It’s no coincidence that the number of women in sports media has increased after the enactment of Title IX in 1972, USA Today columnist Christine Brennan said at the Walter Cronkite School’s “Must See Sports” event Thursday.
Title IX is legislation stating that education and federal financial assistance can’t be denied to anyone on the basis of gender, enacted as part of the Education Amendments of 1972.
“For generations, we were telling 50 percent of our country ‘no,’” Brennan said. “No, you cannot learn about winning and losing at a young age, you cannot learn about teamwork, you cannot learn about sportsmanship.”
Not only will the amount of women in sports media continue to grow, said Brennan, but Title IX continues to allow more women to participate in athletics which leads to more women in public office, culminating in more women running for president and more women in powerful jobs.
“The one common denominator for all of those women,” Brennan said, “(was) that they played sports because of Title IX and they learned those life lessons.”
Known as one of the pioneers for women in sports journalism, Brennan credited other women who endured the brunt of the misogynistic backlash for opening the doors that she ultimately walked through.
“I’m not a woman’s sports journalist,” Brennan said. “I’m a sports journalist who happens to be a woman.”
Brennan also gave advice to the aspiring journalists in the audience.
She said it is always best to admit that you don’t know rather than to go on with something that isn’t factual, and that speed is important, but getting the story out first and wrong is useless.
“Nothing is more important than your name and your reputation,” Brennan said.
Ethics and conflicts of interest have become an increasingly gray area over time, Brennan said.
With examples like MLB Network employing reporters, Brennan said people shouldn’t think twice about taking those jobs because that is just how journalism works.
Junior journalism student Cammeron Neely said he loved that Brennan stands up for her gender without any reservations.
“I thought she was a very insightful speaker,” Neely said. “I’m glad that she touched on some ethics aspects in sports journalism.”
Others in attendance, just hoping to pick the brain of an established journalist, were happy to have the opportunity to hear Brennan speak and hear about her experience.
“You hear someone that has that much background and that much credibility behind them,” said recent Cronkite graduate Eric Smith. “It really makes you want to get to that level.”
Contact the reporter at jaling1@asu.edu
