Bobby Kiernan

Research Paper
Final Project
December 18, 2010

Women in Sports Media: the Fight to Make it in a

Man’s World

For women in the United States sports world there has been a constant struggle to

garner the respect of a nation smitten with American men’s sports. Common American

sport phrases such as “you throw like a girl” or “you run like a girl” are examples of

typical banter that have permeated our sports semantics and belittle the true ability of the

female athlete. This is true for American Sports Entertainment and in particular for

female sports broadcasters.

Female American sportscasters, like their entire sister professional counterparts,

have been battling for true professional recognition since the 1960’s. Fighting to get away

from the “Barbie-like” (americansportsbroadcasters.com) comments and working

towards establishing themselves for their technical knowledge and passion for sports - not

their looks - female sports broadcasters have come along way and continue to do so

today.

An American woman who led the way for female sports broadcasters was Jane

Chastain. Ms. Chastain she will be remembered as our nation’s first female television

sportscaster on both local and national levels. During her 16 years as a sports reporter and
local sports television anchor in Atlanta, Georgia, Raleigh, North Carolina, Miami,

Florida, Los Angeles, California and with the national network giant Central

Broadcasting System (CBS) network, she “broke many journalistic barriers for women”

(www.wnd.com).

Jane was a pioneer for women in American sports. “In 1963, just two years out of

high school Jane Steppe (maiden name, before marriage) began making football

predictions under the alias “Coach Friday” for Atlanta’s WAGA-Television Network.

Each Friday on WAGA’s Ed Thilenius’ show she predicted the outcomes of Saturday’s

ten toughest college football games” (www.chastaincentral.com). This exposure,

unprecedented work for an American woman, ignited Ms. Chastain’s career. Jane was a

trendsetter, breaking barriers and knocking down walls for females later to come. It was

not easy for her as she fought critics and male chauvinist’ athletes. “Bernie Rosen tells

the story that, (New York Yankee Hall of Fame Center Fielder) Joe DiMaggio showed up

at spring training in Fort Lauderdale once and refused to talk to Jane. She said to him

‘Mr. DiMaggio, I’m going to go back and tell my boss that I didn’t get the interview

because I’m a woman. Would that make you happy?’ DiMaggio thought about it, gave

her the interview, and told her later, ‘You know what? You did know what you were

talking about.’”(www.chastaincentral.com)

Establishing the professional standing for female American sports journalists was

not easy for Jane Chastain and it would not be easy for the women to follow. Betsy Ross

was an avid sports fan who landed her first job after college working for the South Bend
(Indiana) Tribune as a writer. In her book she relives her first experience when given the

chance to write for the understaffed Tribune’s sports section. “As terrific as that

opportunity was, that was also my first rude awakening to the reality of women covering

sports.”(Playing ball with The Boys, pg. 11) Betsy began to cover high school sports and

explains about her first rude awakening. “But one Friday night at a South Bend Clay

High School when I made my way up to the press box, I was turned away. “Nope, no

room in here,” the P.A. announcer said even though there was at least four open spaces to

his right. I tried not to notice the slight smile he gave one of his buddies as I thanked him,

walked down the bleachers and stood by the fence that separated the stands from the

field. And that’s where I covered the game. I got the job done and the story filed but I’ll

never forget the night.”(Playing ball with the boy’s pg.11-12).

In a male dominant sports world events such as these are frequent occurrences.

American female journalists are constantly treated with little respect as if they

unintelligent, unsophisticated, know nothing about sports, and looked at as simply

“something nice to look at”. Most American males believe that no female could possibly

have equal knowledge of sports and offer little if anything of value to say about sports in

general. When it comes to sports in the United States, it’s a man’s world. Betsy continued

throughout her career to change this outlook of women working in sports. She worked

hard at her technical knowledge, showed passion, humor and intelligence and frequently

upstaged her male counterparts.

Betsy Ross along with Robin Roberts, Linda Cohn, Chris McKendry, and Pam
Ward were the first and only five female sports anchors to work for ESPN, a major sports

network when it first began out of an approximately 60 total anchors (playing ball with

the boys, pg. 17). These women brought intelligence to American sport with a female

perspective. Along with these females current major important figures in women’s sports

broadcasting include Ann Liguori, Lesley Visser, Gayle Gardner, Hannah Storm and

Phyillis George, to mention a few.

Phyllis George is a great example of a strong female who is more than just

something for the male gaze. George was crowned Miss America in 1971 and just four

years later became co-host of The NFL today on CBS in 1975(www.shemadeit.org).

George quickly garnered the respect from the American sports viewing public and from

the male athletes she interviewed. Although an attractive woman, George used her sports

prowess to build a career that forged a future for other females to move into the sports

world. She was strong, confident and knew what she wanted. Her acumen and technical

knowledge of the “big three”, football, baseball and basketball, and her ability to

critically interview athletes established her professional credibility and enabled America

to begin to put their gender prejudice in the world of American Sports aside.

Following George, Jayne Kennedy (who took George’s spot in 1978) became the

first African-American female to host a network sports television broadcast. In a male-

white dominated world Jayne Kennedy was hired more for her beauty on camera than

what she could actually offer the public as far as sports knowledge. This was the fight

that all American women in the field took on. Females knew that to cross into the male
dominated world of sports it would be difficult and potentially embarrassing. For major

networks appearance is important and so far they have not taken the risk of hiring a

female sports broadcaster that would not be considered a “babe” in some way or another.

In most cases networks were hiring females simply for political correctness and to avoid

being labeled as sexist or unfair to women.

American women are held to a higher standard in the sports field with limited

room for mistake. F meal sportscasters at ESPN and elsewhere are aware of a double

standard. Said Roberts, "If Chris [Berman] were to slip and say 'innings' instead of

'quarters,' people would say, 'That old Boomer! Ha, ha, ha.' If I said 'innings' instead of

'quarters,' though, it would be 'Aha! She doesn't know what she's talking about. ...' But

I'm very pleased to see the growth of women sportscasters. I don't just cover the Women's

Final Four; I cover the Men's Final Four as well.'' (7) Kremer agreed. ''It's tougher on

women, no question about it. The margin for error is just not there. You cannot make a

mistake.'' (8) Said Walsh, "Women can't afford to make the same mistakes men can and

recover from them. When a woman makes a mistake, the male audience says, 'Ah-hah, I

told you.' When Chris Berman makes a mistake, the audience says 'Ah, he just missed

that one.'" (9) (http://www.onlinesports.com/sportstrust/sports43.html). While this may

laughed off it is simply unfair to women. How long do you think Chris Berman spends on

preparing how he looks for the camera? What he is going to wear, how his makeup looks

or his diet? All of these are added criteria that women are faced to deal with in the sports

world. It is a succinct point that this may be changing. The use of hair dye by sports

casters – including Chris Berman- is proliferating. One only has to look at Marv Albert’s

wig to know that the Networks are recognizing female viewers and allowing male
sportscasters to get in touch with their feminine side.

Linda Cohn, who is a highly respected sports broadcaster said, "If I have a hair

out of place, both the men and the women on the couch are going to pay more attention to

that than anything I'm saying...”(http://www.onlinesports.com/sportstrust/sports43.html)

These words emanate from a pioneer in women’s broadcasting. She also goes on to

mention in an interview with journalismjobs.com about women and the emphasis on

looks: “That's part of it. It's totally more a part of it for women than it is for men --

always has been, always will. But that's cool. What's kind of cool in that respect is that I

think you can have it all. My fans range from young men, like 18 years old, to eight-year-

old girls to 55-year-old men to women who are like 28 and love sports. I think women

who are hired just for looks, they become exposed and their time of employment usually

doesn't last that long.” (http://www.journalismjobs.com/interview_cohn.cfm)

This is in fact true. Mass media is such a huge part of our society today and the

internet is a leading factor. In researching it amazed me how many times I came across

titles of websites like “top babes in sports” or “sexiest figures in sports.” Never did I once

see any website proclaiming major male broadcaster like Marv Albert, Chris Berman,

Tony Siraguosa or Peter Gammons. The simple fact is people don’t care what a male

sports broadcaster looks like only do they hear the words and facts that they present on

camera. Why can there be no equality in this for women on the field?

It is not only from the outside looking in but the problems that females face

within networks and with co-workers who don’t consider them as worthy as males in

their field. Suzy Kolber is a perfect example of this with her public disputes with Keith
Olberman. Kolber was respected and worked for ESPN but still dealt with the critics who

didn’t believe sports were field for women of any kind. “The sports anchor also received

unwanted attention in 2002 when 60 Minutes commentator and resident grumpy old man

Andy Rooney complained that “a woman has no business being down there trying to

make some comment about a football game.” She responded by saying, “He has a right to

say what he wants, but from my standpoint, it’s not a reflection of me. I clearly know

what I’m talking about.”( http://www.youngmoney.com/careers/career-

advice/030718_01/) Strong women like Kolber may able to “shake comments like this

off” though it is still unfair as she is just as qualified as any male doing the same job.

Many female American Sports journalists like Kolber and her predecessor’s in

the sports broadcasting field have become accustomed to the sexism and stereotyping.

Nanci Donnellan for instance took and interesting spin on things. She became the first

and only female host of a nationally syndicated sports show and gave herself the persona

of the “Fabulous Sports Babe.” Donnelan later wrote a successful memoir entitled “ The

Babe in Boyland” and capitalized mightily on her alias, but I really have to question this.

In the fight for women to break loose of this image as the “babe” in sports, does the

juxtaposition of her persona hurt or help serious female sports journalists? Is the question

an oxymoron? I believe this strategy erodes our American attempt at civilization and

advancement and pokes fun at our “culture” – or lack thereof - in general. If it makes

money, it is Ok…

There have been many females who have failed to demonstrate sports competence

and networks continue to hire them solely on their appearance, not their knowledge. Few

networks would take a chance on a competent female sportscaster who looks like Chris
Berman with a wig. Other networks would take a super model with no knowledge on in a

second. What kind of image is this showing? It is proof positive that the television news

and media machine in this country still values ratings more than anything else; in the

United States, it is still all about the Almighty Dollar. There have been far more failed

attempts at hiring females for the benefit of the “ male gaze” then at that of hiring

females with the credentials to be successful in the actual field of sports broadcasting.

The future marches on. Despite the stigma, my examples of successful American

female media sports journalists demonstrate the fact that there has been tremendous

professional success and advancement. I believe that the growing numbers of American

female sports fans in the big three: Football (NFL), Baseball (MLB) and Basketball

(NBA) will result in an increased demand for competent, smart, tough and not necessarily

“perfect” looking female sportscasters that are only there for the oppositonal gaze.
 Works Cited

1. Jiminez, Daniel. "ESPN Broadcaster Suzy Kolber: A League Of Her Own."

youngmoney.com. young monmey media, 6/9/2006. Web. 4 Dec 2010.
<http://www.youngmoney.com/careers/career-advice/030718_01/>.

2. "Interview: Linda Cohn, anchor, ESPN SportsCenter -- May 2001 December 2, 2010."
Journalism Jobs.com. journalismjobs, 12/18/2010. Web. 18 Dec 2010.
<http://www.journalismjobs.com/interview_cohn.cfm>.

3. "Issue 43 -- Television Sportscasters (Female)." onlinesports.com. sports trust, 1998.

Web. 1 Dec 2010. <http://www.onlinesports.com/sportstrust/sports43.html>.

4. "Phyllis George Television Sportscaster." The Paley Center for Media. Paley Center,
n.d. Web. 5 Dec 2010. <http://www.shemadeit.org/meet/biography.aspx?m=30>.

5. "Jane Chastain." chaistaincentral.com. N.p., 5/6/2010. Web. 2 Dec 2010.

<http://www.chastaincentral.com/content/jane.html#sports>.

6. "Jane Chastain." WorldNetDaily. worldnetdaily.com, n.d. Web. 2 Dec 2010.

<http://www.wnd.com/speakers/jchastain.asp>.

7. Cohn, Linda. Cohn-head: a No-holds-barred Account of Breaking into the Boys' Club.
Guilford, CT: Lyons, 2008. Print.

8. Ross, Betsy. Playing Ball with the Boys. ; The Rise of Women in the World of Men's
Sports. Clerisy, 2010. Print.