Stories of Sports: Critical Literacy in Media Production, Consumption, and Dissemination - Paperback

by Andraya N. Carter (Foreword by), Crystal L. Beach (Contribution by), Richard Beach (Contribution by)

Stories of Sports: Critical Literacy in Media Production, Consumption, and Dissemination discusses how media demonstrates privilege, policing, stereotypes, confirmation bias, and objectification in a world where the role of athletics in Western society speaks to privilege and power. Contributors use a critical media lens to analyze texts, including newspapers, magazines, film, television, social media, and sportscasts to demonstrate to readers the ways in which sports stories reinforce or disrupt patterns of power and the ways that power is enacted. This book questions the role of the sports-industrial complex in our society and argues that, while healthy competition and physical health can come from bodily exertion, corruption can contaminate these benefits with the wielding of influence and the acquisition of cultural and financial capital. Contributors examine how the ways that resources are allocated, the coverage of certain sports and athletes, and how viewers view competitive arenas speak to power and privilege in ways that can affect both athletes and athletic stakeholders, highlighting the importance of critically examining sports media. Scholars of media studies and sports will find this book particularly useful.

Author Biography

Katherin Garland is associate professor of education at Santa Fe College.
Katie Shepherd Dredger is associate professor and the academic unit head for the Middle, Secondary, and Mathematics Education Department in the College of Education at James Madison University.
Crystal L. Beach is a high school English language arts teacher and basketball coach.
Cathy Leogrande is professor of teacher education at Le Moyne College.