Professional paper
SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF ELECTRONIC MEDIA ON THE POPULARIZATION OF THE SPORT
Allen Bartoš
; Association for Sport and Recreation "Veteran '91.", Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
Electronic media have played and still play a major role in the popularization of certain sports. Such type of media very specifically single out what is important, selecting thus those aspects which seem to be most profitable and then transmit that information to the public. Seeing that electronic media are mass media as well, we could argue that mass sport is a part of the mass culture. Contemporary modern and popular sport has the characteristics of professionalism as well as of commercialization. Modern sport in terms of culture is in one way most similar to the music industry. Accordingly, the electronic media, together with any other mass media, determine what will be popular and to what extent will a certain sport be popular. However, sport has not always been in a state we know it to be today. Before the appearance of electronic media, sport occupied a role of entertainment regulated by certain rules. However, when the electronic mass media began reporting about sports on mass scale, broadcasting certain sport events and analyzing them, sport become the way we know it now. A lot is being done to make young people turn to sport due to health reasons as well as to educational purposes. Children and adults actually learn through sport as they gain new insights and skills. However, the popularity of sport brings into the picture negative consequences as well. Sport has in a way become a product that is bought as a kind of commodity in the marketplace. This would be fine if the rules were the same for everyone, but this is unfortunately not the case. It is not the same to be a professional football player, or for example, a professional kayaker. The athletes mentioned do not have the same conditions or the same predispositions for development, not to mention the meager chance of a professional kayaker to secure his minimum subsistence. In the past, sports were naturally more equally represented, but with the emergence and development of electronic media, the strict selection limited what will be advertised and published. Other entities appearing within the realm of sports acted accordingly, such as advertising agencies and manufacturers of sports equipment. They invested their funds and resources in the popular sports making them even more popular aside from the influence of the electronic media.
Keywords
sports; popularity; electronic media; commercialization; public
Hrčak ID:
87769
URI
Publication date:
27.9.2012.
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