Class assignment: Race and Gender in Sports Media

I've known I've wanted to be a sports journalist since the 10th grade.

My passion and desire have never really wavered from trying to accomplish that goal. However, I can admit this: I've had some doubts. I always knew in the back of my mind that it could be hard to break into the field because of the fact that it was mostly male dominated.

University of Central Florida professor Richard Lapchick conducted a study and came up with "The 2008 Racial and Gender Report Card of the Associated Press Sports Editors."
To be quite honest, there wasn't really anything that completely shocked me.

- 94 percent of sports editors are white males? All right.
- 93 percent of columnists were men? Okay.
- 91 percent of sports reporters are men? Cool beans.

These weren't things I didn’t know because well, I did. I was reminded every day when watching ESPN or picking up the sports section of a newspaper. I knew women were a rarity, as were minorities. I guess I'm special because I get to fill both voids.

I wasn't shocked by Lapchick's study but maybe a little disheartened at the progress that's been made since 2006. While it obviously hasn't been a big enough differential to see a major difference, it just goes to show the honestly and severity of the situation.

I'll never fully understand the belief that women do not as much about sports as men. Nor will I understand why minorities seem to fall short in terms of being sports journalists.

At the end of the day, it should be about who is the most qualified candidate for the position. But in the real world it doesn't work that way because if that was the case, many people would be out of a job and things would be messy.

Affirmative action is something that was supposed to help level the playing field. However, those who don't agree with it often argued that it promotes the opposite of what it's trying to advocate by giving the other side an unfair advantage.

In truth, it's hard to know what needs to be changed in the sports world. Society has often viewed men as the superior athlete, men as the ones who can show aggression and competitiveness. Women who show that same type of behavior have their sexuality questioned with negative stereotypes developing.

It's a bit unfortunate the study was only conducted between two years because I'd be really curious to see what the progress is in a bigger gap, such as 10 years. I'm hoping things will be more evened out by that time but the fact of the matter is, I just don't know.

Despite not knowing the answer, I've chosen to believe that things will get better. It'll just take time. It could be a long time but I’m not going to let some type of statistic stop me from my dream. People are going to think what they want to and the world isn’t always going to be fair ... but sometimes, you just have to put it behind you.