This month there’s a plethora of storylines within the global sports space that communicate the story.
Although I contribute to them, from both a reporting side as well as an opinion one, I also focus on how the ways that we communicate the story shapes the larger narrative.
Most communications professionals strategically think about the first part of that equation: framing the story. But far fewer think like a historian and contemplate the near- and longer-term impact of how what we communicate frames the larger narrative…and with it, popular memory and myths. It’s a key point that guides my professional work as a writer and consultant, as well as a scholar and educator.
How the ways one tells the story shapes the larger public discourse is an equation that history professionals within the emerging field of history communication (#histcomm) tackle continuously, for they have real life implications on national narratives and political discourses. And Jason Steinhauer’s recent book, History, Disrupted: How Social Media and the World Wide Web Have Changed the Past, tackles the role that the Internet, specifically social media, play different roles.
But what of sports?
Many people think that sports are nothing more than entertainment and leisure, or are a business industry focused solely on marketing and ticket sales. Yet, over the past several years such stereotypes and misperceptions have continuously been punctured as events underscore how sports play integral roles in local communities and larger societies, in cultural issues, in diplomatic relations of all stripes, in political and geopolitical affairs, international development and governance, and of course, economics.
How we communicate the story pertaining to issues and events in global sport shapes popular memory and sporting myths. This Sleeper Hit History video about how biased press coverage by a Western press set a false narrative about the first two Black teams to contest the FIFA World Cup in 1974 does a great job starting to unearth the larger “so what” implications.
So, whether you’re reading about stories pegged to this month’s Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, Black History Month, FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifiers, NBA All-Star Game or whether you’re a sports industry professional, executive, or investor, be aware of how the ways we tell these stories—your stories—may constructively or negatively impact the larger narrative and thus popular memory and myths. Think more intentionally and together let’s improve the ways we tell stories in and around global sports and the sports business industry.