Sports media and identity: a theory-practice network

体育媒体是一个引人入胜的文化谈判场所，它通过与其他不同的社会类别，特别是种族、性取向和残疾/能力的交叉来表达特定的性别形式，从而使这些形式的性别突显出来。在体育媒体中表现出对妇女和少数群体的文化偏见的学术工作是公认的。这是基于体育领域这种社会等级制度被赋予的特殊意义，这是现代社会最引人注目的领域之一，在这个领域，基于性别和/或残疾/能力的隔离被认为是可以接受的。种族主义、同性恋恐惧症和跨性别者权利问题也是不容忽视的争议领域。尽管禁止黑人运动员与白人运动员竞争的“肤色界线”不复存在，但有色人种仍然存在于体育媒体对运动员的呈现中。虽然运动员不会因为他们的性取向而被排除在比赛之外，但例如，英格兰没有公开的同性恋职业男性足球运动员的情况。关于变性女运动员参加女子运动的争论仍在激烈进行。这些因素反映了当代关于少数群体权利和身份政治的辩论，并进一步反映了这些辩论的背景，其中社会运动和相关运动，例如#MeToo和#BlackLivesMatter，是其中明显的一部分。因此，正如凯恩斯所说，体育记者有能力处理这种复杂和具有挑战性的问题是至关重要的。同时，迫切需要确保研究既得到专业实践的信息，又与专业实践相关。对于关注体育媒体和体育媒体内部围绕社会身份构建的叙事的学者来说，积极将他们的研究翻译给非学术受众是至关重要的。体育媒体学者只有通过与适当的媒体、体育和休闲政策制定者和实践者建立强大的网络，才能充分推动未来对体育媒体交叉表现的研究，塑造其价值观，并为其提供保持相关性所需的方向。通过与国家记者培训委员会(NCTJ)和体育记者协会(SJA)等组织的成员合作，该网络不仅将促进体育媒体研究领域和相关学术领域的研究知识教学法，还将为学术内外的体育新闻课程提供建议。该网络的主要活动将是编写一系列工作文件，重点是性别与种族、残疾和LGBTQ+问题的交集。工作文件将确定在相关领域影响体育媒体的三到四个最紧迫的问题，这些问题是由出席会议的学术和非学术参与者参加的研讨会讨论商定的。反过来，这些工作文件将有助于编写一份最后报告，为该领域目前的专业做法提供建议和指导。报告还将提出建议，以促进研究型教学，从而对教学实践产生影响，并使那些在未来几年进入这一专业的人有洞察力和技能来处理报告中所述的问题。因此，该网络试图通过改变当前体育媒体实践的内容和当前体育新闻培训者的教学实践(从而改变未来体育媒体实践)来塑造未来体育媒体产出的内容。

The sports media is a compelling site of cultural negotiation which brings into sharp relief specific forms of gender as they are articulated through intersections with other distinct social categories, in particular: race, sexuality and dis/ability. Academic work showing cultural prejudice against women and minority groups articulated within the sports media is well established. This is predicated on the particular significance afforded to such social hierarchies in the sporting arena, which is one of the most high-profile areas of modern society in which segregation on the basis of gender and/or dis/ability is deemed acceptable. The issues of racism, homophobia and trans rights are also areas of contestation which cannot be overlooked. Although the 'colour line' barring black athletes from competing with and against white athletes no longer exists, colourism remains within sports media representations of athletes. While athletes are not excluded from competition on the basis of their sexuality, it remains the case that, for example, there is no openly homosexual professional male footballer in England. Debates about the participation of trans women athletes in women's sports continue to be hotly contested. These factors are a reflection of, and further contextualised by, contemporary debates about minority rights and identity politics of which social movements and associated campaigns, for example #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter, are a visible part. Thus, as Cairns argues, it is vital that sports journalists are equipped to handle such complex and challenging issues.At the same time there is a pressing need to ensure that research is both informed by, but also relevant to, professional practice. It is vital for scholars concerned with the narratives constructed around social identities by and within sports media to actively translate their research for non-academic audiences. Sport media scholars can only adequately drive future research into intersectional representation in sports media, shape its values, and give it the direction it needs to remain relevant by building strong networks with appropriate media, sport and leisure policy makers and practitioners. By working with members of organizations such as the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) and the Sports Journalists' Association (SJA), the network will facilitate not only research-informed pedagogy in the field of sports media studies and related academic areas but also produce recommendations for sports journalism courses both within and outside the academy.The network's main activity will be a series of working papers produced focused on the intersection of gender with race, disability and LGBTQ+ issues. The working documents will identify the three to four most pressing issues effecting sports media in the relevant area as agreed through workshop discussions involving the attending academic and non-academic participants. In turn, these working papers will facilitate the production of a final report that will provide recommendations and guidance for current professional practice in the area. The report will also provide recommendations to facilitate research-informed teaching, therefore impacting upon pedagogical practice and giving those entering the profession in forthcoming years the insight and skills to navigate the issues addressed in the report. Thus, the network seeks to shape the content of future sports media outputs by changing both the content of current sports media practice and the pedagogical practice of current sports journalism trainers (and thus future sports media practice).