This article examines ESPN's commentary during the WNBA playoffs, revealing how racial narratives engage audiences, suggesting implications for sports media dynamics.
As the 2024 Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA) season drew record viewership, it also became a site of intense media discourse about race, racism, and rivalry. This article examines ESPN’s broadcast commentary during the 2024 WNBA playoffs, a period marked by heightened racial harassment of players, to explore how, under economic and political constraints, sports broadcasters enlist engaged audiences as co-authors of meaning. I theorize this rhetorical practice as co-framing —a process through which broadcasters invite and incorporate audience engagement in narrating conflict, rivalry, and controversy. Through close analysis of broadcast discourse, this study demonstrates how racial conflict is rendered legible as entertainment and how narratives surrounding gender, race, and responsibility are negotiated, amplified, or muted. By tracing these dynamics, this research contributes to ongoing debates about power, agency, and authority in an evolving sports media ecosystem.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Zoe Tzanis (2026) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: