Keeping Score

Getting women athletes on TV

The Salt Lake Tribune ran a profile on Lisa Mitzel, a former All-American gymnast, who has started the nonprofit organization called Athletic Girl Productions.

According to the article, "Izzi says her main initiative is to increase exposure for positive female role models in sports through media channels including the Web site and TV. She is gathering funds and packaging together a cable TV show highlighting women in sports."

Her motivation came from some thesis research where she realized the dearth of women athletes on TV and decided to try to do something about it.

Women sports journalists - they're there, but not seen

Stephanie Wright of The Michigan Daily weighs in on a poll question Sports Illustrated had on their Website the other day asking: "Would you watch ‘The Sports Reporters’ if the panel only consisted of female journalists?” 'The Sports Reporters' is an ESPN show. The answer was 60% would not. This goes back to a piece I mentioned in a previous post by Richard Deitsch of Sports Illustrated who suggested that maybe it was time for a permanent female member  to join the Sports Reporter team. Then he wrote another column suggesting that it be an all-female cast. I would like to see the response if SI went back and rephrased the poll question to "Would you watch 'The Sports Reporters' if the panel had a female journalistas a permament member?"

Bode! Bode!

The New York Times has a piece on how "60 Minutes" loves a good sport story. Last week it was crazy-man-uber-skier Bode Miller with the always cool Bob Simon. The spin was on Bode's habit to tip a few back after a race, but it was his bare bones training in a barn that was the most interesting to watch. The show's list of past interviews looks like a who's who's in men's sports, but supposedly Michelle Wie is up next for the 60 Minutes profile piece.

Updated study on TV coverage of women's sports

Earlier this month, "Gender in Televised Sports: News and Highlights Shows, 1989 - 2004," a study commissioned by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles (AAF),showed that in the last five years, television coverage of women's sports has actually declined. Women's sports received only 6.3 percent of the air time in 2004 compared to 1999, when 8.7 percent of the airtime was devoted to women's sports.  The report received almost no notice in the mainstream sports media. After searching LexisNexis, I found one mention in an LATimes sports column (TV-RADIO/MIKE PENNER;
"This Top 25 Is a Little Too Current" 7/22/05). There was also a piece on AScribe - a public interest newsletter - and on a Website based in India.  The Amateur Athletic Foundation of LA sponsored a 1990 newspaper study that I'm updating this summer and fall.