Open letters offer a unique focus for rhetorical analysis in sport communication, forming a message that is both interpersonal (the attempt to reflect dialogue through a letter writer and its recipients) and public (the “open” part of the open letter). The National Football League (NFL) attempted image repair when it used open letters to respond to accusations that it was not doing enough to protect athletes against devastating effects of concussions. Through the use of Benoit’s theory of image repair, the authors found that Commissioner Goodell’s open letters relied on 2 main image-repair strategies: reducing offensiveness and corrective action. They consider the implications of these rhetorical choices for the complicated merging areas of sport, communication, and health in the NFL’s open letters.
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Open Letters From the National Football League, Concussion Prevention, and Image-Repair Rhetoric
Josh Compton and Jordan Compton
Cyberbullying in Sport
Ellen MacPherson and Gretchen Kerr
, body type, and other factors should be included in future research ( Salmon et al., 2018 ). Conceptual clarity is important for research design, consistencies in defining and assessing behaviors, understanding the full scale of these experiences, and increasing the impact of prevention and intervention
The Use of Social Media in Sport Doping Enforcement and Control
Kerry Fischer and Genevieve F.E. Birren
As social media prevalence increases, it seems inevitable that it will eventually have a role in sport doping prevention and control, and indeed it is already being used in some areas of sport doping. There is a dearth of research in this area of social media scholarship, and this commentary
Sexualized Representation of Female Athletes in the Media: How Does It Affect Female College Athletes’ Body Perceptions?
Andrea Riebock and John Bae
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of the sexualized representation of female athletes in the media on the body perceptions of collegiate female athletes. The intention of the research was to examine whether such effects varied depending on college year rank and ethnicity as interrelated factors. Data were collected using questionnaires that consisted of questions addressing aspects (i.e., body shame, consequences of body shame, and goal of appearance) of selfobjectification. Overall, the results indicated that grade level and ethnicity do not play a significant role on the effects of the media on body perceptions. In conclusion, this study can be helpful to develop prevention and intervention programs for age groups and ethnicities most greatly affected by media’s objectification of female athletes.
Media Portrayals of Athlete-Perpetrated Intimate Partner Violence: An Examination of the Social Ecological Model, Race, and Communication Perceptions
Jennifer A. Scarduzio, Christina S. Walker, Nicky Lewis, and Anthony M. Limperos
Intimate partner violence (IPV) includes any sexual, physical, emotional, and/or psychological violence perpetrated by a current or former intimate partner ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020a ). IPV is a pervasive health crisis, impacting individuals with various sociocultural and
Role of Sport Public Relations for the COVID-19 Outbreak: Interview With Kwon Heo, Public Relations Manager at Kia Tigers
Sungwook Son, Antonio S. Williams, and Yoon Heo
. Operating costs, however, have increased due to preventive measures against COVID-19. What is more concerning is that bigger problems may arise when the no-audience restriction is lifted. Although we are thoroughly managing the prevention of epidemics and players are going through COVID-19 prevention
A Post-COVID-19 Lifestyle Sport Research Agenda: Communication, Risk, and Organizational Challenges
William Roth Smith
that encourage athletes to practice their sports while minimizing risk. Although scholars could draw on sport communication research centered on concussion prevention, helmet use, and general injury prevention, there is one notable difference for lifestyle sports and the pandemic. The messages about
Regulating Ambush Marketing in an Increasingly Social Era
John Grady
ambush prevention strategies in advance of the London 2012 Games and was primarily aimed at targeting ambush marketing that occurs on social media ( Grady, 2016 ). Bylaw 3 of Rule 40 of the Olympic Charter states, “Except as permitted by the IOC executive board, no competitor, coach, trainer or official
Governance and Policy in Sport Organizations, 5th ed.
Andrew Sellers
and navigate a sports organization through a crisis, including an explanation of the five phases of a crisis: signal detection, preparation and prevention, containment and damage control, recovery, and learning. What is also interesting is that the chapter provides examples of strategic operations
“It Has Changed Completely”: How Local Sports Broadcasters Adapted to No Sports
Kevin Hull and Miles Romney
-person updates from local athletes would be challenging ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020 ; Embree, 2020 ). The larger, national outlets could simply go into the archive. While local sports broadcasters do have archives, they traditionally rely almost exclusively on new games and events for
