Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

E. Bun Lee and Louis A. Browne. African American Student Athletes and Sports Media Consumption. Journal of Black Studies, November 2009; vol. 40, 2: pp. 238–251.

This study measures the use of media for sports information among African American student athletes. Television was indicated as the primary source of sports information by about one-third of the target group, whereas newspapers were used much less as a source. About one-fourth got their information from multiple sources. A somewhat unexpected finding was the limited use of sports radio as a source. Female respondents used media less frequently for sports information compared to male athletes.

Thomas Birkner and Daniel Nölleke. Soccer Players and Their Media-Related Behavior: A Contribution on the Mediatization of Sports. Communication & Sport, June, 2015, 2167479515588719.

Using the concept of mediatization, in this article, we analyze the relationship between sport and media from a sport-centered perspective. Examining the autobiographies of 14 German and English soccer players, we investigate how athletes use media outlets, what they perceive as the media’s influence and its logic, and – crucially – how this usage and these perceptions affect their own media-related behavior. Our findings demonstrate the important role of the media for the sports systems from the athlete’s point of view and demonstrate the research potential of mediatization as a fruitful concept in studies on sport communication. On the one hand, the sport stars reflect in their autobiographies that their status and income depend on media coverage; and on the other hand, they complain about the omnipresence of the media, especially offside the pitch and feel unfairly treated by the tabloid press, both in England and in Germany.