Fairy tales? Marion Jones, C.J. Hunter and the framing of doping in American newspapers

Abstract

This article deals with the images, metaphors and narratives in the media coverage of doping in the United States. It presents a case study with a focus on Marion Jones, the most celebrated track athlete of the turn of the millennium, and her husband, C.J. Hunter, a shot put world champion convicted of doping. The material consists of sport reports about the 2000 Olympic Games in three American newspapers. These Games proved controversial due to the allegations and inquiries of the media (both national and international) regarding doping issues and the prominence of the American athletes under suspicion. At the same time, the 2000 Olympics can be considered a watershed in American anti-doping policy. The media portrayed Jones and Hunter as the Beauty and the Beast or Svengali and his victim, using a famous fairy tale and a well-known novel to capture attention, label the protagonists and convey their interpretation of the story as well as their anti-doping messages. Their narratives focused on a relationship that also addressed questions about power as well as about gender and race. Beast was a synonym for Hunter, but it could also be used as a metaphor for doping that was framed exclusively in a moral discourse and regarded as a disgrace, a scandal and a contagious individual failure.

Notes

^1. On American adoptions of the Beauty and the Beast trope, see Sherman (2000, 25), Mariotti (2000, 130), Hummer (2000) and Fish (2000, 1G). Also, see CST articles on September 24, 2000, 144, and September 27, 2000, 158, for other characterizations.

^2. “Doping in Deutschland von 1950 bis heute aushistorisch-soziologischer Sicht im Kontext ethischer Legitimation.” http://www.bisp.de/cln_339/nn_15924/DE/Aktuelles/Nachrichten/2013/Berichte__WWU__HU.html.

^3.Time Magazine journalist Alice Park about women's interest in consuming sport; see http://olympics.time.com/2012/07/10/why-women-watch-the-olympics-but-tune-out-other-sports/.

^4. For the media coverage of women Olympians in 2012, see Sara J. Jackson in http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sarah-j-jackson/olympics-2012_b_1736415.html.

^5. The CST is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the most important paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.

^6.Time Magazine, September 1, 2000, http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,53900,00.html.

^7.Time Magazine, September 1, 2000, http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,53900,00.html.

^8. Rapoport reported discussions with Jones and Hunter and ‘was impressed by their zero-tolerance attitude’ (CST, September 26, 2000, 118).

^9. The Time Magazine September 1 issue also used the Svengali metaphor: http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,53900,00.html.

^10. Whiteness studies have gained scholarly attention in American culture since the early 1990s. Both blacks and Jews, as well as a variety of other ethnic groups, have come under scrutiny. See Brodkin (1998) as an example.

^11. On the percentages of marriages differentiated according to race: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db19.htm#married.

^12. The US Olympic Committee (USOC) was willing to give him access but dropped this idea under pressure from the IOC (NYP, September 27, 2000).

^13. Sportswriter Mike Vaccaro claimed that ‘she was still a vortex of intrigue. For all the wrong reasons’ (NYP, August 26, 2004, 76; see also NYT, August 14, 2004, D3; NYT, August 28, 2004, D1; CST, August 23, 2004, 115, on coaches and Montgomery).

^14. Nichols quoted in CST, August 25, 2004, 147. Jones cited in CST, August 26, 2004, 134, and NYP, August 26, 2004, 76.