In-Class Discussion 11/12/09

In class on Thursday we looked at the following two questions regarding the readings:

1.) Study on "Gender and Audience Building"
-What might the findings be if this study was done today?

My group felt that if this study was done today, there might be a few differences. For example, women's sports used to have mostly female broadcasters. We don't feel that this is true in today's sports. People are just as likely to find a male announcing women's sports as a female. We also feel that women's basketball gets less media attention now than it has in the past. We think that this can be attributed to the fact that women's basketball has fewer big-name stars today than in recent hostory, and the fact that women's basketball tends to be more focused on team play and fundementals than superstars and showy, crowd-thrilling moves.


2.) Mesner article and "Ladies Day"
-How could audiences be constructed to reflect growth of girls and women in sport?
In order for audiences to reflect the growth of girls and women in sport, some changes need to be made. We came up with the following suggestions:

• the media should provide easier access to more women's sports on a regular basis
• there should be more publicity for women's games, even in the regular season
• there should be more mention of women's sports in the sports section of newsbroadcasts