Media Shifts How We View Sports
How quickly can someone’s mind be changed on a person?
I ask myself this question many times when I watch the news, whatever the topic of discussion may be. Someone who could have been liked by the masses for year can be instantly flipped into a villain within days or even hours. I think that this has become more and more apparent in the sports world, especially in the past couple years.
You can see it every day, whether its Lebron James, Patrick Mahomes, Lamar Jackson, or frankly any top athlete that comes to mind. One day they’re loved and the next day there is a narrative as to why people should root against them. Most recently, I have seen it with Taylor Swift. In the end it all circles back to sports media being the culprit.
The problem with sports media is that once they find one player or person associated with the sport that they think everyone loves, they continue to post them, but can’t find the right time to stop. Look at this years Super Bowl for example. I’m not a Chiefs or Taylor Swift fan, but I do find it ridiculous how much hate Mahomes, Kelce, and Swift have recieved in the past couple months. These people used to be generally like by the masses and then suddenly everyone was against them. They hadn’t really done anything wrong, so what was it?
It’s the media failing. If you’re a football fan, you don’t care to see Swift every time Kelce makes a good play. You also would like to see highlights and admiration of other teams and players besides Mahomes and the Chiefs. Fans don’t necessarily hate these people, but media almost forces them to either love or hate them, with no in between.
All in all, it sums up to revenue. Media teams know that by posting high profile people such as Mahomes or Swift will get them more clicks and money, regardless of whether viewers like them or not. It seems that modern media only cares about money rather than reporting on what the people actually want to hear and know about, but thats a topic for a later post.
