Inching Away From the Toy Department

Abstract

This study compares how U.S. daily newspaper sports journalists covered the coming out of National Basketball Association (NBA) veteran Jason Collins and college football All-American Michael Sam by utilizing a two-dimensional framing measurement scheme. A content analysis of 248 articles published in the first 30 days after each athlete’s announcement found that individual and present frames dominated for both and that Sam’s announcement was covered more extensively. Although sports journalism is often criticized for lacking a critical perspective, the results show evidence that a significant amount of the coverage went beyond the basics of each athlete’s announcement and addressed some of the pertinent issues facing gay athletes in the National Football League and NBA.