Summer Session I, 1997
As the 21st century approaches, the roles of women in previously male-dominated career fields continue to increase. The growth of female involvement in journalism, particularly in sports journalism, illustrates the rise of women in a predominantly male career. The recently acquired roles of women in sports journalism is especially fascinating to me because of my interest in pursuing a career in broadcast journalism, possibly sportscasting, and my love for playing and watching sports. I realize that female sportscasters are definitely in the minority within the field of sports journalism; however, I think that their work has made an impact on the field, and, in time, I think that sportscasting positions will become more readily available to women. The world wide web gives a good account of the positions of women in sports today; however, the web does not provide an abundance of information concerning female sports journalists.
About the Women's Sports Foundation
URL:http://www.lifetimetv.com/WoSport/ABOUT/about.htm
This web site is very informative containing a variety of information pertaining to the purpose and opportunities of the Women's Sports Foundation. The foundation gives women the opportunity to realize and fulfill their athletic and leadership abilities and potential. The organization also offers grants to female athletes and internships that allow female athletes to gain valuable experience and become exposed to famous female athletes. In 1987, the Women's Sports Foundation created the first ever National Girls and Women in Sports Day. This is a day set aside each year to recognize female athletes and their accomplishments and encourage the continued participation of females in sports.
PlanetReebok: Women's Sports
URL:http://www.reebok.com/spfit/wsf.html
This is a colorful web page that also addresses the opportunities and goals of the Women's Sports Foundation. It encourages membership to anyone who is interested in women's sports and who promotes gender equity in sports.
Gaining women, balance on the sports pages
URL:http://www.asne.org/kiosk/editor/september/stempel.htm
This web page is an article that focuses on which sports are most interesting to women. It talks about what type of sports articles draw female readers, and it surveys readers to determine which sports articles and telecasts are more appealing to males and which are more appealing to females.
Beasley, Maurine Hoffman. Taking their place: a documentary history of women and journalism. American University Press, 1993.
Beaseley's book is a good source from which to obtain background information concerning the history and roles of women in journalism. It covers a variety of journalistic aspects including: the earliest female journalists, female journalists in politics, females in broadcast journalism, and women in journalism today.
Bender, Gary. Call of the game: What really goes on in the broadcast booth. Bonus Books, 1994.
Fornoff, Susan. Lady in the locker room. Sagamore Publishing, 1993.
Garrison, Bruce and Mark Sabljak. Sports Reporting. Iowa State University Press, 1985.
This book is an especially good source for studying women in sports journalism. Garrison's book talks about the increasing interest among women to become sportscasters and sportswriters. It also addresses specific obstacles that female sportscasters face, such as the problems and controversy surrounding locker room access to women.
Koppett, Leonard. Sports illusions, sports reality: a reporter's view of sports, journalism, and society. Houghton Mifflin, 1981.
The world wide web offers more information about the participation of women in sports and opportunities available to women in sports. In contrast, the print sources I obtained provided me with information more specific to my research topic: women in sports journalism. The web is much more general and talks more about women in sports today; whereas, print sources give more background and historical information about the roles of women in sports journalism.
If I were to collect more information on my topic, I would prefer to continue researching print sources because, so far, I have been more successful finding information about my topic in print sources than I have on the world wide web. However, I would like to search the web again using several different subject headings to try to obtain information and research on my topic there also.
Mail your comments to: kcherry1@email.unc.edu