Women’s sports deserve more media coverage

Two things occurred to me when I sat down to write this. The strongest people I know are all women, and some things, even in this cold, callous, post-industrial hellscape, are fundamentally not about money.

If you’ve been paying attention to March Madness you’ve likely seen the Buick “See Her Greatness” commercial.

In it, Buick shares a disturbing statistic with us: 40% of athletes are females, but only 10% of sports media coverage focuses on women’s athletics. This difference is so drastic that we’ve come to accept it without so much as a second thought. “Of course women’s sports get less coverage,” we justify. “There’s much more money to be made covering men.”

It’s impossible to deny the truth behind that sentiment, one you’ve probably heard your entire life. There is more money in men’s sports, and in turn there is more money to be made covering them.

But what those who make this argument miss is that profit is the enemy of good journalism. This is not to say that our media outlets are not designed to make money; they are inherently businesses and as such must turn a profit.

Yet the 90-10 distribution our sports media outlets currently pursue highlights their role as businesses, and their journalists’ role as businesspeople.

It represents a compromise of journalistic integrity in the name of maximizing advertising profits.

UConn’s Paige Bueckers can hit a beautiful fade away from 18 feet out, and the most she can hope for coverage-wise is a spot in the Sportscenter Top Ten.

If Duke’s Paolo Banchero collects a breakaway assist on a pretty bounce pass, there’s a good chance Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon will spend two minutes arguing about how it affects his position in the draft and the merits of his game generally.

Bueckers and Banchero are both expected to be among the top three drafted to their prospective professional leagues, they were both five star recruits out of high school and both are incredibly talented at what they do.

What kind of message does this difference in coverage send to young girls and women?

I don’t consider myself qualified to answer that question, but as one of the sports editors for The Record I am uniquely qualified to draw your attention to it.

When you open the sports section this week, the only place you’ll find reference to St. John’s athletes is the scoreboard. That’s not an accident, and it’s not because Johnnie athletes had an accomplishment-free week.

It’s because we’re choosing to give Bennie athletes the 90% this week.