Influences of Mass Media in Sport Essay Example

When a message is spread not just between two individuals but rather between thousands, it is known as mass media. Mass media is the central nervous system to society. The media has many different purposes, such as providing information, entertaining, persuading and also portraying a vague general function of culture to millions of people (Frederick, 18). In order for mass media to exist, there must to be an audience. Today's society is very selective; each receiver reacts differently through their own experience and orientation to the media. Mass media evolved into many different forms such as magazines, television, newspapers, internet, motion pictures, and even plays. With such extreme varieties of mass media existing in society there are three major constraints that seem to have an impressionable impact on which form of media one becomes exposed and accustomed to. The major constraint of mass media is competition. This competition between different forms of media is very intense and capturing the sports world is a critical component to success. Apart from the competition among the various forms of media there is also competition within each form of the media. What I mean by this is that each network competes with all other television networks for a market share of the audience. Network companies such as Fox buy the rights to show American football games for millions of dollars, which they in turn make back through companies wanting to advertise during these games. The audience Fox attracts by showing these games also provides an audience for companies wanting to advertise their products and provides potential customers for their products. This life cycle exists in all forms of media apart from just television. Newspapers try to cover the best stories in all areas of life from tragedy to sports and entertainment. From a sociological stand point in today's society it can be seen that sex and violence attracts the most attention. By examining the internet,