Ethical Considerations in Sports Journalism. an Article by Sports Illustrated

Ethical Considerations in Sports Journalism. An article by Sports Illustrated

Introduction

As a sports journalist at the world renowned company Sports Illustrated, I will be discussing ethical considerations behind why the photo of Lindsey Vonn was chose in the 2010 February issue of Sports Illustrated. I will be backing the reasons for running this particular photo as well as discussing ethical implications of sporting journalism in the culture of today’s sporting magazines, with a focus on Sports Illustrated.

Ethical considerations in sports journalism regarding Sports Illustrated

In terms of ethics being the moral principles that govern an organisations actions, the main question to ask is did sports illustrated do something ethically wrong? Sports journalists are inclined to follow the same code of ethics as regular journalists and the SPJ Code of Ethics is applicable to all forms of journalist media. The four ethical principles that journalists should follow is to ‘seek truth and report it’, ‘minimise harm’, ‘act independently’ and ‘be accountable and transparent’ (spj.org). Although these principles are to benefit everyone, they are not rules, but mere suggestions. In terms of the Lindsey Vonn cover on Sports Illustrated in 2010, they did act not in a manner that is ethically wrong, as they had permission from Vonn and the publisher to run the magazine cover.

The context of Sports Illustrated is aimed for a majority male viewers (thehollywood.com) and in running the Vonn cover as they did, whether it be perceived sexually or not, it still does not violate ethical codes. In the past only 4% of Sports Illustrated covers have featured women, with a lot of those covers sexualising women (womantalksports.com), in the right context it was a business decision designed attract more male readers at the time. Although the intention of the magazine was to celebrate Vonn’s incredible achievements in winning Gold at the Winter Olympics in this issue, the magazine still used a pose that would normally not be applied to a non-moving skier that displays what some have taken as a female athlete being depicted in a sexual manner.

It is of sports illustrated best interests to promote interest in all sports and in this issue especially female skiing, however the male audience of our magazine is our best interest as they are the people that buy the magazine. Therefore that would have been a deciding factor in choosing this issues cover. One of the important thoughts that this issues raises is why cannot Lindsey Vonn be portrayed as being the best skier in the world and an attractive young woman as the cover portrays her to be.

Reasons for running the Vonn photo

As a sports journalist who works for Sports Illustrated, I have been invited to comment on the front cover of this issue and as a representative from the company, I am inclined to defend the decision in running the cover as it did. At the time Lindsey Vonn just made her country incredibly proud when she won the downhill gold medal in the Vancouver Winter Olympics. Of course we want to commend Vonn on her efforts so we decided to display her on the front cover as America’s Best Woman Skier Ever. The cover not only sparked conversation in the online community but boosted Lindsey Vonn’s publicity and started to create pop culture skiing superstar (theskichannel.com).

In justifying why this particular photo was chosen for the cover, it is an attractive, fun photo that captures a balance of Vonn’s accomplishments as a skier which is a very important factor for sports illustrated, as well as the photo portraying Vonn in an attractive manner fully dressed in skiing gear. As previously mentioned, the main target audience are males interested in sports and it’s not uncommon to use attractive woman to incline men to purchase these issues. While at the same time, the cover displays Vonn’s achievements in skiing and any sexual connotations the photo may imply were not intentional and is up for the interpretation of the reader.

The ethical implications of sporting journalism

The selection of a cover photo of any magazine is incredibly important activity. The cover is the first thing that audiences look at it and it is how they judge the content of the magazine and whether it’s worth reading. The cover has to catch the eye of the reader. That is the ultimate deciding factor on what cover photo is chosen. Sports journalists will want the cover photo to reflect the overall context of what is written while it is important that they are also strategically chosen in best interest of the business to make the most profit.

Sports illustrated are a business that is well known for covering all forms of sport and celebrating sporting achievements. Sports illustrated magazine have just over 20,000 people who subscribe to their magazine with over 16,000 being men and just 4,679 being women, with the median age of both genders being 37.7 years old (megamediamarketing.com). Due to the culture of the magazine and the main audience being male adults under 40, there are going to be more ethical issues arising for sports journalists who are employed by companies as such. Sport journalists job is to cover sport stories, while working for a business whose intention is to attract more male readers and create more revenue, other stories are likely to be covered. An issue stated by ‘The Nation” is that “the media has a tendency to sexualise women’s athletic accomplishments… in doing so… actually suppress interest in, not to mention respect for women’s sports.” (thenation.com). This creates a real problem for women to be taken seriously and the sports that they play. Since there is a culture that has been created to sexualise women in sports, if a magazine were not to do so, they simply might not sell as many issues as another competitor’s magazine.

This has made sports journalism more than simply covering sports stories, but about trying to compete in a highly competitive market while staying in the grounds of ethics. Sports Illustrated being a leading magazine of sport have incorporated photo shoots and other non-sport related articles to become more interesting to the reader. Therefore creating ethical issues of what is morally right to put in the magazine in order to stay ahead of the competition.

How would you have handled the selection of the Vonn photo for the cover if you ran Sports Illustrated?

Personally, I would have not changed the decision in running the Lindsey Vonn photo that was used in the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in February 2010. The cover is celebrating Vonn’s achievements in a way that is not sexual in nature, which is rare in today’s sport journalism industry and female sports. Her achievements were recognised around the world and fun as well as attractive nature of Vonn was captured in this photo without sexualising her. It is unfortunate that some viewers and critics have interpreted the cover in a way that promotes such nature, but personally I am in support of what photo was chosen. Valuing sporting achievements and what the target audience finds attractive is the criteria I would have used when deciding what photo to run of Vonn. She is doing what she does best and being praised for it while receiving a lot of positive attention for her attractiveness, but most importantly her sporting achievements.