124263 KO Critical Media Analysis (2015S)

Sport functions as a popular past time activity that involves physical exercise in everyday life. Besides, it has also become a powerful driver of the global economy and a major source of identification. The sports industry and large sport events generate countless millions through sales, advertising and incomes for celebrity athletes, but they also play out notions of identity (nationality, gender, race, class) and belonging, especially via the media. Looking at sports advertisements, sports journalism and selected case studies from the Anglophone world, we will discuss contemporary, as much as historical, global and regional conjunctures and specificities that have helped sport become a powerful discourse deeply embedded in moments of consumption, production and representation.