ESLJ Volume 1 Number 3 Reviews
Media Relations in Sport,
by William Nichols, Patrick Moynahan, Allan Hall and Janis Taylor.
Morgantown, WV: Fitness Information Technology, Inc., 2002.
Pp.291, US$34 (hb),
ISBN 1 885693 22 2.
Reviewed by:
BENJAMIN D. GOSS
Clemson University,
South Carolina
With the first edition of Media Relations in Sport, Nichols, Moynahan, Hall and Taylor help fill a void in the sports management literature in the area of sports communication. During the introduction to the work, the authors remind readers of the critical nature of sports communication and how many areas of sports management are directly affected by it. With that in mind, the authors embark on a journey to cover the complex, multifaceted field of sports communication in an introductory fashion.
The authors begin the 14-chapter work with a capsulisation of the overall mass communication process. While such a task inherently requires them to cover broad, non-sports topics, they manage to do so in a style that allows frequent and immediate redirection to sports-based topics. This serves dually to keep the sports-minded reader's attention and to provide effectively placed illustrations of theory, both of which are important within the given scope of the text. Specific topics covered in chapter 1 include a model of sports communication and the media's profit motive, among other theoretical issues.
The second and third chapters respectively examine print and broadcast media. While they go into great (and successful) depths of relating the historical importance of print media, the history of broadcast media is shortened in favour of increased theoretical discussion on the topic. Such a difference should not be considered a flaw in the book, since, though both forms of media presently evolve on an almost daily basis, broadcast media, the more evolution-prone of the two, must be considered with greater theoretical depths and perspective. Both chapters briefly but sufficiently describe various types of specific media formats and give overviews of their bureaucratic and organisational structures.
Chapter 4 begins coverage of what is likely to be a lesser-known aspect of media relations: the sports information specialist, perhaps better known in sports management circles as the sports information director (SID). Before moving on to in-depth discussions in future chapters about specific tasks and management functions of the SID, the authors point out and overview public relations operational aspects of the SID's job.
Chapters 5?12 provide detailed breakdowns of eight specific job functions of SIDs, beginning with basic concepts of the news release. In addition to providing helpful lists and step-by-step (or part-by-part) instructions, chapter 5 includes several illustrated examples of various types of news releases, which can prove invaluable to beginning sports communicators. Chapter 6 breaks down the steps needed in organising successful news conferences and media days, complete with a plethora of how-to lists and checklists.
Chapter 7 steers the text back to focus on the print media by examining how to put together media brochures, from budgeting considerations to designing and production issues. While a few how-to lists and checklists are provided, the text would definitely be strengthened by a use of several more of them at this juncture. Writing such information in textual form is not only difficult to do, but can become troubling for the reader on an initial information search, as well as anyone embroiled in the design process. Chapter 8 shifts focus back to event-oriented material, discussing the art and science of the interview, emphasising the roles of the interviewer and interviewee, the structures of various interviews, and the role played by the SID in the interview process.
Chapters 9 and 10 continue with a management orientation, providing overviews of game-day event management from the sports information specialists' point of view, as well as non-game-day special event functions, such as awards banquets and national tournaments. Both chapters are awash with lists, making the information easier to read and to use as a resource. Chapter 10 is particularly effective in this respect, providing timetables with checklists, as well as specific task overviews with checklists.
The next chapters cover more occasional aspects of the sports information specialists' duties. Chapter 11 provides a solid combination of theory and how-to lists for publicity campaigns for individuals, while chapter 12 offers theoretical perspectives of crisis management, along with specific lists of what to do, and, perhaps more importantly, what not to do during public relations crises.
A hurried overview of ethical dilemmas in communications is provided in chapter 13, though little more could be expected in light of their number and complexity. One positive aspect to the brevity of this chapter's topics is that a course instructor may choose to highlight one or more of them with supplemental information, depending upon the relationship of the chapter's topics with current events (for example, resume scandals involving college coaches).
In closing, the authors provide a final chapter that opines about the future of the industry, both technologically and functionally, cutting a wide swath through financial, administrative, innovative and traverse topics.
Structurally, chapters in this work are divided into several broad topical sections, followed by typically effective summaries (which vary in length), a handful of discussion questions and a couple of suggested exercises. The questions and exercises vary in effectiveness from chapter to chapter and may or may not prove useful for an instructor, depending upon how technical (s)he orients a course in this area. Within the chapters' text, fact boxes highlight key points, which do not prove to be useful tools as much as effective demonstrations of a very helpful press release practice.
One addition to the text that would make its second edition more effective would be to provide additional illustrated diagrams as examples of products delineated in the text. Such diagrams, when featured, provide students, instructors and practitioners with handy guides and samples that help drive the text's theoretical discussions home. Another feature that could boost the book would be to supply more even more how-to lists and step-by-step checklists in every possible area. While these items are provided at many key junctures in the text, others could be effectively buttressed with more of these quick-reference jewels.
In sum, readers and users may not find this work to be perfect, but it functions better in several respects than its predecessors. While it may be shorter on lists and illustrated examples than some counterparts, it provides a better balance of (appropriate) anecdotes with factual text material, yields a better classroom tool that effectively combines theory with practice in a teachable yet palatable format, and delivers a more straightforward academic approach to a timely, crucial area of sports management education.
This is a book review published online on March 6th 2005.
Citation: Goss, Benjamin D, '', Entertainment and Sports Law Journal (ESLJ) Volume 1, Number 3 <http://www.warwick.ac.uk/go/eslj/issues/volume1/number3/reviews/goss/>
