With the Rio 2016 Olympics in full swing, we have seen amazing records broken, dreams shattered, and, most significantly of all, blatant sexism from broadcasters and other media in these games. As a student in the School of Broadcasting at my university, it sickens me to hear the remarks of these professionals. The hard work and determination that many female athletes show, throughout their lives, is overshadowed by men that have no significant impact on their medal.
Yesterday, for example, the Mercury News Twitter page posted a headline. "Olympics: Michael Phelps shares this historic night with African-American," failing to name the athlete. For the record, her name is Simone Manuel. Also, not only did she win Gold, but she is the first African-American woman to win a medal in swimming at the Olympics. Worst of all, NBC chose not to air the medal ceremony until an hour after it actually happened. Instead, they chose to show video of Russians performing gymnastics.
Mercury News is not the only culprit of sexism in these Olympics. Bronze medalist Corey Cogdell was referenced by the Chicago Tribune as the "wife of a Bears Linemen." The Tribune later apologized for their sexism by tweeting, "On Sunday, in an initial tweet and headline, we identified three-time U.S. Olympian Corey Cogdell-Unrein only as the 'wife of a Bears lineman.' She's awesome on her own. We focused too hard on trying to emphasize the local connection Cogdell-Unrein has to Chicago." I understand trying to make news local. What I don't understand is how that post got past an editor without the thought of, "Oh, someone may not know her name!"
Newspaper coverage of the Olympics in these excerpts has been poor to say the least. In my opinion, a larger issue is sexism from broadcasters. These are paid professionals who have not given credit where credit is due and have been extremely sexist with their comments. One of the more notable cases in these games is when broadcaster Dan Hicks, when describing the achievements of Hungarian Swimmer Katinka Hosszu, exclaimed as the camera zoomed in on her husband/coach, "There’s the guy responsible for turning Katinka Hosszu, his wife, into a whole different swimmer." No longer are we giving credit to athletes. Instead, their spouses or coaches are receiving credit (who, when an actual race, game, match, etc, is going on, have absolutely nothing to do with the success of athletes in that exact moment). Coaches can change things tactically or try to find a difference in other athletes that they can exploit, but it is the responsibility of the athletes to make it happen. Spouses can cheer on their significant others, but their efforts, whatever they may be, do nothing to change the outcomes of these events.
Now, I can't write this piece without making the comment that calling live sports is an extremely difficult thing to do. With analyzing before, during, and after the event it can be difficult to find new subject matter. That's not the fault of the broadcasters, nor anyone else. However, women have been significantly undermined in these games. Give credit where credit is due; that's all I am asking for.
