Sport culture-media 11/14/03 10:57 AM Page 1 I S SUE S in CULTURAL and MEDIA STUDIES I S SUE S in CULTURAL and MEDIA STUDIES SERIES EDITOR: STUART ALLAN Rowe Sport, Culture and the Media Second Edition Reviewer’s comments on the first edition: David Rowe “Marks the coming of age of the academic study of media sport.” Media, Culture & Society “The book is extremely well-written – ideal as a student text, yet also at the forefront of innovation.” International Review of Cultural Studies “A thoroughly worthwhile read and an excellent addition to the growing literature on media sport.” Sport, Education and Society Sport, Culture and the Media comprehensively analyses two of the most powerful cultural forces of our times: sport and media. It examines the ways in which media sport has established itself in contemporary everyday life, and how sport and media have made themselves mutually dependent. This new edition examines the latest developments in sports media, including: • Expanded material on new media sport and technology developments • Updated coverage of political economy, including major changes in the ownership of sports broadcasting • New scholarship and research on recent sports events like the Olympics and the World Cup, sports television and press, and theoretical developments in areas like Edition Second Sport, and Culture the Media globalization and spectatorship The first part of the book,“Making Media Sport”, traces the rise of the sports media and the ways in which broadcast and print sports texts are produced, the values and Sport, Culture and practices of those who produce them, and the economic and political influences on and implications of ‘the media sports cultural complex’.The second part,“Unmaking the Media Sports Text”,concentrates on different media forms – television, still photography, news reporting, film, live commentary, creative sports writing and new media sports technologies. the Media This is a key textbook for undergraduate studies in culture and media, sociology, sport and leisure studies, communication, race, ethnicity and gender. Second Edition David Rowe has degrees in Sociology from the universities of Nottingham,York and Essex. He is Director of the Cultural Industries and Practices Research Centre (CIPS) and Associate Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Newcastle, Australia. His books include Popular Cultures: Rock Music, Sport and the Politics of Pleasure (1995) and Globalization and Sport: Playing the World (2001). Cover illustration: Charlotte Combe Cover design: Barker/Hilsdon SPORT, CULTURE AND THE MEDIA ISSUES in CULTURAL and MEDIA STUDIES Series editor: Stuart Allan Published titles Media Risk and Science Stuart Allan News Culture Stuart Allan Television, Globalization and Cultural Identities Chris Barker Cultures of Popular Music Andy Bennett Masculinities and Culture John Beynon Cinema and Cultural Modernity Gill Branston Violence and the Media Cynthia Carter and C. Kay Weaver Ethnic Minorities and the Media Edited by Simon Cottle Moral Panics and the Media Chas Critcher Modernity and Postmodern Culture Jim McGuigan Sport, Culture and the Media, 2nd edn David Rowe Critical Readings: Sport, Culture and the Media David Rowe Compassion, Morality and the Media Keith Tester SPORT, CULTURE AND THE MEDIA The Unruly Trinity – 2nd edition David Rowe OPEN UNIVERSITY PRESS Open University Press McGraw-Hill Education McGraw-Hill House Shoppenhangers Road Maidenhead Berkshire England SL6 2QL email: [email protected] world wide web: www.openup.co.uk First edition 1999 Second editon 2004 Copyright © David Rowe 2004 All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher or a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Limited. Details of such licences (for reprographic reproduction) may be obtained from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd of 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 4LP. A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library ISBN 0 335 21075 9 (pb) 0 335 21076 7 (hb) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data CIP data has been applied for Typeset by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed in the UK by Bell & Bain Ltd, Glasgow To the Rowes and Henders: great prizes in the lottery of families CONTENTS SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD xi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (FIRST EDITION) xiii PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (SECOND EDITION) xv || INTRODUCTION: IMMERSED IN MEDIA SPORT 1 A day in the life of the media sports consumer 1 Sport, Culture and the Media: structure and outline 4 Conclusion: looking towards sport and media 7 PART I MAKING MEDIA SPORT 9 1 || UNDERSTANDING SPORT AND MEDIA: A SOCIO-HISTORICAL APPROACH 11 Introduction: when two worlds collide 11 The rise of sport 13 Profitable play 17 Political football 22 The rise of the mass media 24 News and entertainment 27 Having it both ways: sport meets media 31 Conclusion: sport, media and cultural power 33 Further reading 36 viii || SPORT, CULTURE AND THE MEDIA 2 || WORKING IN MEDIA SPORT: THE DISCIPLINE OF SPORTS JOURNALISM 37 Introduction: flesh, blood and sports journalists 37 Sports journalists: ‘shabby reputations’ and professional problems 40 Profiler: the strange case of the sports journalist 45 Crusaders and cheerleaders 51 Talking to the sports talkers 56 Tabloids, broadsheets and fanzines 60 Conclusion: hacks and hipsters 65 Further reading 66 3 || MONEY, MYTH AND THE BIG MATCH: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE SPORTS MEDIA 67 Introduction: valuing sport 67 Sport, media and capital accumulation 69 How to make money while losing it in sports television 74 The ‘strategic chaos’ of media sport 79 Sport as screen filler 88 Media sports policy, politics and myth 91 Fighting for the right to watch 95 When sports television fails 99 Sport as school for scandal 109 Conclusion: media sport lost and found 113 Further reading 114 PART II UNMAKING THE MEDIA SPORTS TEXT 115 4 || TAKING US THROUGH IT: THE ‘ART’ OF SPORTS COMMENTATING AND WRITING 117 Introduction: the world of sports speak 117 Live commentary, dead language 118 Ideologies and Olympic extravaganzas 125 On the page, off the air 128 Revelations, exclusives and ‘bungs’ 134 Literary moments 137 Conclusion: from script to still 141 Further reading 141 5 || FRAMED AND MOUNTED: SPORT THROUGH THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE 142 Introduction: still sport 142 Caught in the act 143 Sports bodies: hot and hard 147 Politics and portraits 154 CONTENTS || ix Imaging sporting masculinity 158 Variable subject, different gaze 164 The uses of sport in photography 167 Conclusion: sports images on the move 169 Further reading 170 6 || SCREENING THE ACTION: THE MOVING SPORTS IMAGE 171 Introduction: action, drama and narrative 171 The front row seat in the living room versus ‘being there’ 173 Audience hunting 182 Screen of dreams 190 Conclusion: ‘there’s always the sport’ 200 Further reading 202 || AFTERWORD: SPORT INTO THE ETHER(NET) – NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW CONSUMERS 203 Introduction: the coming of cybersport 203 From consumer to auteur 204 Conclusion: look and learn 211 GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS 215 REFERENCES 218 INDEX 241 SERIES EDITOR’S FOREWORD This second edition of David Rowe’s Sport, Culture and the Media: The Unruly Trinity explores the extraordinarily dynamic linkages between media and sport, and their significance for contemporary society. Where other books in this area typically focus on a particular sport and its depiction in a single medium, Rowe’s book covers both production and interpretation across the full spectrum of what he calls the ‘media sports cultural complex’. In Part I, Making Media Sport, he traces the history of the media-sport nexus, surveys the production of sports journalism, and closely examines the political economy of the sports media. In Part II, Unmaking the Media Sports Text, he teases out the cultural meanings and social ideologies of a wide range of media sport forms and genres, including sports television, radio, films, books, newspapers, photography and the Internet. This new edition discusses the latest developments in the owner- ship and control of media sport and in media sport technology, consumption and use; incorporates new scholarly contributions to the international field of sports media studies; and reviews the most recent global sports events like the Sydney 2000 Olympics and the 2002 World Cup. It sets out to provide readers with the tools to analyse and understand the sports media for themselves as ‘cultural citizens’, and ‘to take back a little of the cultural power that we have ceded to it’. The Issues in Cultural and Media Studies series aims to facilitate a diverse range of critical investigations into pressing questions considered to be central to current thinking and research. In light of the remarkable speed at which the conceptual agendas of cultural and media studies are changing, the series is committed to contributing to what is an ongoing process of re-evaluation and critique. Each of the books is intended to provide a lively, innovative and xii || SPORT, CULTURE AND THE MEDIA comprehensive introduction to a specific topical issue from a fresh perspective. The reader is offered a thorough grounding in the most salient debates indica- tive of the book’s subject, as well as important insights into how new modes of enquiry may be established for future explorations. Taken as a whole, then, the series is designed to cover the core components of cultural and media studies courses in an imaginatively distinctive and engaging manner. Stuart Allan ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (FIRST EDITION) Why would anyone not a dedicated masochist write an academic book? A relish for self-inflicted punishment must be the best qualification for the task. What really sustains the author (apart from ego and stimulants) is that, one day, the work (in both senses) will no longer be theirs.