Chapter 1: The Face of Media: Continuous, Powerful and Adaptable

Sport and media interact and communicate specific cultural and social messages about gender and how it is socially constructed. These messages relate to success, resilience, femininity, masculinity, national pride, leadership, failure, loyalty and heroism. It is important to explore how sport and media collaborate to repeatedly embed social messages which do not reflect the diversity of individuals and groups in society, nor the diversity of issues preventing progressive representation.

This chapter uses the definition of sport from the European Sports Charter Article 2 which is distinctive from the sport sector, which includes media and other commercial activity.

The Sports Encyclopaedia cites over 3,000 sports illustrating the depth and breadth of sport in the world. Media platforms over the past 30 years have developed at an exponential rate. The combination of technology and content have created an explosion of audiences in all corners of the globe. The relationship between media and sport is, for some sports, symbiotic, as TV and image rights have fuelled their growth. For other sports, social media has offered athletes, supporters and fans an opportunity to engage in new ways which are personal and unique.