Persecuting Alex Rodriguez: Race, Money and the Ethics of Reporting the Performance-enhancing Drug Scandal

Authors

Bonnie Brennen, Marquette UniversityFollow
Rick Brown, Marquette University

Document Type

Article

Language

eng

Format of Original

18 p.

Publication Date

2014

Publisher

Taylor & Francis

Source Publication

Journalism Studies

Source ISSN

1461-670X

Original Item ID

doi: 10.1080/1461670X.2014.959817

Abstract

This qualitative textual analysis considers the US press coverage of Alex Rodriguez for his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. It evaluates nearly 500 newspaper, magazine and broadcast reports from 2007 to 2014 on Rodriguez, as well as reader and journalistic responses, and finds issues of overt and inferential racism, stereotyping and symbolic impurity, and a crude emphasis on money in the coverage. This research considers the ethics of the press coverage through a framework of Critical Race Theory and suggests an approach rooted in communitarian ethics to foster greater social justice and balance in sports media coverage.

Comments

Accepted version. Journalism Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1 (2014): 21-38. DOI. © 2016 Taylor & Francis (Routledge). Used with permission.

Recommended Citation

Brennen, Bonnie and Brown, Rick, "Persecuting Alex Rodriguez: Race, Money and the Ethics of Reporting the Performance-enhancing Drug Scandal" (2014). College of Communication Faculty Research and Publications. 288.
https://epublications.marquette.edu/comm_fac/288