The Better Sportswomen Get, the More the Media Ignore Them

Abstract

In this commentary on Cooky, Messner, and Hextrum’s (2013) article “Women Play Sport, but not on TV: A Longitudinal Study of Televised News Media,” Mary Jo Kane assesses key findings in light of the changes that have taken place in women’s participation and achievement in sport as well as the central tendencies of sport journalists and broadcasters. Kane’s analysis explores the dynamic tensions at play in cultural sensibilities about interest in women’s sports. Kane presents evidence that rising interest in women’s sports runs counter to the mainstream media logic that “nobody is interested” in women’s sporting achievements. In a closing assessment, Kane calls for the need for audience reception research to broaden the content analytic findings offered by Cooky, Messner, and Hextrum to better understand what draws fans to women’s sports.