The Impact of News Sport on Society
News Sport, from an easy definition, is any kind of sport informally reported either by the media or various news media about events taking place in the real world as well as those taking place in the world of sports. In America, the word sport is used to describe any informal sporting activity. This includes baseball, basketball, football, hockey, golf and boxing.
As regards formal sport, it covers organized competition, like the Olympic Games. It also takes the form of Olympic qualification matches. Competitions are organized by country and then by sports. For instance, track and field is a form of Olympic sport but the events at the Olympics are divided between the different sports disciplines. The football and baseball championships, which began as exhibition events, later became major international events.
In United States, news sport has emerged as a niche market. It covers anything which the mass media feel is important and relevant to the American people. Sports writers and correspondents are usually paid for any story they report. Sports bars, which are privately owned enterprises, often organize news sport events, like sports clinics, competitions, races and news coverage.
The scope and impact of news sport varies greatly. Some serious players in professional sport, like boxing’s Muhammad Ali, are respected public personalities. However, many other ordinary people, such as baseball’s rookie sensation Alex Rodriguez, are lampooned in the popular press and on late night television. This is sometimes due to a perceived similarity to the athlete ( Ali was once a devout Islam follower) or to the event(s) being publicized (i.e. steroids were in fashion when Rodriguez was suspended for his involvement in the infamous steroid use case of the mid 1990s).
Many Americans who have become more interested in news sport over the past few years have noticed how it influences the way they behave. For example, during the recent NFL draft, which featured several star athletes, many Americans chose to boycott the event and boycotted the proceedings. This affected the NFL’s ratings, as well as its commercial revenue. This can be compared to the huge audience that was alienated during the Iraq war because of its portrayal as an unnecessary war.
The interesting thing is that people who feel strongly about a topic or event will usually use their leverage, i.e. their money, to make their point. This may not be fair, but at least it demonstrates the power of money in our society. It also shows that even if the news is completely wrong, a sizable portion of the population will still react emotionally based upon their basic instinct to be a “good sport.”