Communications and Media

The growing popularity of sports over the past few decades may be attributed to the advancement of mass media, specifically, broadcasting, making it a mainstay of everyday entertainment. With the increased marketability of live sports coverage, the media has created a means to make games more appealing to the audience. For instance, instead of merely providing an objective account of the events, announcers make commentaries to keep the attention of the viewers (Mull, 2009). In this way, the viewers are not only caught up in knowing the events taking place in the game but also in watching the drama brought upon by the commentaries and reports delivered. However, the downside of this situation is that reporting of events becomes subjective to the announcers and broadcasters. Considering that the mass media is a powerful agent of socialization, certain stereotypes   whether consciously or unconsciously imposed by the media   reinforce biased beliefs to society. More often, the targets of this stereotyping are the players from the so-called black race, who have long grappled for equal treatment in society. Unfortunately, this racial bias is often left unrecognized by people (Sharma, 2008) that they tend to simply accept this as normal. While this situation has caught the attention of several researchers, many of them have focused on the content of the media and its effects on the audience and not on the players themselves. As such, little is known on how these stereotypes affect the players who are actively involved in the game. In this regard, the present research will explore on the effects of racial stereotypes portrayed in the media on amateur basketball players who are not merely passive viewers of sports media but also active participants of the sport. More specifically, the study aims to know the difference in stereotype sensitivities between the two groups of subjects   Whites and Blacks   and to know the relationship of stereotype sensitivity to self-esteem and to the perceived performance of players.

Review of Related Literature
Several studies have explored the presence of racial stereotypes in media. However, it was only in the late 1960s when the involvement of racial issues in sports has been paid close attention to (Sabo et al., 1995).  In the next two decades, criticisms against sports media organizations have increased due to the racial stereotyping being perpetuated by commentators, announcers and journalists (Sabo et al., 1995). Today, studies discussing different aspects of racial stereotypes in sports media have accumulated into a large pool of information in this subject matter.

Stereotyping against the black players is said to be rooted from the fact that white people have dominated the media (as cited in Rada  Wulfemeyer, 2005). Given that there has been a huge divide between the two races throughout history and the fact that stereotypes that are already present in society have primed the beliefs of people (Rada  Wulfemeyer, 2005), it is almost inevitable that commentaries and reports become subjective to the perceptions   and even, misconceptions   of the sportscasters (as cited in Rada  Wulfemeyer, 2005). As a result, the biased stereotypes portrayed in media shape the perception and behavior of the viewers such that they are swept by emotions as they watch the game and interact with others (Rada  Wulfemeyer, 2005). Since it is often ignored, continuous exposure to these biased misconceptions eventually leads to the point when these stereotypes become incorporated into one s common knowledge about the world (Rada  Wulfemeyer, 2005). This is the way by which media reinforce biased beliefs to society.

Moreover, stereotypes in sports media coverage may either be derogatory or misleading (Wilson  Sparks, 1999). Misleading stereotypes being portrayed in sports media often involve the issue between physical attributes and cognitive competence. As such, commentators tend to compliment black players due to their athletic ability and physical characteristics and not due to intellect and cognitive competence which are the characteristics that are associated with white players (as cited in Rada  Wulfemeyer, 2005). While it may not sound derogatory, the media, to some extent, portrays blacks as strong players and not really as intelligent ones. This clearly reinforces racial bias.

While racial bias has been present in sports media, it seems that people from different races exhibit different sensitivities to stereotyping. According to Wilson and Sparks (1999), the blacks are more aware of how they are portrayed in media as compared to non-blacks. Yet, this does not mean that non-blacks are not affected by the stereotyping (Wilson  Sparks, 1999). The studies conducted only show that non-blacks generally do not have very comprehensive opinions regarding racial stereotyping in contrast to black individuals (as cited in Wilson  Sparks, 1999).

Meanwhile, there are several effects of racial stereotypes in sports media coverage that have been identified by researchers. For instance, many studies show that black television programming can affect the self-esteem of young black viewers because they perceive the portrayal to reflect upon themselves (as cited in Wilson  Sparks, 1999). In addition, studies also show that racial stereotyping in sports can actually influence the perception of people. Ideally, the basis of the audience s perception towards the performance of the player is the statistical measures of shooting, win-loss percentage and batting average (Rada  Wulfmeyer, 2005). However, according to Mull (2009), media can affect the opinion of the audience regarding the performance of a player. Mull (2009) used the NCAA men s basketball season for 2008-2009 as an example to explain his assertion. Accordingly, the sportscasters had been making predictions that a certain white player would lead the game (Mull, 2009). While the outcome turned out as expected, the statistics later showed that there are actually other players who scored higher throughout the season yet little recognition was given to them (Mull, 2009). This simply shows that even the performance of the players, which is supposed to be objectively construed, is being framed by the media.

Statement of Hypothesis
Blacks are more aware of how they are being portrayed in media as compared to non-blacks (Wilson  Sparks, 1999). Moreover, according to Mull (2009), stereotypes portrayed in media can impose opinions to the viewers with regard to the performance of the athlete. In addition, as cited in Wilson  Sparks (1999), findings of some researchers show that black television programming has an effect on the self-esteem of young black viewers because they perceive the portrayal to reflect upon themselves. Given the results of these related researches, this study is expected to have the following outcomes

Black subjects are more sensitive to racial stereotypes than white subjects
There is a significant relationship between sensitivity to stereotypes and self-esteem among college amateur basketball players.
There is a significant relationship between sensitivity to stereotypes and performance perception.

Method
Study Population
The study population will consist of 100 qualified male college amateur basketball players ages 18-22, regardless of socio-economic status and who would consent to participate in the study. Amateur basketball players will be chosen because they are aware of the rules of the sport and the events that usually take place in the game. The subjects will be divided into two groups based on their perceived racial identity blacks and whites. Each group will have a total of 50 subjects.

Sampling Procedure
A multi-stage sampling procedure will be employed as recruitment strategy in this study. Initially, sign-up sheets will be provided to a chosen city university. Qualified male amateur basketball players will be encouraged to sign up in exchange for a complimentary ticket to a local basketball game. The interested applicants will be asked to answer a biographical questionnaire from which their qualifications will be assessed. Only those who play basketball for leisure and for school activities will be included in the study. Those who have been a member of any national or local basketball league will be eliminated.

Consequently, the qualified applicants will then be divided into two groups based on the racial identity indicated in the biographical questionnaire. The black group will consist of applicants who identified themselves as  black ,  African-American ,  Trinidad and Tobago  and the like (Wilson  Sparks, 1999).  On the other hand, those who identified themselves as  non-black ,  white ,  Caucasian  and other similar descriptions (Wilson  Sparks, 1999) will be included in the white group. The logic of identifying one s race based on this method is to treat the subjective racial experience as a notion independent of other factors (Wilson  Sparks, 1999). Moreover, each group should only have 50 participants. In the event that the number of applicants exceeds the required number, subjects will be randomly chosen from this sample using a list of random numbers.

Instrumentation
In preparation for the study, recorded media coverage of local basketball games held anytime in the 1990s will be subjected to content analysis. The logic for choosing games held in the 1990s is that it is presumed that the subjects may not be familiar with or may have forgotten these games. This is to avoid any biases in the responses of the subjects. Consequently, these records will be subjected to qualitative content analysis using typologies and simple descriptive statistics (Sabo et al., 1995) to identify those that depict a high degree of stereotyping. The parts of the coverage that will be subjected to content analysis are the opening and closing remarks, interview segments and the commentaries made throughout the game (Sabo et al., 1995). Only five of the recorded media coverages with the highest degree of stereotyping will be selected as instruments for the study. All five media coverages should be in the form of audio file hence, those in the form of video will be converted to any audio format.

Furthermore, the tool that will be used to measure the variables is a test questionnaire in the form of Likert scale (i.e., in a response scale of 1 to 5, 1 corresponds to  strongly disagree  and 5 corresponds to  strongly disagree ). The test will be composed of three domains corresponding to the variables being measured. The first domain would contain questions that measure sensitivity towards stereotypes against black players depicted in media coverages of basketball events. The second domain would contain questions that will measure the self-esteem of the subjects. Finally, the third domain will determine the interpretation of success and failure of the subjects. For the last domain, positively stated questions are to be constructed to depict success among white players.

Research Design
A quasi-experimental research design using non-equivalent groups selected through purposive multi-stage sampling procedure will be utilized in this study. As such, the subjects will be given the test that measures the variables only after they have listened to the recorded media coverage of the games that depicted racial stereotypes. Moreover, as mentioned, the test that will be employed will include several domains, each testing for a particular variable. A high score in the domain measuring stereotype sensitivity entails high sensitivity to stereotypes. Similarly, the score in the domain that measures self-esteem is tantamount to the degree of self-esteem felt by the subject. For the last domain, a high score means that the subject believes that the white players are more likely to gain more points. To summarize, the independent variable in this study is stereotype sensitivity while the dependent variables are self-esteem and perceived performance of the players in the game.

Data Collection Procedures
The subjects will be asked to listen to the five selected media coverages of local basketball events that depicted racial stereotypes. Likewise, the actual video coverages of the game will not be shown to the subjects since it might affect their perceptions towards the performance of the players. Instead, they would simply have to listen to the commentaries made by the announcers and broadcasters. After listening to all the recorded media coverages, the test questionnaire will be administered to the subjects. No time limit will be given in answering the test questionnaires. The results of the tests will be encoded in a statistical software for analysis.

Data Analysis
Descriptive statistics will be utilized in comparing sensitivities towards stereotypes between the two groups. As such, the overall score of each group for this variable will be obtained by first getting the average scores of the individual subjects. The mean of the average scores of the subjects belonging to the same group will then be computed. The group with the higher mean score for this variable is the one who is more sensitive to racial stereotypes. Moreover, paired sample t-test will be used to know the significance of association between these two groups.

Likewise, Pearson product moment correlation will be employed in testing the relationship between stereotype sensitivity and self-esteem. The same statistics will be used to analyze the relationship between stereotype sensitivity and perceived performance of players. For these two variables, no comparison will be made between the two groups. Moreover, the direction of relationship will not be identified since it has been mentioned that some stereotypes do not really appear derogatory and may in fact, contribute positively to self-esteem and perceived performance.

Discussion
In comparing sensitivities towards stereotypes, it is expected that the black group will obtain a higher score than the white group. This is in line with the study of Wilson  Sparks (1999) that blacks are more aware of how they are being portrayed in media in contrast to non-blacks. Given that blacks have been discriminated in many aspects, the blacks may have imbibed these discriminatory notions in their beliefs of the real world that they tend to be more receptive to stereotypical ideas presented in media. Since the whites are usually the more favored race, they do tend to oversee these stereotypes that they are usually not affected by them. Moreover, the self-esteem of the subjects who have high sensitivity to stereotypes is presumed to be affected by racial bias. However, the direction of the relation might not be apparent. According to Rada  Wulfemeyer (2005), blacks are usually perceived as physical rather than intellectual individuals. The feelings of individuals towards this stereotype are very subjective such that some may actually see this more of an advantage to the blacks. On the other hand, some may perceive this to be derogatory thus, decreasing self-esteem. The same condition holds true when associating stereotype sensitivity to perceived performance of players. Nevertheless, it is expected that a significant relationship will be obtained when comparing these variables.