THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE PUBLIC FROM THE SPORTS MEDIA

THE EXPECTATIONS OF THE PUBLIC FROM THE SPORTS MEDIA: A QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS Selami ÖZSOY, Assistant Prof. Dr., Abant İzzet Baysal University, TURKEY. [email protected] Selami ÖZSOY was born in Bolu in 1969. He graduated from Faculty of Communications, İstanbul University in 1991. He received his M.A (2003) and the Ph. D degree (2007) in the field of sports management from Abant İzzet Baysal University, Turkey. Since 2007 he is an Assistant Professor at School of Physical Education and Sports, AİBU. Since 1996 he is director Department of Press and Public Relations at the AİBU. His research interests are sports media, sport law and sport history. Abstract The sports media which informs the public of sports events has a big power in our country which influences large audiences just like in other countries. This research was undertaken to determine the situation of the sports media in Turkey and to identify the expectations of the public interested in sports regarding the print media. According to the opinions expressed by seven writers in the qualitative section, it was decided that the concept of informing the public and the concept of coverage of sports events by the sports media can be evaluated in two groups: ‘populist approach’ and ‘sportsmanlike approach’. The results show that at the present time the majority of the sports media uses populist approaches in their publications and coverage. In the quantitative section, a new scale which was called ‘Scale of the expectations from the sports media’ was developed with the aim of measuring the expectations of the sports fans from the print media in sports. This scale was applied to 1360 persons through Internet. The scale was developed originally with 18 items to determine the expectations from the sports media but after factor analysis was conducted, these items were reduced to 6. These items are ‘Sportmanship and Fair Play’, ‘Language and Expression’, ‘Information’, ‘Intensive Content’, ‘Visual Content’ and ‘Football News’. The majority of the participants stated that they are not content with the general coverage approach of the sports media (71.84 %). The 48.57 % of the participants do not find the sports media convincing. The sports fans in Turkey state that they expect a better quality publication, broadcast and coverage from the media. The expectations of the public from the sports media: A qualitative and quantitative analysis 1. Introduction Communication, in essence, carries the meaning of ‘transmission of messages’ and is a very comprehensive concept which has become a science in today’s world. In a general sense, communication is defined as the effort to establish a relationship between the resource and the receiver. Researchers have cited 5 elements as the basis of communication. Source: The element that starts and sends the communication. Message: The content that is sent from the source to the 561
receiver. Channel: The environment that provides the transmission of messages to the receiver. Receiver: An individual or group of individuals that the message targets. Feedback: The response of the receiver to the messages from the source (Oskay, 1999: 16; Fiske, 1996: 34). Figure 1 – Principle Communication Elements Source
Channel
Message
Receiver
Feedback
Environment
Mass communication, a communication method which uses instruments directed towards the whole or a considerable part of the society, is provided with the mediums of television, radio, internet, newspapers, magazines etc. People learn and follow the current events through mass communication. ‘Feedback’, the response of the ‘target’ to the ‘receiver’ in the communication literature, is the element that completes the communication at the core level. When there is no feedback, there is no communication, but only transmission. As the theoreticians agree, communication is a bi‐directional process. But, when the characteristics of mass media are defined related to its applications, unidirectional aspects of it are the focal points. This means that the media which provides the messages does not engage in any efforts to obtain feedback from the target group. An individual draws most of the impressions related to his convictions and opinions with the help of the media. The discourse of the media disseminates the threat of exclusion and isolation. In most cases, the individual has no information source other than the news provided by the media. The one‐
dimensional aspects of the media do not grant a choice to the individual for selecting from among the messages presented to him. The media also has a verbalizing function in which it brings specific convictions and opinions to the foreground compared to the others (Noelle‐
Neumann, 1996: 275). Media affects the formation of public opinion to a great extent by ignoring some of the events and emphasizing the others. After this supposition was verbalized, it has been observed that the media presentations are not regarded very seriously by everyone. But the bottom line is the fact that media has options and alternatives. The media lists the events and important happenings and provides a chart for them. Media may not necessarily inform people on what to believe but it certainly does tell them what to focus on (Lazar, 2001: 107‐
108). Mass communication has 2 major roles: Providing information and providing entertainment. Apart from these, it has other important but concealed functions such as being an agent for social integration and social change. Media provides social integration by supporting the distribution of values and norms in the society (Sage, 2002: 212). 562
Sports has been on the historical scene since the pre‐historical times, for people to live more happily, to increase their life quality and to enliven the lives of humanity but in modern times, there have been many factors for the concept to be cited with some negative aspects such as fanaticism, violence and hooliganism. Football, which has become the most sought after and industrialized sports field in Turkey by the masses just as it has become in the world, has almost been identified with the concept of sports in the professional sense. The hegemony of football has brought a trend which can be called anti‐footbalism. With the practicality in playing the game and with the ease in watching the sport, the game has contributed to the increase in the number of football fans and has created a sports culture specific to itself. Football has begun to be mentioned in the context of ‘popular culture’ with the effects of post‐modernism which have manifested themselves in the ways that they are reflected in the media. Sports public opinion and sports media are the two dimensions of the sport and they are in constant interaction. The idea that media affects the public opinion negatively or positively continues to be the most discussed subject. It is often pointed out that the fact that the sports media, which has an important role in the publicizing and propagating of the sports branches, gives importance to football to a great extent and is effective in the underdevelopment of the other sports branches. In Turkey, as a result of the supply‐demand balance, the media gives coverage to football in the newspapers or on the screen to a great extent due to commercial concerns. But apart from the sports fans who demand football, there is the rest of the public who wants to see news and comments about the other sports branches. From time to time media organizations research the reader/viewer profiles. The publishing/broadcasting policies are determined as a result of the structure, views and needs of the target group. The questions ‘What does the public want?’ ‘Why does the public want it?’ and ‘How does it want to be delivered?’ are among the questions that the press organizations are most interested in and do most of their research about. But how much of the reader/viewer demands are met is a subject that has always been discussed. Yücelman (2007) has voiced his concern for the sports media in Turkey in the following questions: ‘It is impossible for the sports to develop in this country as long as the sports media fills its papers with the gossip of the football, exaggerated magazine news and scenarios prepared at the office desk. Are 100% of the newspaper readers and TV viewers interested in football or would they like to see tennis, wrestling, boxing, riding and cycling in the papers that they read or in the TV programs that they watch? I wonder if the sports editors of TVs and newspapers question themselves at all. Do they know what the readers and the viewers want? Or do they just prepare their newspapers or programs according to their own interests, their own ideas and even to their own egos?’ (Yücelman, 2007). Profit making media organizations which face the accusation of ignoring their social responsibilities defend themselves in a traditional manner by citing the free market model which allows the use of public demands under the ‘public demand’ umbrella. Windschutte comments on the media with the following words. ‘The main criteria in choosing the news are the public demand in the sector of satisfying the request for the news. Public request as a concept can be expressed in 2 ways: What the public needs and what the public desires. This way you can look at the editors’ jobs from 2 directions. Media should both give the public what it desires and also follow the current and important events and relate them to the public (Rowe, 2004: 28). 563
The media being active as profit making organizations sees the sports as a rating/circulation tool and develop their policies with this in mind. If we think of the publications of the media related to sports as their ‘products’ it might be seen as a correct approach that the product should be prepared according to the wishes of the target consumers. It is thought that if the expectations of the sports public opinion should be analyzed correctly and a sports media framework is prepared, it will contribute to the efforts of the media organizations to define their publishing/broadcasting policies. The purpose of this research is to determine the sports public opinion expectations from the sports media. With this aim in mind, the answers to these questions were sought after: ‘How do the sports journalists evaluate the correct position of the sports media? , How do the viewers and readers evaluate the current publishing/broadcasting trend? What type of a sports media should exist in the light of these data?’ Also it was aimed to develop a measurement tool which can also be used by the other researchers to assess the expectations of the public. 2. Methodology The qualitative data of the study was collected through an internet website. In order to direct the participants to the website in which the research survey was published, the managers of websites that publish sports related content were contacted through e‐mail and it was requested that they published the news, announcements and links about the research survey. Between the dates of April 30, 2006 and August 10, 2006, a total of 1559 data was recorded. Out of these data, 199 were found unreliable and insufficient so these were not taken into evaluation. 1360 of the total data was accepted as valid. In addition to that, a semi‐structured interview form which was developed according to the qualitative research techniques was applied to 7 experienced sports journalists who had been chosen by the researcher himself. The qualitative data was assessed by content analysis. In order to derive quantitative data to assess the expectations of the public, a scale called ‘Expectations from the Sports Media Scale’ was developed. The validity and reliability of the data recorded in the qualitative section of the research was measured. In the pilot study that was applied to 160 randomly selected students from Abant İzzet Baysal University, =0.7739 reliability was reached for the scale. After the necessary improvements, the reliability was assessed as =0.7620 for 25 items. With the exclusion of 7 items that decreased the reliability, the level of reliability increased to =0.7831. Factor analysis was applied in order to find the sub‐dimensions of items. The correlation matrix was examined to see if there was a relation between the observed variables. In this examination, it was found that the items in the data group had correlations with each other at significant levels of importance. The highest correlation coefficient was determined to be 0.595. Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was used to test the hypothesis in order to see if the correlation matrix was similar. After the test had been applied to the data group, this hypothesis was refused at a significant level of p<0.05. The Kaiser‐Meyer‐Olkin matrix was determined to be 0.819. When the Initial Common Values examined, the lowest and highest values were determined to be 0.47 and 0.86 respectively. These values showed that the data was appropriate for further analysis. 564
The factor analysis was administered to determine the meaningful compound items and to see how many factors were to be chosen. The analysis suggested the use of six‐factor solution. It was seen that these 6 factors accounted for the 61.94 % of the total variance. Table 2 – Initial Values Component Total Variation % 1 2.62
14.53
2 2.47
13.72
3 2.02
11.20
4 1.49
8.26
5 1.43
7.94
6 1.13
6.30
Total Variation % 14.53 28.26 39.45 47.70 55.65 61.94 3. Findings According to the research results, 85% of the participants were male and the mean/average age was 28.04%. 45.9% of the participants were university graduates. Distribution of the participants according to their professions showed that 18.38% of them were self‐employed. 26.8% of the participants reported that their monthly income was lower than 500YTL. The proportion of the club fans was 90.51%. 26.8% of the participants were members to a sports club. 1360 of the participants that took part in the project were in the age range of 12‐72 and the mean age was 28.04. About half of the participants (45.9%) indicated that they were university graduates. The second largest group was made up of high school graduates (36%). 90.51% of the participants supported a sports club. While 26.8% said that they were members of a sports club, 72.5% indicated that they did not have membership for any sports club. 34.7% of the participants were actively involved in sports while 13.7% reported that they did not engage in sports. 51.1% of the subjects were partially active in sports. Most of the participants lived in metropolis cities. 29.98% of the participants lived in Istanbul and 24.61% of them lived in Ankara. A group of 4.62% reported that they participated in the study from abroad. The proportion of the participants who followed the news and commentaries about sports was 67.2% and the partial viewers were found to be 26.5%. 5.4% of the participants were found not to follow the sports news or commentaries. 44.9% of the participants reported that they did not continually buy a sports paper and 34.1%stated that they sometime bought it while 20.5% of the participants expressed that they always bought sports papers. 78% of the participants said that they were not subscribed to the company which broadcasts Turkcell Super League matches live and 21.2% said that they were subscribers to the said organization. When asked about the mass communication tools they used to follow the sports media, the responses of the participants were as follows: 86% TV; 81.47% Internet; 67% newspapers; 11.98% Radio and 109.95% magazines. As to the questions aiming to assess their purpose in following the sports media, 65.15% of the participants chose the answer ‘to learn about the news’. 59.53% chose the response ‘to be informed’, 38.38% chose the answer ‘to watch the commentaries’ and 22.35% said they wanted ‘to be entertained’. The participants reported that the sports branch they wanted to see the most in the sports media was football (27%). The second sport that was preferred was basketball (20%) while 565
automobile sports were the third selection in the list (10%) followed by tennis (9%). The other sports chosen were as follows: Volleyball (8%), nature sports (8%), athletics (8%), swimming (4%) and wrestling (4%). The belief that football is the most common sports in Turkey was confirmed once again with the help of these results. But, when the results of this study were compared with the results of previous studies, it was seen that the demand for football was lower than it was found before. Also, in the ‘Expectations from the Sports Media Scale’ the item with the lowest mean was found to be the ‘demand for football news’ ( =1.8). This result may be interpreted as a reaction to the abundance of the football news which reaches annoying levels although football is the most preferred sport. The finding that football is followed by automobile sports and tennis is an indication that there is no direct proportional relation between the demand of the participants and the current applications in the media. The satisfaction levels of the participants: The participants stated that overall they were not satisfied with the general publication/broadcasting policy of the sports media (71.84%). The satisfied participants comprised of 2.57 % of the total. The percentage for the partially satisfied participants was found to be 22.43%. 3.16% of the participants did not answer this question. The low level of just 2.57 % satisfaction is a verity important feedback which requires self‐criticism on the part of the media. These results are also worth mentioning because they show that the expectations of the participants from the sports media are at high levels but different from the actual situation. Table 3 – Satisfaction levels of the participants related to matters of the publication concept of the sports media Satisfaction level Yes, I am satisfied I am partially satisfied No, I am not satisfied No comment Total n 35 305 977 43 1360 % 2.57 22.43 71.84 3.16 100 In the analysis of variables of satisfaction levels, it was determined that former was more satisfied compared to the latter in the following pairs of participants: participants who were younger than 19 compared to the older participants; the primary school graduates compared to the participants with higher education levels; the club supporters compared to the ones who are not fans for any particular club; the club members compared to non‐members; participants actively engaged in sports compared to the ones who are not and the participants who buy sports papers compared to the ones who do not buy sports papers. It was also found that the participants who followed the sports news and commentaries were consistently less satisfied from the sports media (p < 0.05). This can also be interpreted as a reaction to the publishing/broadcasting policy of the media. According to these results, it can be argued that the sports media targets the younger generation, people with lower levels of education, the club fans and members, people who are active in sport (generally football) and the media determines their to cater to the needs of these groups. 566
The credibility of the sports media according to the participants: The participants emphasized that the sports media was at very low levels regarding credibility. 48.57% of the participants reported that they did not find the media credible; 45.3% answered they found the media to be partially credible and only 2.5 % of the participants found the sports media credible. In the analysis of credibility according to the sub‐variables; it was found that the former of the following pairs found the media to be more credible and reliable than the latter: The female participants compared to the males; participants younger then 19 compared to the participants aged between 40‐45; the primary school graduates compared to the more educated ones; the club fans compared to the ones who are not fans; participant who play sports compared to the ones who do not; the ones who buy sports papers compared to the ones who do not buy papers. Also the participants who followed the sports news and commentaries found the sports media less credible and convincing (p < 0.05). The participants viewed the TV as the most credible mass communication tool (36.47%). The second highest credible mass communication tool was found to be the Internet (32.13%). The newspapers were the third in credibility list with a very low 6.32%. The participants mostly emphasized the fact that the sports media did not take the reader/viewer demands into consideration when determining their policies (43.90%). 27.65% of the participants said that the media partially paid attention to their demands and 23.08% of the participants expressed their belief that the sports media determined their policies according to the demands of the readers and viewers. Expectations of the participants from the Sports Media Scale: According to the general evaluation of the participants, the factor with the highest mean was found to be the ‘sportsmanship and objectivity’ ( =4.5691). This result may be interpreted that these elements are the ones that are most needed and found to be lacking in the Turkish media. The factor with the lowest mean ( =1.0628) was the ‘football news’ and it can be interpreted as a reaction to the hegemony of football in the media. Table 4 shows the listing of the items (according to their means) that were developed to measure the expectations of the public from the sports media. 567
Table 4‐ The mean of the expectations of the participants from the sports media n ITEMS X S.S Realistic news 1345 4.83 0.57 Objectivity in the news 1349 4.82 0.60 Using Turkish language well 1344 4.57 0.84 Using language and grammar rules well 1349 4.46 0.89 Encouraging the sportsmanship and objectivity 1342 4.44 0.87 Emphasizing the values of sports such as peace and friendship 1330 4.38 1.07 Policy to prevent fanaticism and violence 1347 4.35 1.29 Consisting more articles which include knowledge and research 1341 4.31 Having sports news from abroad* 1351 4.17 1.04 Encouraging the readers to get involved in sports actively 1346 4.17 1.09 Including series which inform about sports branches 1348 4.10 1.14 Having detailed analyses of contest results 1344 3.85 1.11 Having more news content in pages 1342 3.78 1.12 Having more news of sports other than football 1337 3,66 1.26 Having sections allocated to readers views * 1350 3.60 1.29 Having more content in pages compared to visuals 1334 3.59 1.06 Having articles about information on health 1346 3.59 1.30 Having colorful pages compared to black and white 1346 3.54 1.36 Carrying news of clubs who take part in the championship games* 1346 3.23 1.32 Carrying news of the team I support* 1337 2.73 1.51 Having more and bigger pictures in the pages 1342 2.41 1.15 Carrying sections on betting games such as horse racing* 1340 1.75 1.09 Carrying magazine content 1353 1.43 0.90 Having more football related news 1338 1.06 0.44 Carrying more news about the local sports contests* 1342 1.03 0.34 0.99 *These items which found to have decreased the reliability were taken out from the scale. According to the factor analysis results; the 6 factors deemed important were: sportmanship and objectivity, knowledge, language and expression, content, visuality and football news. The conversion table of the 6 factors obtained from the results of the factor analysis applied to the 18 items is given in Table 4. These 6 items form the ‘Expectations from the Sports Media Scale’. 568
Table 5 ‐ Conversion table for the factors in “Expectations from the Sports Media Scale” 1 2 3 4 5 6 SPORTMANSHIP AND OBJECTIVITY(α=0.7340) Emphasizing the values of sports such as peace and 0.74 friendship Emphasis on the news and commentaries about the sportsmanship 0.71 0.68 Policy to prevent fanaticism and violence 0.56 Objectivity in the news 0.35 0.53 Realistic news 0.44 KNOWLEDGE (α=0.7505) Having articles about information on health 0.73 Including series which inform about sports branches 0.70 0.31 Having more news of sports other than football 0.70 Encouraging the readers to get involved in sports actively 0.64 Consisting more articles which include knowledge and research 0.55 LANGUAGE and EXPRESSION (α=0.7196) Using Turkish language well 0.394 0.77 Using language and grammar rules well 0.65 MORE CONTENT (α=0.4556) Having more news content in pages 0.76 Having detailed analyses of contest results 0.68 Having more content in pages compared to visuals 0.44 0.51 ‐0.31 0.30 VISUALITY (α=0.4727) Having colorful pages compared to black and white 0.33 0.80 Having more and bigger pictures in the pages 0.73 FOOTBALL NEWS Having more football related news 0.91 Method of Analogy: Principal Component Analysis (PCA), Conversion Method: Normalized Varimax Kaiser Conversion was completed after 11 renewals The variables determined as sub groups were: gender, educational level, age, income level, active engagement in sports, being a fan, membership in a club, purchasing a sports paper. The relationship of these variables with the ‘Expectations from the Sports Media Scale’ was examined and these findings were reached: Gender: As a result of the variance analysis between the factors that were obtained from the factor analysis of the ‘Expectations from the Sports Media Scale’ and gender variable, a meaningful statistical difference was found (p < 0.05) between females and males in factors ‘sportmanship and objectivity’, ‘content’, ‘knowledge’ and ‘visuality’. The females found ‘sportsmanship’, ‘visuality’ and ‘knowledge’ factors as more important compared to males and males were found to place more importance on ‘content’. 569
Education: According to the variance analysis between the ‘Expectations from the Sports Media Scale’ and ‘education’ variable, ‘knowledge’, ‘language and expression’ and ‘visuality’ factors were found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). The ‘knowledge’ factor was found to be more important by the participants with MAs compared to the primary school and high school graduates. Factor ‘Language and Expression’ was ranked to be less important by the primary school graduates compared to high school, university and post‐graduates. ‘Visuality’ factor was found to be more important by primary school and high school graduates compared to university graduates and postgraduates. Age: As a result of the variance analysis between the factors obtained from the factor analysis of the ‘Expectations from the Sports Media Scale’ and the variable ‘age’, the factors ‘sportsmanship and objectivity’, ‘knowledge’, ‘language and expression’ and ‘visuality’ factors were found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). ‘Sportsmanship and objectivity’ factor was found top be less important by the group consisting of 19‐year‐old and under compared to age ranges 20‐24, 25‐29, 30‐34, 35‐39, 40‐49 and 50 and higher. The factor ‘knowledge’ also was seen as less important by the age range 19‐year‐old and under compared to 25‐29, 30‐34, 35‐39, 40‐49 and 50 and higher. In addition to that, there was a meaningful statistical difference between the participants from the two age ranges: 20‐24 and 50 and higher related to that factor. ‘Language and expression’ was found less important by the age group 19 and under compared to the age groups 20‐24, 25‐29, 30‐34, 35‐39, 40‐49 and 50 and higher. ‘Visuality’ factor was seen as more important by the group 19 year‐old and under compared to the age groups 25‐29, 30‐34, 35‐39, 40‐49 and 50 and higher. Income level: As a result of the variance analysis between the factors obtained from the factor analysis applied to ‘Expectations from the Sports Media Scale’ and the variable ‘Income Level’, it was found that there is a meaningful statistical difference (p < 0.05). ‘Visuality2 factor was found to be more important by the group with an income level of 500 YTL and under compared to the group with the income level of 2001 YTL and higher. Club Advocacy/Being a fan: After the variance analysis between the factors and the variable ‘supporting a club’, ‘Knowledge’ and ‘Content’ factors were found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). When the means were examined, it was found that the supporters of a club gave less importance to knowledge factor compared to the group who does not support any clubs. Along the same lines, ‘content’ was also found to be less important by the club supporters compared to the group who do not support any clubs. Club Membership: After the variance analysis between the factors obtained from the scale and the variable of ‘membership in a sports club’, ‘Knowledge’ factor was found to be statistically significant (p < 0.05). When the means were examined, it was realized that the participants who had membership to sports clubs attached more importance to knowledge factor compared to non‐members. 570
Level of sports newspaper purchases: It was seen that there was a meaningful statistical difference among the factors ‘Sportmanship and objectivity’, ‘Knowledge’, ‘language and expression’, ‘content’, ‘visuality’ and ‘football’ (p < 0.05). When the means were examined it was seen that the participants who did not buy sports newspapers cared more for ‘Sportmanship and objectivity’ compared to the participants who purchased sports newspapers on a regular or irregular basis. The participants who did not buy sports newspapers regularly placed more importance on ‘Language and expression’ compared to the participants who were regular or random buyers. The participants who did not purchase newspapers regularly paid more attention to ‘Content’ compared to the ones who regularly bought papers. The ‘Visuality’ factor was found to be more important by the participants who regularly bought newspapers. Figure 2 – According to qualitative data the pblishing / boadcasting policy of Turkish sport media Analysis of the qualitative data: According to the framework of the views stated by the sports writers in the interviews, it was determined that the broadcasting/publishing policy of the sports media can be classified in two groups: populist approach and sportive approach. The characteristics of the Turkish media between these two approaches, which can be described as two extremes, seem closer to the populist approach although we rarely see the sportive approach being adopted by some media organs. When sports and media concepts are examined separately, it was seen clearly that populist approaches are evident in both. The final aim of the papers, TVs and other media structures owned by private sector is to increase the profit margin. With the effects that professionalism 571
brings, the sports organizations have given the top priority to gain profit in order to survive and have put social aims such as contributing to body and social health in second place. But ignoring the social responsibilities that the media and sports should be assuming carries the risk of creating unfortunate consequences in today’s world where the laws of capitalism abide. The populist approach which can also be described as the commercial policy reflects an understanding which is commonly complained about and seen in the general media. According to that approach, the basic material of the media is football. The other sports branches get almost non‐existent attention. Participant 1, director in TSYD claimed that the reader or viewer acted reactively against the news or commentaries about the clubs they support and put pressure on media organizations: ‘If, for just one day you do not place news related to Fenerbahçe in your paper‐‐‐‐ it is possible you know, it may be just that there is nothing to report about the club that day‐‐‐the next day your phone will ring off the hook. They ask ‘Are you being hostile against Fenerbahçe?’ The same applies to the other clubs as well. We have a very reactive community here. It is imperative that the media accommodates these 3 big clubs. There really is a serious demand’ Participant 2, manager in a sports service said that the function expected from all the pages of a newspaper was to inform the reader in a correct manner, but when it came to sports pages, it became tricky. ‘ The fans expect sports pages which tug at their heart strings when their team wins, which can interpret their feelings for them and which shows great enthusiasm when their team has won 4‐0 or 5‐0. When you look at it generally, people just expect papers to be the mirrors of their feelings and thoughts’. The biggest result of partial publication policy which has a lifeline to populist approach is fanaticism that reflects to the playing field as violence. The fan‐centered publishing and broadcasting places football in the centre and it diminishes the value of the concept of sports. The publishing/broadcasting policy which mainly centers around 4 big teams, just like in our country, creates a shortage of subjects and topics. An unfavorable and disadvantageous outcome of this approach is ‘fictitious’ news and the media using news that do not reflect reality or truth rapidly loses respect. Participant 3, sports news writer, informs us that the papers fill the slots allocated for big clubs with fictitious news on days when there is not any news to write about them. The writer gives a striking example: ‘Since the fictitious news about footballer transfers are so common now that they appointed a manager as the director of an influential sports paper by thinking only a manager can make up the best fake stories about transfers’. As a result all these developments bring about degeneration in the media. Since populist approach addresses the public who belongs to the lower culture in the society, it also degenerates the language in order to reach the masses that belong in that group’ (Figure 2) Participant 4, sports news writer, complains about the language and expression used in the media: ‘The words are being used irrelevantly. Exaggerated expressions are being used when the titles are chosen or events are told. The essence of the matter is being lost for the sake of wit. I believe we are going through a though time in the case of language.’ 572
The sportive approach that forms the other basic theme, derived from the qualitative data from the research, reflects a rare approach that can be called ideal but can not be generalized. On the base of this approach, there is a perspective which regards all the sports branches equally and in line with the expectations of the public. Participant 6, sports news writer, argues that the sports media does not offer enough options for the sports public and states his views: ‘In Turkey, if you place lentils, chick‐eyed peas and dry beans in front of people everyday and if you ask them which of the three they would like, their demands will not be any different from the ones you offer them. The public will only demand what is offered to them. So, in such a situation, it is very wrong for the media to state that the public really is demanding that’ In the approach which also includes football, objectivity is the main principle and all the football clubs are combined together in the framework of equality and objectivity. In this approach, the objectivity among the clubs and fans is one of the elements that can not be renounced and abandoned. As a result of the objectivity, the media will strengthen its image of honesty, integrity and reliability. In this approach it is emphasized that the news and commentaries should be handled in media ethics. It is also important in this approach that the ombudsman system should be introduced to the media for them to be able to self‐
evaluate themselves. As a result of placing importance and value to all sports branches the sports culture will develop in general and the media will have an image of high respectability. It is also emphasized that the values of Olimpizm be given centre‐stage. In the approach, the notion of informing the reader and the viewer is going to be in the forefront. So the media will be able to do its duty and will contribute to channel the masses to engagement in the active sports. This in turn, will indirectly bring a dynamic role for the media on the development of sports. In this approach which is far removed from populism the correct usage of language is an indispensable element. As the most basic result of the sportive approach, the reader/viewer variety will increase and this, in turn will help the media gain more rating and circulation. Participant 5 emphasized the fact that there are many different cultural thresholds in Turkey and stated that the section that the media reflects does not actually represent the whole. ‘Every product has a buyer. If you do your job wee and if you can protect the respect you want to get, there will be people who value what you do. They appreciate you if you can express what you believe to be the truth, if you can open up new horizons for them, if you can transfer them what they do not know and if you can add to their knowledge repertoire while transmitting them the news. In Turkey there are whole sections and masses who are retainers of the popular culture. There are many different cultural thresholds in Turkey. Anyway, to what degree does the other media, let alone the sports media, who is molded in the popular culture and who are really audible now, can represent you? Are we really what they try to represent? I do not believe that they are our representatives. We have not sunk that low!’ 4. Conclusion Media organizations are setting their foundations on a basis which is mainly formed of commercial concerns. Other then the TRT in Turkey, publishing and broadcasting approaches of all the other newspapers, TVs, radios and, internet sites which are the 573
products of commercially minded companies are geared towards increasing the circulation of the newspapers, the rating of the TVs and the visitors of the web sites. When doing this, the social responsibility awareness towards developing sports in addition to commercial and ethic values should always be accepted as indispensable factors. The media organizations that publish and broadcast news and events related to sports media should periodically employ surveys to learn about the views and thoughts of their target groups in order to develop their policies. The idea that he media organizations should allocate budget for R&D and should research the target group will contribute to their commercial gains in the long run. The publishing companies and organizations should employ ‘sports media ombudsman’ system directed only towards the sports sections as currently applied in some newspapers in order to implement self‐audits. The hours currently allocated to P.E. lessons in primary and secondary schools should be increased in order to develop the sports culture in the young generation and to inform them about all sports branches. The P.E. curriculum should include ‘sports culture’ and ‘sportsmanship information’ both as theory and application. This way the sports branches whose structures and rules are not known will swiftly develop. Along the same lines, in the secondary schools ‘the media literacy’ lessons which will inform the students about the process and the background of the media and that way it will be possible for them to protect against the effects of the media which can be destructive and learn information that they will make use of all their lives. ‘The Press Profession Principles’ which most of the media organizations have to abide by can be adopted for the sports media and can be developed specifically for that field. These principles can be published with the leadership of Turkish Sports Writers Association as the common ethics law and a call can be published for all to abide by it. The cooperation platforms between Press and Communication Faculties and Physical Education and Sports Colleges should be formed to train sports writers who want to major in sports other than football and short and long term training courses an be prepared and delivered for that aim. References Arık, Bilal. Top Ekranda. İstanbul: Salyangoz Yayınları, 2004. Erdoğan, İrfan ve Korkmaz Alemdar. İletişim ve Toplum – Kitle İletişim Kuramları Tutucu ve Değişimci Yaklaşımlar, Ankara: Bilgi Yayınevi, 1990. Fiske, John. İletişim Çalışmalarına Giriş (Translation: Süleyman İrvan), Ankara: Bilim Sanat Yayınları, 1996. Lazar, Judith. İletişim Bilimi, Ankara: Vadi Yayınları: 2001. Rowe, David. Sport, Culture and the Media. London: Open University Press, 2004. Noelle‐Neumann, Elisabeth. Kamuoyu: Suskunluk Sarmalının Keşfi. Ankara: Dost Kitabevi, 1996. Oskay, Ünsal. İletişimin ABC’si. İstanbul: Der Yayınevi, 2005. Sage, George. “Global Sport and Global Mass Media” Sociology of Sport and Physical Education: An Introductory Reader (Editor: Antony Laker). London, UK: RoutledgeFalmer, 2002. Sayılgan, Emine Koyuncu, “Basın İşletmelerinin Pazar Yapısı ve Okuyucu Davranışları”, İ.Ü. İletişim Fakültesi Dergisi, Cilt 1, 2002, ss. 289‐305. Yücelman, Abdülkadir. “Sporumuz Nereye Gidiyor?” Cumhuriyet Spor, 15 Mayıs 2007. 574