Annotated Bibliography

Serazio, M. (2010). When the Sportswriters Go Marching In: Sports Journalism, Collective Trauma, and Memory Metaphors, Critical Studies in Media Communication, 27:2, 155-173 

The author, Michael Serazio, a doctor at Fairfield University, used the case study of media coverage of the National Football League’s (NFL) New Orleans Saints’ success during the 2006 recovery from Hurricane Katrina to construct the critical essay which examines the correlation between sports journalism and collective memory. He theorised that sports journalism altered the memory of Hurricane Katrina in those living in the area, leading them to produce a story amongst citizens that was consistent throughout. The narrative detailed the recovery from Katrina by strongly using the metaphor of a succeeding team effort. Serazio breaks down the topic into subcategories which look at the effects of different types of metaphors and symbols separately. He also looks into any correlations between what people remember of traumatic experiences and what the news reports. He found that a lot of the time the media managed to influence how people recalled certain events to quite extreme lengths. The setting out into subheadings was useful in locating specific parts of the research. However, there was a definite lack of any coherence between topics and no concluding paragraph to sum up the relationships between each of the discussed topics. For this reason the article was reasonably confusing in the relevance of all the mentioned evidence.

Harris, R. (2012). Handshake Ban At London Olympics? British Athletes Discouraged From Greeting For Fear Of Illness. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/06/london-olympics-20120-british-athletes-handshakes_n_1322953.html

It was suggested that athletes participating in the 2012 London Olympics did not shake hands to try and avoid the spread of any disease. This idea was rejected by the British government, saying that such behaviour was merely ‘rude’ and ‘pointless’. The article uses interviews with spokespersons from USOC, suggesting that perhaps it is not such a terrible suggestion to prevent to any spread of virus. There is also a brief discussion about what athletes should do in the case of a delicate situation arising. The article starts strong and interesting, however it loses its flow and rhythm quite quickly. The use of tweets from the athletes makes the point of view of the article unclear – is it for or against this protocol? Also, introducing a secondary topic halfway through seems quite unnecessary and completely unrelated to the original topic that is in the headline. In comparison to the first article outlined above, this article seems thrown together without a single coherent idea. It doesn’t seem to gel well with what is expected of it, whereas the above article used subheadings to logically show the trains of thought as each paragraph was linked in some way, however not summarised.  

Balym, T. (2012). Bronte Campbell seeks a head start. Herald Sun. Retrieved from: http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/london-olympics/bronte-campbell-seeks-a-head-start/story-fn9dheyx-1226338261954

An interview with Bronte Campbell, a young Australian swimmer and younger sister of bronze medallist, Cate Campbell,  about her upcoming trials in the London Olympics revealed that she is certainly confident and excited in being able to put up a fight against the other competitors. The article details briefly a few minor statistics and talks about her dive specifically. It effectively uses quotes of Bronte explaining what she hopes to do as explanations. The story makes good use of the inverted pyramid and is concise and to the point. The most important information is in the first paragraph and then the more detailed information follows towards the end. This allows the story to flow eloquently and the reader to feel satisfied with the presented information. The story ends with a summarising quote of Bronte’s confidence and hopeful triumph in the coming Olympics. This is a very suitable ending for the young swimmer, showing a true Australian spirit. The story flows much better than the academic article presented, however it doesn’t have as much depth into the theory behind sports reporting. It does demonstrate some of the chosen effects outlined in the way that this article is presented and which evidences have been used. 

Sportsmail Reporter. (2012). It's not fair! Australia's hockey coach complains about fixtures at Games. Daily Mail. Retrieved from: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/olympics/article-2148665/London-2012-Olympics-Ric-Charlesworth-complains-unfair-fixtures-Australian-hockey-team.html#ixzz1vnSyZn47

The coach of the Australian men’s hockey team expressed concerns that the scheduling of the matches was unfair, due to them have three out of five matches scheduled for a 5am start. Although his claims may be true, there is nothing to be done about them. He also has a history of claiming that the team will be disadvantaged; at the test event the coach once again protested that the playing surfaces were a disadvantage to participants. The article uses quotations from the coach as he protests and then follows them with comments that make his qualms seem trivial. This is a very effective way of showing that the arguments of the coach are not being taken seriously as he seems to be simply complaining or making excuses for his team in advance for any failure. However, at the end of the article his point about the start times being a disadvantage to the Australian team seem to be taken seriously, due to the author including all of the coach’s reported evidence. This shows a very good balance between dismissing the coach’s meaningless complaints and considering that he may have a point. It is a very well structured article, not unlike the original academic article. It is certainly the easiest and most interesting to read out of all the articles analysed.