Sports broadcasting changed in 1979 when a new cable television network called ESPN made its debut on September 7, 1979. Bill Rasmussen found ESPN after losing his job as communications director for the New England Whalers, who are now the Carolina Hurricanes (ESPN). ESPN was created as a 24-hour sports channel that had a nightly program. This nightly program was Sportscenter; which is a program that is still aired on ESPN today. Sportscenter …show more content…
The agenda-setting theory perspective as a mass media that has the ability to transfer the salience of issues on their news agenda to the public agenda definitely applies to sports broadcasting (Griffin 376). ESPN seems to use the agenda-setting theory as a part of their broadcast. ESPN provides their audience with full coverage on scores, news, highlights and they are able to watch games live. Due to ESPN being considered a leading sports voice they played a major role in perceptions. Opinions and decisions created by ESPN are considered to carry a great deal of weight in the minds of fans as well as the sports industry (Kischefsky 5). ESPN has to consider which stories are more important just like regular news and this is what would allow the agenda-setting theory to be very useful. Depending on the current season for certain sports the teams that are discussed and given the most coverage tend to change. Also, they have to consider what they highlight based on what fans will want to see more (Kischefsky