Crisis comm in sport

 Crisis Communication in Sport

Presentation: Knight et al., 2020

Presenter: Landon

Knight, H. R., Hartman, K. L., & Bennett, A. (2020). Gun violence, eSports, and global crises: A proposed model for sport crisis communication practitioners. Journal of Global Sport Management: Reputational Management in Sport, 5(2), 223-241. https://doi.org/10.1080/24704067.2019.1576144

Mini-doc feedback

Great job on your drafts today guys. I know they were rough, but that is the idea of a draft. Let's take our feedback and run with that. I cannot wait to see what all you come up with for the final mini-doc products next week. Just as a matter of summary here is the general feedback tossed around in the classroom: 

• Live class footage
• Hype music or mixed music (think DJ)
• Client or student interview
• Coaches interviews
• List hours, classes, or other important information
• Pay attention to sound quality
• Interview graduates employed in the industry
• Voice over pictures
• Smooth out transitions

Next week activities (10/20)

In class: Mini-doc final draft

Online: 

1. Midterm
2. Self-evaluation

Don't forget I am off to an all-day workshop the week after (10/27) so we will do an asynchronous discussion. Those of you presenting an article, please send me your voice over slides by 10/26. You can find the presentation roster here.  

Does unity through sport undermine democracy?

In a brilliantly written essay, the author takes us through years of activism by Black athletes. Starting with Carlos and Smith's raised fists in the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games through the more recent kneeling by Kaepernick. Most importantly, the author deconstructs the rhetoric around the reactions to these public protests and critiques the frequently alluded unifying attribute of sport.

The essay frames sport as an optimal space for legitimizing rivalry without romanticizing it. Most notorious is the call for sport as a space to preserve contest, not unity. Although the author acknowledges sports' ability to unify, it cautions against using it unquestioningly as a unifying agent at the expense of healthy democratic dissent and the pluralism that defines the United States. Finally, it makes a case for activism in sport, such as disrupting the national anthem, not as a threat to unity, but its illusion. An illusion that is more threatening to democratic health than the activism itself. 

The author mentions the "inside these lines" NFL commercial within the article and commented that an NFL spokesperson stated, “We think this is the single best response to demonstrate what we are about. It stands in stark contrast to someone who practices the politics of division” (Stetler, 2017, as cited in Butterworth, 2020, p. 465). However, later comments this could have been directed either at President Trump or Kaepernick. Who do you think this was directed at? and why? Also, share your thoughts after reading the article. Does unity in sport undermine the pluralistic values necessary for a democratic society? Have the claims for unity attenuated the purposes of the protest/activism?  

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Butterworth, M. L. (2020). Sport and the Quest for Unity: How the Logic of Consensus Undermines Democratic Culture. Communication & Sport, 8(4-5), 452-472. 2167479519900160.

Sport Communication TuNo

Sport Communication

Tuesday Notes (TuNo)

What a great class you'll! Thank you for making the class so interactive. I really appreciate your discussion and contributions. I wanted to leave a couple of resources here for you so you have access to what went on in class. Here you will find  

1. The long version of the syllabus
2. The course overview video
3. The assignments overview video
4. The presentation schedule

Course overview video

Assignments overview video

Action items: 

• Start preparing your presentation (especially if you present this upcoming week!). Off the top of my head, those are Destinee. Kierra, Marquis, Cedrick, and Tanner, but please double-check the presentation schedule link above. 
• Everyone must come to class having read the articles
• Everyone must come ready to discuss
• Everyone must turn in a synthesis on blackboard before class time -blackboard is coming up, thank you for your patience and grace. 
• Everyone must come ready to informally present on their synthesis. 
• Bring your best skycam and sideline cam pictures or video for show and tell. 

Good luck everyone, see you Tuesday