The New York Times The New York Times Sports Staff
The New York Times The New York Times Editorial Staff
The New York Times Public Editor Margaret Sullivan
The New York Times Chairman & Publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr.
General Manager of NYTimes.com Denise Warren
Stop Covering only the Male-Half of the Sports Story.
Today NYTimes summarized its attitude towards women’s sports, and women in general. Generally, the NYTimes only covers women’s sports in 3.5% of its sports articles (I’ve been counting), and it is extremely rare for a women’s sport to be covered on the front page. But today the NYTimes finally decided to run a women’s sports article on the frontpage of the Sports section. It covered how, in order to boost revenue, a study showed women’s college basketball needs to require tighter clothing, less tattoos, address the “lesbianism” in the sport, send the finals overseas, and change the fundamentals of the sport itself. I guess this shouldn’t be a surprise after the NYTimes admonished one of its female reporters for asking Augusta National golf club why it didn’t let women join.
The New York Time’s has the following sports tabs: “baseball, NFL, college football, N.B.A., college [men’s] basketball, [men’s] hockey, [men’s] soccer, [men’s] golf” or “tennis” tabs. The most estrogen filled tab is indubitably the “tennis” section. Oh how those women love to play tennis.
The NYTimes knows how to cultivate readership. It chooses not to in the realm of women’s sports. Not even listing the scores of the US women’s professional soccer league, while covering the men’s European soccer leagues, is poor journalism and sexist.
NYTimes, at least cover the scores of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL). NYTimes, at least reflect that in the US, women’s sports is about more than attracting male spectators by wearing tighter clothing. NYTimes, stop only covering the male-half of the story.
