Research Feature: Press coverage of Michael Vick

Here's a timely bit of research, at least for us folks here in the Philly area. In the Journal of Sports Media you can read Pamela C. Laucella's (Indiana University of Journalism-Indianapolis) findings on media coverage of the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal.

Michael Vick: An Analysis of Press Coverage on Federal Dogfighting Charges, Journal of Sport Media (Volume 5, Number 2, Fall 2010) pp. 35-79. Available at the ASC Library, also as e-journal from the Penn Library homepage.

Abstract: Michael Vick's superstar career as a quarterback in the National Football League seemingly came to an end when he pleaded guilty to dogfighting charges on August 20, 2007. This research studied press coverage of Vick's indictment, arraignment, and guilty plea in Richmond, Virginia by analyzing 243 primary documents from The New York Times, Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and USA Today. It offers a longitudinal examination of the scandal and elucidates the intersecting worlds of sport, media, race, and culture. This research adds to work on the cultural impact of media and sport, reinforces the criminal-athlete discourse, and elucidates the egregious practice of dogfighting.

Journal of Sports Media

The Journal of Sports Media provides a broad-based exploration of sports media in terms of their practices, value, and effect on the culture as a whole. The journal features scholarly articles, essays, book reviews, and reports on major conferences and seminars. While the majority of the articles are academic in nature, it also includes articles from industry leaders and sports media figures on topics appealing to a non-academic audience.

The most recent issues features articles on interactive media and sports journalists, NFL agenda-setting in relation to programming, the birth of national sports coverage at the New York Herald with its use of the telegraph to report America’s first “championship” boxing match in 1849, and an essay on developing a sports media mafor.

The journal is available online fat the Annenberg Libary webpage.

Special Issues Roundup

Measuring Exposure: Papers from the Annenberg Media Exposure Workshop, edited by Martin Fishbein and Robert Hornik is the special double issue of Communication Methods and Measures (Volume 2, Numbers 1-2, January-June 2008). The workshop, held at the Annenberg School at the University of Pennsylvania, asked six questions. 1) How reliable are general measures of exposure?, 2) How can we measure exposure to a specific type of content across media?, 3) How should multiple media use and multi-tasking be taken into account in assessing exposure?, 4) What alternative approaches should be considered for measuring content? 5) How do you assess what content is out there?, and 6) What receiver issues need to be taken into account in developing measures of exposure? One or two papers in the issue are devoted to each of these questions.

Ilan Kapoor and Shahnaz Khan edit the special issue of Topia (Number 19, Spring 2008), Islam and Cultural Politics. As the editors explain in the introduction, the issue focuses on two views of Islam: The Dominant View: Islam as "Other" and The Postcolonial View: Islam as Open and Political.

Communication and the Community of Sport is the topic of the Western Journal of Communication, edited Bob Krizek (Volume 72, Number 2, April-June 2008).

Social Semiotics (Volume 18, Number 2, June 2008) deals with The Star and the Celebrity Confessional. Edited by Sean Redmond, the issue includes 10 articles on celebrity confessions, racism and celebrity, celebrity motherhood, confessional art, among others. Celebrities include the usual suspects: Michael Jackson, Britney Spears, Jodie Foster, Sarah Jessica Parker, and Russell Crowe.

The International Communication Gazette (Volume 70, Numbers 3-4, June/August, 2008) is titled Communicative Cities featuring seven articles on urban communication, networks, and public space. Gary Gumpert and Susan J. Drucker are co-editors.

And two cultural studies journals devote issues to the environment:

Cultural Studies and the Environment, Revisited is the special issue of Cultural Studies (Volume 22, Numbers 3-4, May/July 2008), guested-edited by Phaedra C. Pezzullo.

Kitty van Vuuren and Libby Lester guest-edit the Eco-Media issue of Media International Australia (Number 127, May 2008) which includes Celebrity Conservation: Interpreting the Irwins (to return to a subject above).