Taking a case study and a framing approach, this contribution analyses how media, fans and wider audiences negotiate ‘the rise after the fall’ of a celebrity sport star by means of a framing analysis of online media coverage of and audience reactions to Tiger Wood’s 2019 Master’s victory. One of the best-paid athletes of all time, Tiger Woods saw a hard-earned career as the world’s top golfer undermined by age, injury, and a sex scandal that boosted his celebrity status, but turned his fame into infamy. As earlier research suggests (authors, 2013), at the time of the scandal, media and (part of) the audiences were eager to vilify Woods while taking the moral high ground. This study takes the recent return of Woods to his old top form as an inroad to analyse the intricate relationship between various aspects of a sport star’s achievements and celebrity persona.
Empirically, this contribution employs a qualitative, inductive framing approach to analyze a sample of online coverage and reactions to Tiger Woods winning his fifth Master’s title in mid-April 2019. We collect all articles and audience reactions to these articles for the month of April from a range of mainstream (ESPN) and gossip (TMZ, Barstool) sports websites.
The analysis is ongoing. However, results will elaborate on the way in which media frame Tiger Woods current success both in relationship to his history as an athlete and as a (scandal-ridden) celebrity, and how audiences decode and discuss these frames. It will compare current frames to those found at the time of his rise as top athlete and of his sex scandal. It will compare media frames to audience framing and investigate differences between various types of media outlets. In the final analysis, we want to understand the strong relationship between sports and celebrity.
About the presentersHilde Van den Bulck
I am a professor of Communication Studies and Head of the Department of Communication at Drexel University. I combine complementary expertise in media policy and structures focusing on public media and how legacy media deal with a digitising converging media ecosystem, with expertise in media culture and identity, focusing on the role of mediated communication in celebrity culture, especially celebrity activism and philanthropy.
Abigail M Haas
Hi! My name is Abbey, and I am currently an undergraduate student studying at Drexel University. Some of my interests and passions revolve around literature, art, culture, and the environment! I am on the Public Relations track with two minors in French and Environmental Science.