If one were an unfamiliar observer about what the NBA (National Basketball Association) does and its happenings, he/she surely would be forgiven for mistaking the league
for being a boxing or MMA (mixed
martial arts) promotional platform. Judging from the sports reporting frames, primarily
generated by traditional print and broadcasting media and
even digital media purveyors,
coverage of the Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma
City Thunder since the NBA season began on
October 25 could confuse the reader about whether media
are covering a team sport or a one-on-one star athlete contest. Similarly,
to some readers and viewers, it might be further confusing whether reporters
are reviewing games played
by either of these teams against other league teams and not against each other. Additionally, it occasionally becomes perplexing and less than
clear to tell that he/she
is reviewing a basketball game, and not an event where
physical violence could
be the norm.
In every game during the season's
first week involving the
Golden State Warriors and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the media have deployed frames that could lead
to the misconstrued scenario, as
above noted. A review of headlines and content coverage of those teams by traditional
media shows some familiar trend characteristics across the board. They include the following:
1.) There is at least one mention of Kevin Durant in every Thunder game
recap/discussion and likewise
of Russell Westbrook in a recap of a Warriors' game.
2.) Strong language, referencing intense dislike, is used to describe the relationship between those two
players.
3.) Westbrook is portrayed as seeking
"revenge" against Durant for his departure from the Thunder over
the summer.
4.) There is a “mano-a-mano” dynamic characterizing the Russell versus Kevin showdown and showcase narrative after every
game their respective teams have played (even though no games involved
the two players' teams going against each other, which will happen Nov. 3)
5.) Durant is portrayed as a disloyal
person who chose self-interest by leaving the Thunder and joining the Warriors.
6.) Westbrook became the first NBA athlete to
put up at least 100 points, 30 rebounds, and 30 assists in the first three
games of a season.[2]
Some reporters and others on social media mused that perhaps Westbrook had been
held back previously in his performance potential when Durant was still on the
Thunder team.
The various tonal aspects of the media's coverage echo the framing protocol as advanced by Entman when he contends
that "to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make
them more salient in a communicating text, in such a way as to promote a
particular problem definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or
treatment recommendation for the item described."[3]
The current frame regarding these two NBA teams can be surmised along these lines by using language from the major traditional media reports: this “blood feud” pits the “hero,” "Revenge Russ," who now looks like he's "free" and
not "tied" down is ready to "tear apart" and
"destroy" "disloyal" Kevin (presumably over the season or
in rematches between their respective teams), who plays for the “empire” and
who "doesn’t
like" Westbrook, who was "protected, spoiled, cuddled and
pampered"[4] by
the Thunder when Durant played there.
These resonate as tough words, which resemble and shadow “Cave Man Meets Student Champion,” as
adumbrated by Evensen, writing on the media narrative of the Jack
Dempsey-Gene Tunney championship
boxing fights of 1926 and 1927.[5] The
dynamic remains 90 years later in casting these two NBA teams as heavyweight
championship fighters. Jay Caspian Kang, writing
for The New York Times, perhaps best described it: “Durant versus
Westbrook will be next year's dominant N.B.A. motif because it brings in the full breadth of the
rich, if at times overblown, metaphors that have always driven the best
sportswriting: loyalty versus self-interest, the individual versus the empire
and solidarity with the underdog versus the cynical efficiency of the
superteam.”[6]
Kang's commentary
was just one of many from
the traditional media providing coverage that cultivated the
'Durant vs. Westbrook' story
line months before the
start of the season. By the time the season started in late October the public was already primed for this rivalry and many on social media (particularly on
Twitter and Facebook) were all too willing to go along and reinforce what already had become
familiar frames and
narratives in discussing Durant v.
Westbrook as the proxy for the Warriors v. the Thunder. It must also be noted that the
traditional media have a strong presence on social media platforms through
their organizations’ direct channels/pages
or through their individual agents and reporters which amplify these frames quickly.
This shows that even on social and other emerging digital media, the larger and
well-resourced traditional media, especially in sports coverage, have a strong presence and can still play a central role in agenda setting on these platforms.
Many of the discussions, retweets and shares on these immediate-response platforms are offshoots of source
materials from traditional media outlets utilizing these digital channels to distribute their content. For
instance, Fox Sports' Twitter timeline ran
the headline, "Russell Westbrook's revenge tour will
dominate the NBA next season." ESPN links directed users to a similar story titled, “Russell Westbrook revenge tour begins now.”
Even advertisers jumped on the Durant v. Westbrook sweepstakes during the season's opening week, utilizing
primarily new and social media for
fresh promotional campaigns.
Nike, which represents both Durant and Westbrook in shoe merchandise, used its Jordan brand to release a video ad with Westbrook saying, "Now I do what I want".[7] In August, the Jordan brand tweeted that "some run, some make
runways" in an apparent reference to the two players. These actions triggered an avalanche of commentary on social and new media. For example, a Fox sports headline on a piece about the ad read, “No KD, no problems." [8]
During the week following the coverage
of season openers for the Warriors and Thunder, the seminal role the traditional media play in framing and agenda setting is plainly evident in this heavily promoted rivalry. Even with the growing dominance of new media platforms, the mainstream sports media
outlets with their enormous brands and resources have adapted
by utilizing these media formats to distribute their
content while playing an ever more pervasive dominant role in setting the
agenda of major sports reporting and in framing the narratives, stories and
discussions of the day's
outcomes in sports.
[1] Kang, J.C. (2016, August
21). How do you tell a better story in
sports? The New York Times. Retrieved
from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/magazine/how-do-you-tell-a-better-story-in-sports.html
[2] Young, R. (2016, October 31). Russell Westbrook joins elite list with 2nd
triple-double in 3 games. ESPN. Retrieved from: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17931841/russell-westbrook-oklahoma-city-thunder-joins-elite-list-second-triple-double
[3] Entman, R. E. (1993).
Framing: toward clarification of a fractured
paradigm. Journal of Communication, 43(4),
52.
[4] Hladik, M. (2016, October27).
Skip Bayless thinks Russell Westbrook is going to win MVP. The Spun. Retrieved from http://thespun.com/nba/golden-state-warriors/skip-bayless-russell-westbrook-mvp-kevin-durant.
[5] Evensen, B. J. (1993). ‘Cave Man’ meets ‘Student
Champion’: Sports page storytelling for a nervous generation during America’s
Jazz Age. Journalism Quarterly, 70(4), 767-779.
[7] Tsuji, A. (2016, October 26). Jordan Brand drops
video of Russell Westbrook dancing like crazy to ‘Do What I Want’ before
opener. USA Today. Retrieved from: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/10/jordan-brand-russell-westbrook-do-what-i-want-dancing-smiles.
[8] Carson, D. (2016, October 26). Russell Westbrook
sends less than subtle message in 'Now I Do What I Want' Nike ad. FoxSports.com. Retrieved from: http://www.foxsports.com/nba/story/russell-westbrook-sends-less-than-subtle-message-in-now-i-do-what-i-want-nike-ad-102716
