Darren Blakeborough is an associate professor in the School of Culture, Media, and Society at UFV
Radio, television, and publications have influenced how we perceive the world of sports and understand the characters within them. Sports and media are often thought of as harmonious, but the true question is how much media coverage positively and negatively affects the sport, athletes, and even the viewers. The Cascade sat down with Darren Blakeborough to better understand the true reality of social media’s presence in sports.
Blakeborough believes that traditional media enables audiences to enjoy watching their favourite athletes, while feeling as if they really know them.
“We take athletes and build them up like [they’re] more than human. Just think about the biggest athletes in the world — they have this ‘superhuman quality’ … [but] it makes us feel inferior … like we could never be that … we could never look like that … we can never have that much money. Our culture has a penchant for putting people on a pedestal and trying to smash that pedestal out from underneath.”
Social media is an entirely different beast. Blakeborough theorizes that social media platforms are beneficial for maintaining the athlete’s brand, in addition to developing connections with fans and speaking on social injustices.
Negative reactions are a common by-product of social media, capable of diminishing mental health and athletic performance. Blakeborough believes these responses are “soul-crushing.”
“In our culture where everybody’s got a camera in their pocket, anything that [anyone] does is going to be scrutinized. Anything that they say is going to go on repeat and become the new story of the day … The idea was [social media] is going to be democratizing — it’s going to give everybody a voice. The worst thing that it ever did was give everybody a voice.
“We’re at a place where people say … if you’re the ‘greatest’ or the ‘best in the world,’ [then] ‘why are you so weak in the brain?’”
The voice of the media is stronger than ever when considering celebrity drama surrounding the sport. The Kansas City Chiefs are striving to win the Super Bowl for a third time — something no other team has done in National Football League (NFL) history. However, the media is less focused on the idea of making history, and more on Taylor Swift’s relationship with Travis Kelce. Who is this serving?
“When Taylor Swift is there, viewership goes up by several million because if it’s good enough for Taylor, it’s good enough for us. We’ll watch it too and get to see our queen! What it’s actually doing [though] is creating backlash against the Chiefs…”
The media can boost an athlete’s career, but it can also project immense pressure and expectation. The media infringes on the personal lives of athletes, inviting audiences to voice their own opinions, positive or negative. All together, media can either make the sports world a luxurious place to be, or an arduous one.
Veronica is a Staff Writer at The Cascade. She loves to travel and explore new places, no matter how big or small. She is in her second year at UFV, pursuing the study of Creative
Writing.
