UltraViolet and the Inclusion Playbook Release New “Women’s Sports Media Guide” Offering a Comprehensive Approach on How to Cover Women’s Athletics With Integrity and Respect
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, July 18, 2024
CONTACT: Brett Abrams | brett@unbendablemedia.com
UltraViolet and the Inclusion Playbook Release New “Women’s Sports Media Guide” Offering a Comprehensive Approach on How to Cover Women’s Athletics With Integrity and Respect
Guide Comes Ahead of Major Moments for Women’s Athletics This Summer, Including the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game and Summer Olympics in Paris
Guide Lays Out Best Practices to Dismantle Outdated Stereotypes and Highlight Athletic Achievements As Women’s Sports Sees Record-Breaking Visibility
Today, UltraViolet, the nation’s largest online feminist organization, and the Inclusion Playbook, a sports impact organization that works with leaders to transform their communities in and through sports, have released a new “Women’s Sports Media Guide” offering a comprehensive approach to covering women’s athletics with integrity and respect.
The guide, which comes as women’s athletics are experiencing record-breaking visibility and attendance, lays out a series of best practices that reporters and commentators can use to appropriately highlight the achievements of women in sports and dismantle outdated stereotypes.
VIEW THE WOMEN’S SPORTS MEDIA GUIDE HERE: https://weareultraviolet.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/UV-IP-Womens-Sports-Media-Guide.pdf
UltraViolet and the Inclusion Playbook are releasing “Women’s Sports Media Guide” ahead of some of the biggest moments in women’s athletics this summer, including the WNBA All-Star Game on July 20th, and the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, where there will be gender parity on the field of play for the first time. Historically, women’s sports have received significantly less media attention – only 6% of sports media coverage – but with the rise of streaming and social media, that number has jumped to 15% of sports media coverage in 2023.
The guide explains that proper coverage of women’s sports is critical to promoting greater athletic participation among women and girls, but also helps combat stereotypes and biases that foster a fair and balanced view of women’s capabilities and achievements. Quality reporting on women’s sports not only helps shift public perspective and foster a more inclusive culture, both in sports and society at large, but also helps lead to better funding, opportunities, and resources for women’s athletics. To that end, the guide makes 10 core recommendations for journalists and commentators who are hoping to deliver thoughtful and impactful sports coverage.
To that end, the guide makes 10 core recommendations, such as not using unnecessarily gendered language, for journalists and commentators who are hoping to deliver thoughtful and impactful sports coverage.
“Far too often, the media fails to accurately represent the people they portray – and when that bias invades real-world forums like news broadcasts and sports reporting it takes on an especially insidious nature with specific harms for marginalized communities, including women, people of color, disabled people, and LGBTQ+ individuals,” explained Kathy Plate, Managing Director at UltraViolet. “Proper coverage of women and people of color helps combat these biases – allowing women in all spaces – business, politics, sports – to exist as themselves, and be seen for their capabilities and achievements. From politics, to business, to sports – quality reporting helps shift public perception and foster a more inclusive culture.”
“The women’s sports landscape is evolving rapidly and elevating to a new level,” said Ashland Johnson, President and Founder of the Inclusion Playbook. “Reporters and analysts have a unique opportunity to engage in meaningful, culture-shifting conversations that allow coverage of women’s sports to evolve as well. This guide gives people the tools they need to ensure that women’s sports — and women in sports — are talked about in an inclusive, equitable, and respectful way. It is for people who are new to this space and veterans who want to expand on their existing playbooks.”
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