Posted on 05/23/2012 10:02:44 AM PDT by ProgressingAmerica
If you thought to yourself "because it brings in revenue" you'd be correct in a modern sense. But that answer is so overly generic as to be potentially meaningless, because it doesn't get to the root of the question. Why newspapers have sports sections is explained in a study done a century ago of newspapers, done by Will Irwin in his "The American Newspaper". Part 1, "The Power of the Press" explains the following:
On the other extreme, the yellow journals a few years ago, put some of their best cartoonists and cleverest writers into the sporting department. This created an artificial demand for "sporting stuff" far beyond the natural appetite of even an English-speaking people. That demand became so insistent that the other newspapers of all shades of opinion were forced to meet it; and now no newspaper is so conservative and intellectual as not to have a sporting page.
So to be specific, newspapers have sports sections because of propaganda. In one word. Because of yellow journalists. You could enlarge this into a phrase: newspapers have sports sections because they manipulate their readers. Only in the most generic of all senses can it be stated that newspapers have sports sections to make money. They essentially expanded their product line through the use of propaganda.
I wrote a larger posting about what's contained in the first part of this study yesterday, here, where other ways that newspapers manipulate people is illustrated, and he's not talking solely about the editorial pages where opinion rules.
Can you say contrived? I knew that you could.
Newspapers have a sports section to keep the average reading grade level around seventh grade. Without the sports section, the average grade level of most newspapers would be around fifth grade.
Newspapers have a sports section to keep the average reading grade level around seventh grade. Without the sports section, the average grade level of most newspapers would be around fifth grade.
~ H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956) Journalist – magazine editor
"A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier". ~ H. L. Mencken (1880 – 1956) Journalist – magazine editorA newspaper is a contrivance whereby to entertain audiences by flattering them. This makes ignorant people less aware of their own ignorance.
Sports offer a very public venue for competition. “I am stronger/faster/more skilled than you.”
My team/tribe/city-state/nation is better than yours.
Thumping one’s chest and giving a good old Tarzan yell is only so satisfying. Something more is needed.
Thus, many sports serve as an opportunity to “blow off steam” and even a substitute for war. The Eastern Cherokee name for lacrosse is da-nah-wah’uwsdi (”little war”); in the Mohawk language, Tewaarathon means “little brother of war”.
Today’s “metro-sexual”, effete pundits (or as Rush labels them, “the new castrati”) often do not understand this.
They bemoan the violence of the NFL and college football. However, both are better for society and safer than the Crips and the Bloods or Hatfields & McCoys.
If partisan fervor gets too strong, as in English soccer hooligans, or NBA Championship Winners (or Losers), society has to step in and remind folks that this is a SUBSTITUTE for war, not the real thing. It’s a GAME, people.
Sports offer a very public venue for competition. “I am stronger/faster/more skilled than you.”
My team/tribe/city-state/nation is better than yours.
Thumping one’s chest and giving a good old Tarzan yell is only so satisfying. Something more is needed.
Thus, many sports serve as an opportunity to “blow off steam” and even a substitute for war. The Eastern Cherokee name for lacrosse is da-nah-wah’uwsdi (”little war”); in the Mohawk language, Tewaarathon means “little brother of war”.
Today’s “metro-sexual”, effete pundits (or as Rush labels them, “the new castrati”) often do not understand this.
They bemoan the violence of the NFL and college football. However, both are better for society and safer than the Crips and the Bloods or Hatfields & McCoys.
If partisan fervor gets too strong, as in English soccer hooligans, or NBA Championship Winners (or Losers), society has to step in and remind folks that this is a SUBSTITUTE for war, not the real thing. It’s a GAME, people.
Sorry for the double post. I’m out here in the jungles of Central America and my internet server dropped me during the first “Post”.
So, carelessly, I hit “Post” again.
Lo siento!
I can’t speak for the big boys, but I have worked for several smaller papers as a copy editor, managing editor and everything in between. The sports section was by far the easiest to sell advertising in. So, my experience is that is the most profitable section of a newspaper.
My husband only takes the Dallas Morning News for the sports section. Sports writers are as liberal as most reporters but it’s not their main interest.
I only take it for the crossword, the obits and the tv guide.
I do not believe ONE WORD written in the news and editorial section of the paper.
I despise that paper with every fiber of my being.
It must be my generation. My parents wouldn’t have dreamed of not taking a newspaper. I can’t seem to abandon them either, but my children have! And so many more will.
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