Appendix - Matrix - Michigan State University

2
Sports
and
the
Mass
Media
The mass media in America, particularly television,
have done a great deal to bring about a greater awareness
on the part of whites regarding the problems and
life circumstances of Afro-Americans. There is little
doubt but that the various desegregation drives in the
South would have failed were it not for the fact that
through television the grim realities of "southern hospitality"
were brought into America's living rooms.
It is also true that, through all forms of the mass media,
many Americans have become for the first time aware
of the depths of the frustrations and anxieties suffered
by black people in white America. This is not to say,
however, that the newspapers, television reporters, and
radio announcers have been unfailingly fair to Afro­
Americans. In fact, with fortunately many individual
30
exceptions, the mass media has on frequent occasions
been harsh, insensitive, and indifferent to the plight of
black people. It has acted upon many occasions as an
unofficial arm of the establishment in America-particularly
with regard to the phrasing of news stories
and the general slant of the coverage. Rather than assessing
or clarifying public opinion, the press, television,
and radio frequently have catered to public
opinion in phrasing and presenting news reports. A.
network television program on urbanization fixes on
ghetto "riots" as its main theme, for example. And in
a white racist society this practice can be and has been
extremely detrimental to the interests of black people.
Most news reporters in America, however, are towers
of morality, ethics, and truth when compared to this
country's sports reporters.
The White Sports Reporter
The large majority of white sports reporters in America
have remained aloof from the problems of racial justice
and injustice in the United States. As a group, they have
seemingly been singularly unmoved by the frustrations
and fate of black people, even of black athletes. With
few exceptions-such as Howard Cosell and Jerry
Eisenberg-·-many white sports reporters approved or
stood mute as Muhammad Ali was immorally, unethically,
and illegally stripped of his heavyweight boxing
title. Not a single white sports reporter to my knowledge
ever bothered to mention that John Wooten, in
the incident mentioned in the last Chapter, had been
shunted aside.
The reasons behind this insensitivity on the part of
white sports reporters are many. First of all, when a
white American becomes a journalist, he does notail
at once become a citadel of racial and social objectivity.
A racist white man who becomes a journalist becomes
nothing more than a racist white journalist, in much the
Sports and the Mass Media· 31
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