Women Shine in Sports Media
On Tuesday, October 6, 2015, ESPN’s Jessica Mendoza became the first woman to call a nationally televised major league baseball playoff game. An accomplished Olympic and All-American softball star, Mendoza has been an analyst with ESPN since 2007, so her rise to the top in baseball broadcasting should surprise no one.
But it did.
That night, social media was abuzz with critics taking aim at Mendoza, seemingly because she was female. And disparaging tweets did not just come from random male viewers. Mike Bell, radio show host on Atlanta’s 92.9 The Game, tweeted out a direct reference to Mendoza’s anatomy while mocking ESPN for hiring a softball player to call the game. Let me reiterate: this happened in 2015.
Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s as a Detroit Red Wings fan, I idolized Cynthia Lambert of The Detroit News for her access to the team, her ability to tell a story—not just report on the game—and the respect she commanded from the players and other journalists. I was also an avid tennis player, however I would only watch matches called by Mary Carillo because, as a former player and impassioned fan, she knew what she was talking about. Robin Roberts later pulled me into ESPN’s “SportsCenter” for the first time, while Hannah Storm, one of the Alliance for Women in Media’s Women in Sports 2015 honorees, is the epitome of an all-around, seasoned sports reporter. Female sports broadcasters have had a subtle, yet important impact on my life. So why is it these women are continually breaking the glass ceiling in sports media, but are still subjected to blatant sexism by the public and sometimes, their male co-workers?
This is a question I have been studying as part of my doctoral course in diversity. I have also been examining why the number of female National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) has actually decreased since the passing of Title IX. In R. Vivian Acosta and Linda Jean Carpenter’s 2014 report, “Women in Intercollegiate Sport: A Longitudinal, National Study/Thirty-Seven Year Update,” they found that only one out of every four-and-a-half head coaches of all NCAA teams is a female and only one out of every five athletics directors is a female. As World Cup soccer star Brandi Chastain once said, “Aside from serving as mentors, female coaches show their athletes a viable career path in the sport to which they dedicated their lives.”
Thankfully, off the fields, courts and rinks, women in sports broadcasting—and those interested in the industry—now have numerous strong role models to look up to. On Monday, October 19, 2015, the Alliance for Women in Media will acknowledge the influential women who cover, lead and create media in the sports industry at its annual Women in Sports breakfast and educational panels. Taking place in New York City, the event will center on the issues facing women in today’s media environment and the future of sports media. Attendees will also learn how to apply these ceiling-breaker life-lessons to jobs in any industry.
As for Jessica Mendoza? In an interview earlier this week with Cosmopolitan, she stated that as long as she is in a position to influence, she will continue to work with and mentor girls through softball clinics and speaking engagements around the world. Personally, I look forward to the day that being a successful female sports journalist is no longer news—it’s the reality.
Amanda Holdsworth is a doctoral student at the University of Southern California studying organizational change and leadership. She earned a master’s degree in strategic public relations from USC and a bachelor’s degree in communications management and honors international studies from Robert Morris University. She has been working in marketing and PR for more than 10 years and is looking forward to mentoring the next generation of women in media through teaching, advising and consulting once she graduates.