Sport, Culture and Media

SERIES EDITOR'S FOREWORD

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (FIRST EDITION)

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS (SECOND EDITION)

INTRODUCTION: IMMERSED IN MEDIA SPORT
A day in the life of the media sports consumer
Sport, Culture and the Media: Structure and outline
Conclusion: looking towards sport and media

PART 1 MAKING MEDIA SPORT

1. UNDERSTANDING SPORT AND MEDIA: A SOCIO-HISTORICAL APPROACH
Introduction: When two worlds collide
The rise of sport
Profitable play
Political football
The rise of mass media
News and Entertainment
Having it both ways: sport meets media
Conclusion: sport, media and cultural power
Further Reading

2. WORKING IN MEDIA SPORT: THE DISCIPLINE OF SPORTS JOURNALISM
Introduction: flesh, blood and sports journalists
Sports journalists: 'shabby reputations' and professional problems
Profiler: the strange case of the sports journalist
Crusaders and cheerleaders
Talking to the sports talkers
Tabloids, broadsheets and fanzines
Conclusion: hacks and hipsters
Further Reading

3. MONEY, MYTH AND THE BIG MATCH: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF THE SPORTS MEDIA
Introduction: Valuing sport
Sport, media and capital accumulation
How to make money while losing it in sports television
The 'strategic chaos' of media sport
Sport as screen filler
Media sports policy, politics and myth
Fighting for the right to watch
When sports television fails
Sport at school for scandal
Conclusion: media sport lost and found
Further Reading
PART II UNMAKING THE MEDIA SPORTS TEXT

4. TAKING US THROUGH IT: THE 'ART' OF SPORTS COMMENTATING AND WRITING
Introduction: the world of sports speak
Live Commentary, dead language
Ideologies and Olympic extravaganzas
On the page, off the air
revelations, exclusives and 'bungs'
Literary moments
Conclusion: from script to still
Further Reading

5. FRAMED AND MOUNTED: SPORT THROUGH THE PHOTOGRAPHIC EYE
Introduction: still sport
Caught in the act
Sports bodies: hot and hard
Politics and portraits
Imaging sporting masculinity
Variable subject, different gaze
The uses of sport in photography
Conclusion: sports images on the move
Further Reading

6. SCREENING THE ACTION: THE MOVING SPORTS IMAGE
Introduction: action, drama and narrative
The front row seat in the living room verses 'being there'
Audience hunting
Screen of dreams
Conclusion: 'there's always the sport'
Further reading

AFTERWORD: SPORT INTO THE ETHER(NET) - NEW TECHNOLOGIES, NEW CONSUMERS
Introduction: the coming of cybersport
From consumer to auteur
Conclusion: look and learn

GLOSSARY OF KEY TERMS

REFERENCES

INDEX

Reviewers’ comments on the first edition
“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 was the first book to analyse comprehensively 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 globalisation 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 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. This is a key textbook for undergraduate studies in culture and media, sociology, sport and leisure studies, communication, race, ethnicity and gender.