Racism, Discrimination & Sport Media
Introduction:
Despite the fact that several concerned entities have initiated to eradicate it, racism is still representing a significant fraction of modern societies. Primarily,The rise of this notion was driven by several factors such as the colonialist campaigns or the imperialist expansion (Rich,1998). It is predominantly adopted in a broad and superficial approach to describe antagonistic or negative feelings of one group of people towards another (Fredrickson, 2002). Identifying an infinite definition of racism is an intricate process requiring initially a definition of race, Which is a social construct that artificially results in a categorization of people based on visible characteristics such as physical appearance with mainly skin color, historical culture or ethnic classification and others (Wolf et al, n,d,p.1). Building on that, the definition of racism might be framed as ” any policy, belief, attitude, action or inaction, which subordinates individuals or groups based on their race “ (Wolf et al, n,d,p.2). Most of the sociologists agree that racism ideology posits that some groups believe they are superior or naturally more deserving of materials and resources more than others (Olivier et al,2019). Historically, the sport industry is deemed as a product of social reality, it reflects and duplicates what is happening in societies, it brings together thousands of people, with different colour, gender or nationality. Hence It is more utilitarian to use it as a tool to curb antisocial behaviours such as racism, which is notably existing in the sports field and threatening its power to connect and promote social cohesion (Frey et al, 1991).
As nowadays we are living under an unseen and non realizable force that stems from the rapid development of technology which is media. It is influencing society likewise sports (Lenartowicz et al, 2012). Adding to its implications manifested in attracting more audience, commercialisation and obtaining remarkable stature, this platform regarding sport issues and specifically racism is heavily influential. and crucial to either back up equality or polish the bias and the discrimination (IBID).
This article aims to show how racist ideologies are existing in sports and distorting its inclusive role as well as to explore media stance and representation of racial discrimination with finally discussing some procedures to tackle those unacceptable behaviors.
Racism In Sports: History and Evidence:
Patterns of racism interpret the proclivity of some groups to believe that they are naturally superior to others with a disregard to their equal deservedness for rights and resources. Throughout history, bias and discrimination have been illustrating this issue which is traditionally refers to the racist opinions of the white supremacy towards black people due to several factors namely colonialism or slavery trade (Klienpenning et al, 1993). Sports clearly has witnessed those anti black feelings, where some american studies has proven the existence of racial segregation. Black professional athletes for instance, were predominantly rejected from crucial positions like managers or coaches despite being over-represented in collective games (Alkemeyer et al, 1996). Likewise, Muhammad Ali’s iconic example demonstrates how racism was prevalent in some European countries. His fights in the United Kingdom in the 1960s uncovered the presence of racial stereotypes criticism based on preconceived opinions about race and the nonacceptance towards black athletes in spite of the fact that numerous were supporting the need for radical racial changes (Johnes, 2019). Moreover, contemporary sports activities are not free from racial abuse. Lately, the head of ‘Kick It Out', a British organisation working on tackling racism in football have claimed that the situation is worse than the past five years and last figures shows that discrimination has risen by 43% (Grez, 2020).
Importantly, forms of rejection differ, and they do not only encompass skin color. This issue entails the national identity of professional athletes during competitions and how their national belonging is questioned especially when they poorly perform. Russia 2018 FIFA World cup final won by the French national team exposed the french philosophy towards athletes identity. The response of the French ambassador in the US to Trevor Noah’s statement ‘Africa won the world cup’ triggered a debate over being both French and African and to what extent the ancestries of players impact their representation of the national team. However, the ambassador was defending the Frenchness of the players after achieving an historical accomplishment. But in contrast “les bleus" participation in the South Africa 2010 world cup was disappointing as they left the competition from the group stage. and the players refused to continue training after Nicolas Anelka got Insulted by the team's manager (Diallo, 2018).
Those incidents summarize the paradoxical opinions about some players' nationalities. Where after we saw the ambassador supporting the players' frenchness after Russia world cup, the sports minister Roselyne Banchelot at that time after 2010 participation attacked some players calling them ‘gang leaders’ based on their color and religion similarly how a far-right politician Jean-Maryie Le pen called some players as "foreigners'' and said that they did not know how to sing the national anthem (IBID).To analyse more, athletes with african and non-white ancestry are honored when they highly perform and racially reduced to their orgins when they do mistakes. The following video supports this theory with providing some examples of racism against immigrants in European football.
Previous examples have shown that racism in sports is experienced at all levels. It is embodied in various patterns including stereotypes based on ethnic backgrounds, ancestry, skin colors and even on culture as well. We observe bias or direct abuse towards some groups such as Muslims, Jews or Roma communities in Europe. And in certain case, those ideas are developed to refuse some dress codes in sports such the Women’s hijab for muslim athletes (Hylton et al, 2015). All the previous examples lead us to question, how those situations are still spreading despite the effort made by various national and international governing bodies to curb the patterns of racial discrimination? Opinions of critics vary , some accuse the media by stereotyping and biasing while others think they are doing their job and reproducing the social content.
The next paragraph will comprehensively demonstrate the media’s stance and how racism in sports is covered within this platform.
Media and racism representation:
Simultaneously with the debut of media and television, racial segregation was becoming a critical social issue followed by claims for radical changes towards racial equality. During that era people working in those departments were predominantly whites.Thus, their perceptions and values were reflected in what they produce (Kulaszewicz, 2015). At the early period of media utilization, some products were explicitly racist. The United States example explores how some media products contributed to segregation and discrimination. Films such as the Birth of a Nation in 1915 or Tarzan series from 1935 showed how African Americans were represented as ignorant, thieves, and savage (IBID). Due to alterations that our world witnessed and the effort made by entities fighting anti-social behaviours, racism rates have declined but those pejorative perspectives lingered for decades and still exist even in modern sports media.
To evoke what happened recently, an Italian football journalist Luciano Passirani made an extremely racist remark on Inter Milan striker Romelu Lukaku’s performance. He said that he is impressed by the player's strength describing him as an animal saying ‘’ if you try to challenge him you wind up on the floor. Either you have 10 bananas to eat, that you give to him “ (Christenson, 2019). In the same way, a Romanian TV-show host Radu Banciu said that Serena Williams, the famous black tennis player, looks exactly like a Monkey in a Zoo (Lane, 2019).
In fact, those racist metaphors entail the stereotype that black players are naturally athletic and stronger with animal instincts, better reflexes and with lack of intellectuality, while white athletes are acknowledged by the media for their intelligence, courage and hard work. For instance, during the 1980 Olympics Howard Cosell uttered an abusive comment on Alvin Garrett, a black athlete with the Washington Redskins saying “look at that little monkey run” (Zackal, 2006).
To elaborate more, Those media depictions of black athletes converge towards physical notions emerging from a biological bias. They explain the myth of black athletes with high natural abilities with no intellectual tact, where commentators and TV shows hosts were mentioning some terms such as physical talent, jumping ability or natural strength (IBID). This elucidates how the media is neglecting the hard work of black athletes and trying to reinforce the stereotype that white people are likely to work harder than black to compete and highly perform. Simply, those just “pictures in head” about natural ability are used as a weapon to diminish the dominant performances of some black athletes and to simultaneously confirm the theories that white males are occupying media content production (Kulaszewicz, 2015).
Recently, It has been obvious that non-whites athletes are highly performing and dominating various major sports and we still observe exuberant mediated prejudices and convictions towards them to criticise their success and keep the threats of their dominance away. Some biased media contents demonstrate how black athletes category for example is genetically stronger with natural abilities and they tend to use sports as a platform to prove themselves and overcome poverty obstacles (Lehman, 2002). Moreover, all salient athletes and stars are under watching. Media is intruding on their lives and looking for some news to publish but we observe discriminatory portrayals about athletes' lifestyles through manipulating news headlines. For instance, the way how newspapers talked about Phil Foden and Tim Adarabioyo who both buyed houses for approximately £2m is covered with bias as describing one who is spending money extravagantly despite never starting a premier league match and the other one is buying a house for his mother (BBC, 2018).
As previously mentioned Media forms of racism differ from segregation of black athletes based on biological factors, to the refusal of athletes ancestry and ethnicity. They include even patterns to promote patriarchy in sports and trivialise female participation. This implies giving priority to male sports and not equally shifting the attention to females despite what they show from professionalism and high performances. In other instances, the media focal role is deviated from raising the awareness about diversity and denying racial inequality to preserving those antagonistic feelings and stereotypes. This is explained by the deep influences of business activities on the media sector. While indulging in the business logic, proactive initiatives aiming to curb discrimination and racism will be a difficult process to adopt (Council of Europe, n.d.) However, information gathered in this article through conducted research are not emphasising on the absoluteness of racial ideologies in the media strip. They still represent some theories with limitations. In contrast, there are some notable positive changes explaining the assumptions that the media is designed to implement programs to subside whites supremacy are limited. Some producers and owners are reluctant to the advent of racism into this platform and support the pivotal role for promoting social cohesion and integration. Where many governing bodies or football clubs rely on the media to highlight problems and illustrate the solutions for racism and use it as a system to inhibit its prevalence, To cite an example, In England and Wales coaches wear badges against racism for post-match interviews, media previews and during the game as well and through the media unequivocal extent to impact, messages of anti-racism are distributed to the audience (UEFA, 2006).
Suggestions and attempts to combat racism:
Fighting racism does not require only good intentions, t-shirts and anti-racism anthems to be displayed and discussed in the media. It is more operative to think about sustainable solutions such as reinforcing anti-racism education to urge generations to embrace diversity. Implementing regulation and legislation processes as well might help in applying the law in deterring abusers (Council of Europe, n.d.). As a result, they will be aware of their responsibilities towards their coherent communities and avoid their decay.
Moreover, the most successful approaches to alterate attitudes is to use media coverage to target racism and deliver explicit messages against it (UEFA, 2006). For instance, there has been a remarkable improvement in Britain over the last ten years, because of the continuous analysis of racism with drawing attention to incidents when they occur (Council of Europe, n.d). Racism in the media must be blatant and it is more utilitarian to see diversity in those platforms to tackle the implicit stereotypical representations. This can be achieved through limiting the absence of ethnic minorities and widening the access for the diverse races in media (Wal, 2002).
Conclusion:
Racism illustrates the hierarchy of superiority and inferiority existing in our societies and how some group of people believe that they are naturally superior to others. They express that through reactions of rejection, neglect and disregard based on many features, namely skin color or cultural background. This social product is reproduced in sports as well, where there various forms of non acceptance we saw in football fields, stands and especially media. This tool is believed to be used as a barrier to prevent racism from spreading. But in contrast many critics point out some allegations to media owners about being biased and discriminative over the process of producing contents. Numerous believe that the media is fueling racism and if it does not. Its role is not focusing on promoting social cohesion and diversity in the community. The examples mentioned previously explain how predominantly media is controlled by whites and carrying racial segregation in an implicit way. For instance, there is a tendency to create a “Nature vs Nurture” theory about athletes' performances. Black athletes acquire a natural ability with natural instincts, whilst white have to work hard with intellectual drives in order to compete. However, those discriminative coverages encompass also some cultural, ethnic, and national issues. French national team paradigm showed how nationality is a critical point in indicating racial stances which entail the concept that if you want to prove your national belonging, you need to deny your roots. your origins can lead to a non acceptance case in sports media, except you highly performed or made history. In contrast,the vision that sports media products are biased in an absolute method is not valid. We observe support for plans adopted to curb racism but this is just superficial. To eradicate racism, the media must lead a revolution of radical racial changes through deep educating and knowledge publishing for consumers and refute those ideologies of supremacy and inequalities. As well as promoting diversity in their contents because it is deemed a very influential platform especially during this era. Media must focus on evolving the sport and making it more beautiful through embracing integrity, diversity and cohesion.
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