Color Coded: Racial Descriptors in Television Coverage of Intercollegiate Sports

Abstract

Although African Americans have achieved equality in their participation in professional and intercollegiate sports, the same cannot be said for the coverage of these events. In noting that the announcers' booth is a conducive environment for priming racial stereotypes, this research sought to build on previous findings by further exploring the distinction announcers create between the player-as-athlete and player-as-person. Results showed that announcers continue to craft a negative image of African American athletes when describing them as people. Suggestions for further research are included.