ABSTRACT

Sport and its representation through media messages have proved a central site for the reproduction of dominant ideas concerning the racialisation of different groups. It has also been shown that the exposure of racist comments and incidents in sport has been a strong theme in race-related news (Law 2002). This chapter examines how the process works, particularly in relation to the process of racialisation. This is not to discount the significance of forms of anti-racism in sports media messages but to highlight the perpetuation of both overt and subtle forms of racially hostile representation. New evidence drawn from an analysis of two key sports media sources from the UK (Observer Sport Monthly) and the USA (Sports Illustrated) is analysed to assess the ways in which racialisation occurs. These data, from 2006, show how high-profile sports magazines can reinforce racialised notions of identities, whiteness, myths of difference and newer more subtle forms of enlightened racism to millions of readers across Europe and North America.