Riley Cooper v.s. Mass Media
Over the years, sport and the mass
media have developed a more intertwined and in-depth relationship. In a
previous class that I have taken called ‘Sport in America’ provided me with the
background knowledge and awareness of this relationship between sport and the
mass media. Mass media has now many more outlets to provide information
compared to the past 10 years. And with
the development of technology and the invention of social media applications
this interdependent relationship has rapidly gotten closer.
I have chosen to examine the media
representation of Riley Cooper. The reason why I choose to further examine the
social problem of Riley Cooper and his use of racial slurs mainly because I was
unaware that this incident had even occurred. As for Richard Sherman’s, his
excited victory interview rocked the sports world and all forms of media
relations. In which I was intrigued to learn more about Riley Cooper actions
and how the ‘mass media’ framed his situation.
Oklahoma City’s Riley Cooper joined
the NFL as a wide receiver for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2010 (NFL, 2014). In June of 2013 Cooper attended a Kenny
Chesney concert in which during the concert he had a disagreement with an
African American security guard who denied him backstage access. Which then
lead Cooper who was intoxicated at the time to yell “I will jump that fence and
fight every nigger here bro.” Little did he know that his actions were caught
on video. This moment quickly went viral once the footage was released in which
the mass media had great amount of power chances in spreading this social
issue.
The term mass media refers to all
the technically organized means of communication that reach large numbers of
diverse people quickly and efficiently (Eitzen, 2009). Cooper’s situation was
documented in various forms of media, which include instant video footage of
the act; the use of social media applications were used to globally spread the
acts of Cooper as well as the televised apology press release. Once this video went viral, headlines labeled
Cooper a racists, a long with many disappointed phrases. Cooper actions not
only affected many of his teammates but the whole figuration he is involved in
such as his fans, African Americans, and the National Football league. With the season quickly approaching Cooper
needed to stay focused, in which he did having his best season of the year. He caught 41 passes, and his
743 receiving yards and seven touchdowns have surpassed the totals of his first
three seasons combined (Merrill, 2013).
These achievements soon put his rocky start to the season in the past
and his achievements took over the spot light. How was Cooper able to overcome
this issue so quickly?
By looking at this situation through a process
sociological lens many aspects can contribute to Cooper’s rise over adversity. I
will only focus on two aspects. First, that habitus behaviors created by the figuration
that winning and successful athletic performance will restore the player’s
identity (Maguire,1994). “But
Cooper's story is about more than redemption. It's about a team with strong
leadership. It's about forgiveness. It's about a young athlete who was
seemingly born with everything waking up one day and realizing he was on the
verge of winding up with nothing” (Merrill, 2013). This every statement leads directly into the
second reason as to why Cooper was able to overcome this adversity.
Cooper obtains a great source of power chances is due to
the fact that he has white male privileges (Johnson, 2010). He was born into a
world with specific set of social identities these at which predispose him to
an unequal role in the dynamic system of oppression (Harro, 2010). In this
situation Cooper’s choice of language reinforced the history of oppression
against African Americans. Cooper’s privileges did not however give him the
power chances to get rid of this video footage.
The media sources held the upper hand on this situation by having the
ability to control Cooper and monitor his actions in the future. Specifically,
news reporters had the opportunity to ask Cooper questions about his behavior
during his apology press release in which he provided more details about that
event. During this press release Cooper
was faced with a question which reinforce the his sense privileges which was,
if he had ever used this term before, and in his response he states, “ I don’t
use that word. I was raised better than
that. This isn’t person that I am ” This statement is very powerful which his
choice of language shows that he is puts himself at fault however he still
contains power.
Even though Cooper had one of the best seasons of his career
after the incident he still had to face the consequences of his actions. One short-term
consequence that Cooper faced was a fine for undisclosed dollar amount
(Merrill, 2013). Another short-term consequence that Cooper faced was confutation
with teammates because of his use of derogatory terms. This consequence can
also have long-term effects as well. For instance in short- term with season
that was about two and half months away the Cooper effected the teammates
camaraderie and trust ability however in long-term this is an issue that could have
potentially ruined the entire teams dynamics throughout the season. Another long-term consequences that Cooper
will endure are the disappointment from his fans. He may have gained some of
their support back during the season however many people in Cooper’s figuration
were truly disappointed in what they saw.
After
gaining more background knowledge I found it very interesting how the mass
media portrayed Riley Cooper and his actions. From my understanding Cooper
situation was swept under the rug once season began allowing him the privilege
to play football. In all other cases for example Richard Sherman an African
American the mass media portray him as this “thug” who can not control his
temper. Which reinfornces the cultural stereotypes the figuration created.
References:
Eitzen, D.S & Sage, G.H (2009) Sociology
of North American Sport. Boulder, Paradigm publishers: Chapter 11
Harro, B (2010). The cycle of socialization. In Adams, M; Blumenfeld, W; Castaneda, C;
Hackman, H; Peters, M & Zuniga, X. (Eds.) (2010). Readings
for Diversity & Social Justice (2nd Ed.). New York: Routledge, pp 45-51
Johnson, A (2010). The social construction of difference. In Adams, M; Blumenfeld, W; Castaneda, C;
Hackman, H; Peters, M & Zuniga, X. (Eds.) (2010). Readings
for Diversity & Social Justice (2nd Ed.). New York: Routledge, pp 16-20
Maguire, J.
(1994). Figurations, power, civilizing processes. In Jarvie, G &
Maguire, J (1994). Sport & Leisure in Social Thought.
London: Routledge. Pp 130-137
Merrill, E. (2013). Hot Read: How Riley Cooper put Slur in Past. ESPN,NFL.
NFL.
(2014). Philadelphia Eagles 2013 Roster Bios.
http://www.nfl.com/player/rileycooper/497282/profile
Just goes to show that the sport culture makes these athletes believe they can get what ever and do what ever they want! One minute you're a hero on cloud 9 and the next you're a villain for doing something you do every day without being questioned!
ReplyDeleteEvie
Exactly! While I was writing this blog, in my mind I kept comparing Richard Sherman vs. Riley Cooper and the biggest difference between the two is their skin color and how the media the frames their actions. It is so unbelievable. Also I found it very interesting as well that the Eagle reached out to Harry Edwards to help address the consequences for Cooper. With a recent injury on the team Cooper was the next person to fill that position. Cooper needed to make amends quickly which I think is another reason why this issue was not in the public eye as much as Richard Sherman's case.
ReplyDeleteYour strongest blog yet Kort- you apply a prosoc lens effectively and draw attention to some of the core issues at hand. Great job!
ReplyDelete