“He was Framed!” Framing Criminal Behavior in Sports News

Abstract

An experiment examined the effects of newspaper articles about an athlete involved in a crime on perceptions of athletes. News articles were varied by framing the athlete's activities in an accusatory versus defensive manner, and framing the athlete as physically versus mentally skilled. An accusatory frame resulted in more criminally culpable perceptions of the athlete. Frame did not influence perceptions of the athlete's race, and perceptions of the athlete as Black did not increase perceived culpability. Additional findings show that framing does influence more general perceptions of athletes. Discussion focuses on media framing, attitudes toward athletes, and college students' socially desirable responses concerning race.

Keywords:

• Athletes in the Media
• Framing
• Media Effects
• Race
• Stereotyping

Notes

Note. N = 106.

^a Perceived athlete race (Black = 1, not Black = 2).

*p < .05.

**p < .01.

Note. N = 106.

*p < .01.

Levels of television sports news consumption, television sports commentary consumption, newspaper sports consumption, and live sports attendance were also measured and initially treated as moderators of the experimental framing effects. However, these items did not consistently predict or moderate the framing effects in any theoretically meaningful way, and were subsequently removed from the analyses.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Anita Atwell Seate

Anita Atwell Seate (MA, Georgia State University, 2008) is a doctoral student in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona.

Jake Harwood

Jake Harwood (PhD, University of Southern California, Santa Barbara, 1994) is a professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona.

Erin Blecha

Erin Blecha (MA, University of Arizona, 2009) is the marketing and external relations coordinator at Washington University.