Shot in Black and White: Visualized Brawn and Brain Framing within ESPN’s The Body Issue

• In Event: Global Sports Events as Platforms for Innovation

Abstract

Sport media have historically framed White athletes as natural leaders who possess intellectual superiority over their Black counterparts, and Black athletes as brutes who possess physical prowess. However, research provides evidence that these traditional frames are changing. For example, recent media coverage is suggested to be social innovative in being more racially equitable or even contradicting of old patterns (Angelini & Billings, 2010; Mocarski & Billings, 2014). While encouraging, these sudden shifts should be accepted with a degree of skepticism given that framing theory suggests powerful socialized frames, like those attached to racial identities, are culturally ingrained and persistent over time. This study, therefore, will utilize framing theory to examine racialized, visual frames – which are often low-brow in nature and less questioned – within ESPN’s The Body Issue. These efforts will provide insight into the potentially shifting patterns of racialized coverage and novel manifestations of old frames.

Authors

• Gregory A. Cranmer, West Virginia U

• Alexander Lindon Lancaster, West Virginia University