Mission Statement
Right Sports – Writing about Ethics in the World of Sports
Sports is entertainment. Sports is news. It is one of the biggest businesses in America, and it quite frankly could be the most popular field. Billions of people every day devote parts of their lives to sports. With an endless fan base, it is an area in which needs better coverage outside of the box score. The purpose of this blog would be to cover issues regarding sports in a perspective focusing on legal issues and moral principles.
The blog can be a place that fans go to read about sports without statistics. The features will take the biggest headlines and break it down to the average citizen. A Professional Athlete is one that many wish they can trade places with. By taking the issues regarding ethics and moral codes from some of the world’s most well-known individuals, a fan would be able to read to understand the economical and sociological effects caused by the acts their idols committed. The content will basically form a sporting news column, in which emphasizes away from games, winners and losers.
Stories will focus on headlines outside of the arena. Instead of analyzing what went on the courts, articles will be on issues being taken to court. This blog will provide readers with the opportunity to be informed about the violations being made by professional athletes, whether it be legal or moral. The blog posts’ will be simplified so any sports fanatic will be able to understand the issues going on. They will gain insight onto how the smallest of crimes can impact the largest parts of society.
Some of the biggest legal and ethical issues- include what is good sportsmanship? What can be considered cheating in sports, and why is it allowed? The matter of performance enhancing drugs and the impacts it has had both in the present and past. The economics of sports pertaining to high salaries, salary caps, and sales. And lastly the presently most headlined issue of domestic violence.
In order to provide the insight needed for creating such posts, professionals working in the field of sports and experts on various topics will be sought after. Being located in the local New York City provides an advantage, as league offices for all of the Major Sports are within the city. Also info can be obtained on basic law and moral principles by speaking to law professors. Advice from Psychology professors can also assist when it comes to learning about issues such as domestic violence. Lastly, another source would be college athletes and coaches themselves. Being apart of the sports atmosphere already, they will be able to provide opinions on areas that very well relate to themselves.
The target audience will be to all fans, but in particular to adult males, within an age range of 18-35. This range is the common age of both professional athletes and their supporters. A 23 year old male will be able to read about another 23 year old who had the golden ticket, but then ruined his career by doing something dumb. Besides covering how violations impact media and society, the posts’ will provide insight comparisons to their target audiences in hopes that they can prevent doing similar ethically and morally wrong issues.
There is a need for this blog because traditionally Sports coverage is mainly on what went on during an event. As a society now, we are going through a lot of changes with sports being so popular. Kids from all backgrounds and ages, can tell you who their favorite stars are in the NFL, NBA, and MLB. Most adults in fact have a favorite sports team or player in which they follow daily. Billions of dollars are spent every year on sports, and the truth is athletes are human beings too and they make mistakes. But the main difference is when they mess up it is brought to light and everyone is aware of it. This blog is needed because fans deserve the right to know what is right from wrong. They need to fully understand and grasp the impacts and effects, so that they can inform others especially the youth.
Content on this blog will be mainly features on what legal issues, ethical issues, and media laws were violated by someone or something pertaining to sports. This year alone there has been so many matters that have occurred and they simply get forgotten when another instance happens. The main intention of this blog is to take the violated principles and provide content that comprehends onto why these things should not take place in our society, nevertheless take place in front of the eyes of billions of viewers. Suggestion pieces can also be made to implement how to better our top sport organizations.
The fact that this blog will be based on law and codes, asides from facts itself will set this blog away from others. Most Sport Blogs cover team/player updates and news, this blog can take that news and comprehend it to society to create awareness. With sports being such a broad topic, it is necessary being informed about ethically issues going on.
News coverage regarding sports is something that can be found in practically every outlet. Whether it be newspapers or online, there will be content covering similar topics. Although the focus of many Sporting News sources isn’t ethics, there is articles published about this. Ethics is something in which should get its own coverage and this blog would be able to provide that.
The blog site- youkantbeserious.com, is one that is similar in idea. But it lacks content and updated info. The blog is created on the emphasis of controversy in sports, which in fact is related to the ethics of sports. Another similar blog is sportsethicist.com, and it is run by college professor. His blog seems to run on a similar basis in idea, but it too can go quite some time without updates. Every single day there is a sporting event, and almost every day an ethical issue can arise. This blog intents on staying on top of all of them whether it be too big or too small.
Editorial Plan
Types of Content:
-Headlines (Moral Alerts): These will be brief posts updating on daily events.
-At least twice daily
-Features (Bad Behaviors): These posts’ within the blog will all follow a consistent format. They will all be of similar length at about 5-10 paragraphs. The main focus of the blog would be to take the coverage of events within the sporting world, and highlight the issues relating to ethics that occur. Occasionally there will be some Q&A’s from the various interviewees, but the bulk of the content will depend on knowledge gained through different experts.
-1 to 2 weekly
-Web & Social Media Rehashed: These posts’ will be an analysis of what the internet is saying regarding relating issues in a multimedia format. They will contain a run-through of what the top news organizations are saying in their posts.
-1 to 2 weekly
-Real life Comparisons (Same Sneakers): These will be the lengthy features that detail an in-depth summary of moral/ethical issues in sports. The best part is that these articles will be focused on informing the reader on why the athlete wasn’t right. They will learn of the impacts left on society by the actions of what goes on regarding sports.
-Once a week
Frequency of a Post:
-Ideally I would like to post onto the blog daily with the headlines being a sort of a status update. Sporting events whether it be in America or the rest of the world take place every day. Almost daily there is an ethical issue that arises. For the main posts I feel like it would be a good idea to split them up half and half for the beginning and ends of the week. This way content will be fresh in a matter of days.
Creating a Post:
Headline: About a minute
Feature: Less than 2 hours
Web & Social Media Rehashed: 2-3 hours
Comparisons: 2-3 hours
Ideas:
. Sportsmanship
. Cheating
. Drugs
. Domestic Violence
. Economics
List of People to Interview:
– College Professors at Baruch College
. Law Department
. Psychology Department
– National Football League Compliance and Ethics Headline
. Provides assistance for ethical activities happening in the League
– Matthew Gould
.Vice President of Corporate Communications for MLB Advanced Media
– NFL/NBA League Office’s located in NYC
– College Coaches/ Athletes at St. Johns & Rutgers
– High School/ Little League Coaches