Female athletes receive only slightly more media attention than horse and dog racing, critics say.
By Dave Bensonof The News-Sentinel
Ann Meyers Drysdale may be the most accomplished women's basketball player of all time.
She was a four-time All-America at UCLA from 1974 to 1978. She led the U.S. women's basketball team to the gold medal in the 1976 Olympics. She signed with the Indiana Pacers as a free agent in 1979. She took her spot among basketball's immortals when she was elected to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 1993.
Yet, for all of her ability, Drysdale's initial publicity had more to do with what her older brother, David, was able to accomplish during his basketball career at UCLA than what she did.
The publicity about her focused on the "brother-and-sister-act kind of thing," said Drysdale, who now announces basketball games on ESPN, FOX Sports and NBC.
It was Drysdale's play that made the media take notice.
"By the time of my senior year, we were receiving a lot more fan attention and a lot more media exposure for our team," she said.
But that monolithic structure known as the media, often accused of shaping society's perceptions, still may not be giving female athletes adequate coverage, critics say.
The Women's Sports Foundation claims that 90 percent of column inches on sports pages is devoted to men's sports, 5 percent to women's sports and 3 percent to horse and dog racing and other news.
"Only in the last three years has women's sports coverage exceeded dog racing, horse racing and fly fishing," said Donna Lopiano, executive director of the foundation. Sports editors decide what gets in the paper. That doesn't say much for sports editors."
Drysdale agrees, noting the disparity between how Sports Illustrated handled its coverage of this year's men's and women's National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournaments. Sports Illustrated devoted its cover shot and several pages to Maryland's men's team championship, while the University of Connecticut's women's team -- a team that some consider to be the best women's team of all time -- received a corner of the cover and two pages inside.
"Sports Illustrated gave the University of Connecticut women's team, what, two pages?," Drysdale said. "It didn't add up to two pages exactly. Sports Illustrated could have done something more. When
Annika Sorenstam shot a 59, that received good exposure, but it could have been more. Can you imagine what would have happened if Tiger Woods had done that?"
Sports Illustrated does have a magazine devoted to women in sports, Sports Illustrated Women. It was created to cater to women who are active in sports and not necessarily those who like to watch sports.
"The way Sports Illustrated is set up, it's a magazine for people who spectate," said Susan Casey, the editor for Sports Illustrated Women. "If there are women who spectate, they're going to be just as interested in watching the NBA, just as there are men who are interested in watching the NBA.
"There are already sports where the interest in female performers is equal to or more than that of male performers. Figure skating, gymnastics and soccer come to mind. But we don't necessarily serve female athletes by comparing them to male athletes. Sure, there are women that want to be recognized and lauded and paid well if they're professionals. But women shouldn't see it as an inferior culture just because it doesn't dominate the newspapers."
When it comes to radio and television reporting of women athletes, the picture doesn't get any better, according to the Women's Sports Foundation. It claims that in 1989, 5 percent of television coverage was devoted to women's sports. The percentage increased to 8.7 in 1999.
Northrop High School senior softball pitcher Amy Kendall noticed the inequity when she wanted to watch women play softball during the 1996 and 2000 Olympics telecasts.
"In 1996 and 2000, when they had the preview for softball in the Olympics, I went through every channel and couldn't find it," she said. "I wanted to write a letter to the television people. They gave a whole lot of time to baseball. I wasn't really angry. I was just like, 'Why not?' "
The amount of time devoted by local affiliates to women's sports is miniscule. A big reason for this is that the networks frown on having their programming pre-empted.
"You're allowed only so many hours of preemption a year," said WKJG's Kent Hormann, who has been a broadcaster in the area for 24 years. "The networks are getting very ticklish about their programs being pre-empted."
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Don't say 'ladies'
The Women's Sports Foundation has also taken exception to the language used by members of the media when covering women's sports. The organization developed guidelines called "Words to Watch" specifically for the media when covering women's sports.
Topics covered include when to refer to female athletes as girls or women, use of first and last names for male and female athletes, how to designate games involving men's and women's teams and use of parallel terms.
But there are those who think the media has done a good job of covering women's sports. One is Purdue University women's basketball coach Kristy Curry. She has no qualms about the media who cover her Boilermakers team on an almost-daily basis.
"I don't think there is any question that the media here has done a good job," she said. "We're covered daily. Our media coverage is phenomenal, moreso in the season than now. On the national scene, the progress is phenomenal. It will continue to grow."
Nel Fettig, a Bishop Luers High School graduate and currently a defender for the Carolina Courage in the Women's United Soccer Association, is satisfied with the media coverage her team receives. Fettig spent the 2001 season with the New York Power before moving to Carolina for this season. She thinks the amount of media coverage sometimes depends on the city.
"In New York, we were competing against so many sports," Fettig said. "We would still get coverage in The New York Times, but it would just be a snippet. Here (in North Carolina, the News and Observer gives us great coverage. In New York, Newsday would do an excellent job covering the games. The Times did a great job, but they would devote so much time to the other sports. For every kind of pro sport, there are two teams in New York."
Another determining factor in how the media covers a women's sports team may be how well the team fairs in competition. If the team wins, the media is more apt to report the win. Northrop High School graduate and Ball State University senior track and field athlete Janee Langhorne ran into such a situation with the Muncie media and the university newspaper.
"If you have a lot better team, you're treated well," she said. "Volleyball, men's track and women's track, they received more attention than the teams that didn't perform well. They did better, so that gave the media a reason to put them out there."
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Changes on ESPN
ESPN has shown a commitment to women's sports unequaled by the major networks. The cable network broadcast 33 women's college basketball regular-season and conference tournament games in the 2001-02 season. While it pales in comparison with the 244 men's games shown, it represents a serious upgrade from the days when only the women's Final Four games were televised.
The network also televised most of the 63 women's tournament games. The women's championship game wound up being the most-watched game -- men's or women's -- on ESPN this season.
Next season, ESPN will televise all 63 games of the women's NCAA Tournament, as well as 132 hours of additional NCAA women's championship sporting events.
"Basically, we're committed to serving sports fans," said Kelly Laferriere, director of programming and acquisitions at ESPN. "Sports fans have a desire and have proven to be interested in women's sports, particularly women's basketball. It's our commitment to fans to carry both men's and women's sports."
Northrop graduate and Women's National Basketball Association hopeful Leslie Johnson is glad about that commitment.
"Now on ESPN, we're getting the Final 32, the Sweet 16," she said. "Just five years ago, we were only able to see the Final Four games. We are just now being able to write the script for the women who have been in the elite."
While it would be foolish to suggest everything is perfect with women's sports and the media, it would be equally foolish to say that the situation is as dire as some think it is.
"Is anything ever really equal?," Drysdale said. "On the women's side, you just have to strive to continue to do the best you can. Inroads will be made. Will it be equal? You never know. On certain levels it can be. I believe anything is possible."
Words to watch
Here are some do's and don'ts that media should follow when reporting on women athletes, according to the Women's National Basketball Association.
* Female athletes should not be referred to as girls, unless they are under 12 years of age, or as ladies.
* Use of first and last names should be consistent. Never refer to male athletes by their last names and female athletes by their first names.
* Competitions should be referred to as men's or women's competitions.
* Descriptions should not place too much emphasis on physical appearances. Skills not related to athletic competition should be avoided.
* Use parallel terms such as men's team and women's team, not men's team and ladies team.
* Use appropriate nouns, adjectives and adverbs when describing athletes in competition. Use words such as psyched, strong and physically fit, not words such as moody, shapely and curvaceous.
