sportsman as well as on the sports organizations. The role of media is important in promoting the
sports organizations as well as the athletes. The media highlights the achievement of the
sportsman and makes him/her famous overnight (Harris et al., 2015). Without the promotional
activities of the media, the success of many sports organizations or athletes would remain
unrecognized. It is essential that the success story of a sportsman is published and promoted, in
order to highlight his achievements, along with acting as a motivation of other potential
sportsman (Doyle, Pentecost & Funk, 2014). The media indeed has the power to glorify the
success of an athlete and ensure that he becomes a role model for other, aspiring to reach the
heights of success.
However, it has often been seen that the media interferes more than the power given to
the media, to interfere in the lives of the sportsman as well as in the sports organizations
(Levermore & Moore, 2015). The media personnel often considers themselves in a decision
making position for an athlete or a sports organization (Bennett, 2014). This is a misconception.

2SPORTS HISTORY
The role of media is to ensure that the decisions being made by a sports organization is promoted
and published to the people all over the world, in order to spread the information. However, the
media and the media personnel, often tend to cross the boundary of their interference, thus
resulting in detrimental effects on the athletes (Doyle, Pentecost & Funk, 2014).
For a good performance of an athlete, it is essential that she/he is in a good and peaceful
mental condition. It has been proven that the athletic performance is significantly dependent on
the mental state of the sportsman, along with the skills that he/she has acquired (Ganesan,
Sridhar, & Ahmed, 2015). Anxiety and mental disturbances, acts as a distraction and hence
deteriorates the performances of the athlete. Mental peace is essential for the power of
concentration of an athlete (Doyle, Pentecost & Funk, 2014). With the power of concentration,
the athlete is able to focus on the sports event, ignoring the physical pain that he might be going
through. However, the interference of the media results in adverse effects on the sportsman
(Harris et al., 2015). It is true that the role of the media is essential for the promotion of a sports
organization as well as the athletes, yet interference, more than the scope of the media is harmful
(Martin, Ewing & Gould, 2014).
Each sports organization has a specific way of working, with a strong governing body
and able board members. The decision making power is retained by the board members and they
ensure that the most appropriate decision that is best for the athletes are taken by the board
members (Crompton, 2015). However, it has often been seen that the critical decisions such as
the training sessions, or the dress code, or the selection of the final team for a national on
international sports event is often influenced by the media (Levermore & Moore, 2015). The
media, out of the scope of interference, influences the decisions of the media (Bennett, 2014). If
the off-screen relation between a sportsman and influential media personnel is positive and

3SPORTS HISTORY
friendly, the media ensures that he is chosen in the team that will play a national or international
match (Ganesan, Sridhar, & Ahmed, 2015). However, the preparation and skills of the person
might not be up to the mark to play a national on international match (Doyle, Pentecost & Funk,
2014). Thus, it often happens that an eligible athlete is often replaced by an un-deserving
candidate, due to the influence of media on the sports organization and the decision making
process of the board of management (Kwak, Kwon & Lim, 2015). The detrimental effects that
are seen as a result of this partiality includes lack of motivation of the deserving sportsman,
along with the decline in the standard and skills that are required to play a national-level or
international game (Harris et al., 2015). With the selection of the undeserving candidate, the
deserving candidates fall a prey of the negative effects of the media and thus hampers the career
of the athlete (Martin, Ewing & Gould, 2014). Since, media is powerful hence; the career of the
athlete, whose relation with media is not good, might be hampered, even if they have the
adequate skills of becoming successful (Doyle, Pentecost & Funk, 2014).
One of the examples that the world of sports had witnessed is the case of Miki Ando, a
two-time Japanese national staking champion, in 2004 junior world championship (Snyder et al.,
2015). She became the first female skater to successfully complete quadruple jump in
competition (Levermore & Moore, 2015). She soon became a new face in the media as her
success was of grand stature. She became a topic of gossip in the Japanese media and magazines
(Crompton, 2015). However, the success of Miki Ando was soon over-shadowed by the attire
she wore in the national games (Martin, Ewing & Gould, 2014). Thus, the positive media
coverage was soon turned into negative criticism, thus hampering the performance of the young
athlete, in the upcoming games (Kwak, Kwon & Lim, 2015). The media coverage was so
influential and had such a negative effect on the athlete, that the Japanese Skating Federation

4SPORTS HISTORY
(JSF) send a formal written request to the media that they should refrain from coverage of the
young athlete (Ganesan, Sridhar, & Ahmed, 2015). Moreover, this negative publicity of the
media about the dress she wore over-shadowed her performances and had detrimental effects on
her career and preparation of upcoming sports events (Bennett, 2014). Thus, the detrimental
effect on the athlete hampered the career and performances (Doyle, Pentecost & Funk, 2014).
After the 2006 Torino Olympics, Ando failed to perform well (Martin, Ewing & Gould, 2014).
She was given the 8th position in the women figure skating and the 15th position in the freestyle
competition. Many of the experts are of the opinion that this performance was because of the
criticism, that the young professional faced, along with the negative publicity of the media
(Ganesan, Sridhar, & Ahmed, 2015).
However, JSF is not the only sports organizations who are concerned with the negative
effects of media in the Olympics. The Canadian Olympic Committee (2006) , was also another
sports organization, concerned with the negative effects of the media (Grohs, Reisinger &
Woisetschläger, 2015). This highlighted the facts that the media has indeed overstepped and
interfered in the contexts that are solely the decisions of the sports organizations and the athletes
(Doyle, Pentecost & Funk, 2014). However, the media personnel are of the opinion that they are
focussed on highlighting the good performances of the athletes, and does not interfere in the
decision making process of the sports organizations (Crompton, 2015). Moreover, they also
highlighted the facts that they have never interfered in the areas that are concerned with the
sports organizations (Levermore & Moore, 2015). However, the reality is somewhat different
from that mentioned by the media personnel (Harris et al., 2015). Another concern that is seen in
the athletes is the prediction that the media makes, about the winning or losing of a particular
athlete. One example that is seen in this context is described below (Kwak, Kwon & Lim, 2015).

5SPORTS HISTORY
After the first gold medal was won by China in 2004, in the Olympic Games, an unexpected won
made the media forecast for the win in the future games. The Chinese newspaper, started
prediction that their athletes would win the gold medals in the upcoming games (Grohs,
Reisinger & Woisetschläger, 2015). However, this had an adverse effect on the mental peace of
the athletes, as it created an additional pressure on the them, to fulfil the expectations of the
nation (Momaya, Fawal & Estes, 2015). However, unlike the predications, the Chinese athletes
did not even make it up to the award stand, thus failing to fulfil the expectations of the nation
(Kwak, Kwon & Lim, 2015). Following this event, the Chinese media were of the opinion that
the athletes themselves were over-hyped with the winning if the gold medal and their over-
confidence doomed the chances of winning the gold in the future games (Snyder et al., 2015).
Thus, the media created an immense pressure on the athletes and blamed them for unable to take
up the pressures.
Following these incidents, the role of the media was questioned. Since the media should
be dedicated to promote and support the athletes’ and ensure that, they are successful in the
upcoming games (Grohs, Reisinger & Woisetschläger, 2015). However, the role that media plays
is creating immense pressure on the athletes’, along with accusing them unnecessarily. The role
of media also includes the social media (Kwak, Kwon & Lim, 2015). The social media should be
a catalyst for the assurance of the high performances of the athletes’ and should not act in a way
that makes it difficult for the sportsman to achieve success (Prayag et al., 2013). Moreover,
teams in a group sports is common (Crompton, 2015). Each team has various supporters.
However, the aggressive portrayal of the media creates rivalry among the teams. Moreover, the
media promotes aggression among the supporters of the teams, thus creating pressure on the
sportsmen (Ganesan, Sridhar, & Ahmed, 2015). Thus, along with an additional pressure created,

6SPORTS HISTORY
the media also encourages on/off field display of those aggression (Levermore & Moore, 2015).
Thus, instead of supporting the athletes’, the interference of the media makes things adverse for
the athletes, having detrimental effects on the career (Snyder et al., 2015).
Another dilemma that is created due to the interference of the media on the athletes’, is
on the spot decision making (Grohs, Reisinger & Woisetschläger, 2015). It is often difficult for
the athlete to decide on whether to correct the play as instructed by the coach, or ensure that the
image in the media is preserved. It is ethical to ensure that the athlete follows the instructions
that are being mentioned by the coach (Doyle, Pentecost & Funk, 2014). However, since the
athletes’ fear that their media image might be hampered, they focus on retaining their image as a
celebrity, rather than an athlete. Thus, the quality of the play is degraded. For example, in
basketball matches it is often seen that the defender often moves out of the way instead of
jumping to defend the basket being made (Crompton, 2015). Defending the ball would have been
the ethical way of playing and following the true sportsman spirit (Ganesan, Sridhar, & Ahmed,
2015). However, the basketball players often give priority to their media image, thus hampering
the quality and ethical norms of play.
Along with on-field pressure, the media also impose off-field pressure. This includes the
negative publicity of the athlete and critics in the various media, thus affecting the career of the
athlete. Moreover, the aggressions displayed by the fans are often triggered by the negative
publicity of the media (Harris et al., 2015). This also has a detrimental effect of the career of the
athletes and they fear that their career might be doomed, due to the negative publicity of the
media. Thus, the powers of media on the sports organizations have a detrimental effect on the
athletes.

7SPORTS HISTORY

8SPORTS HISTORY
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