Fifteenth International Conference on Sport & Society

Abstract

Scholars have found that Latino athletes are often unrepresented, overlooked, and stereotyped in major sports and news media outlets. Because of the racial diversity of Latinos as a demographic group, researchers have found that Latino athletes can often be viewed through the lens of both sides of the white-Black binary that dominates the racial understanding of sports. Scholars have also found that Latinos are often misquoted or quoted too precisely, which can make the players seem unintelligent. This study features a content analysis of major sports media outlets that aims to answer the following question: To what extent do sports media outlets quote Latino baseball players, especially Spanish-speaking ones, in their stories, broadcasts, and other media content compared to their English-speaking counterparts? This study looks at print and digital content from two major sports media outlets, ESPN and the Athletic, looking at a monthlong sample during the 2024 Major League Baseball season. This study highlights how often Latino baseball players are featured in coverage relative to their non-Latino counterparts, and the extent to which they are stereotyped in this coverage. By looking at their inclusion in stories, this study examines how language can serve as a hegemonic force in sports and assesses the efforts of sports journalists to include Latino voices in their coverage. This research adds an important and much-needed contribution to the scholarship on Latino representation in sports media, journalistic practice, and the role of race, ethnicity, and language in the coverage of Latino athletes.