Tsahi Hayat, Tal Samuel-Azran and Yair Galily
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to analyses of the sport-politics nexus by identifying whether the demographics of Twitter followers of Al-Jazeera Sport in the USA…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to analyses of the sport-politics nexus by identifying whether the demographics of Twitter followers of Al-Jazeera Sport in the USA (rebranded in 2014 as beIN USA) can be associated with a specific political orientation.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on selective exposure theory, which posits that people follow news sources that reinforce their existing views, the authors identify the news outlets followed by beIN Twitter followers. To put the findings in perspective, the authors compared the results to the news outlets followed by the Twitter followers of Al-Jazeera America, Al-Jazeera’s second US outlet. Next, to understand the nature of the beIN and Al-Jazeera America communities, the authors used social network analysis to analyze the distribution of retweets within these communities.
Findings
The analysis shows that whereas Al-Jazeera America Twitter followers follow significantly more liberal than conservative news outlets, beIN’s followers were not identified with a specific political orientation. Analysis of beIN’s followers’ retweets shows a greater degree of connectivity among beIN’s followers than among the followers of Al-Jazeera America, indicating a more connected social network.
Research limitations/implications
Findings indicate that beIN’s Twitter following is characterized by more diverse and more strongly connected audience than Al-Jazeera America on Twitter, highlighting sports as a non-politicized realm on Twitter.
Practical implications
For practitioners, the study illustrates that controversial non-western media networks such as Al-Jazeera can gain access to diverse populations in the West by operating in the sport realm rather than the news realm.
Originality/value
This study offers a pioneering indication of the extent of a sport-ethnocentrism nexus on Twitter.
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Yair Galily, Tal Laor and Tal Samuel-Azran
Despite the ability of podcasts to bring free quality content to the masses, studies found that podcast consumption have been identified mostly with the elite class, thus…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite the ability of podcasts to bring free quality content to the masses, studies found that podcast consumption have been identified mostly with the elite class, thus increasing knowledge gaps and digital divides. This study aims to examine whether this trend extends to non-elitist podcast genres by providing the first analysis of sport podcast demographics and uses and gratifications.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted among Israel’s three most popular sport podcast listeners (N = 503), examining the listeners’ demographics, consumption patterns and uses and gratifications driving them to listen to the podcast.
Findings
The analysis reveals that most listeners are secular millennials males with above average income, highlighting the elitist nature of sport podcast consumers. The analysis further revealed that information-rich groups were more likely to tune in for information acquisition whereas other groups used it more for entertainment and escapist purposes.
Practical implications
For policy makers and educators who wish to promote podcast-based initiatives to narrow social gaps, the analysis strengthens the notion that the podcast platform mostly attracts those who are already information rich and thus increase knowledge gaps and digital divides. For sport broadcasters, the analysis illuminates sport podcasts audiences’ demographics and their uses of the platform.
Social implications
The study reflects that the podcast platform is identified with elitist listening even in non-elitist genres; thus it further increases the already wide knowledge gap and digital divides promoted by the advent of the podcast platform.
Originality/value
The study is the first to highlight the elitist nature of sport podcast listeners’ demographics, indicating that the podcast platform increases the knowledge gap also even across non-elitist content genres such as sport content.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-12-2021-0684
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Yair Galily, Michael J. Leitner and Pini Shimion
– The purpose of this paper is to fill in a gap in the research literature on the subject of evaluation of coexistence programs.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to fill in a gap in the research literature on the subject of evaluation of coexistence programs.
Design/methodology/approach
Three separate research studies on the effects of joint sports programs on attitudes of Arabs and Jews toward each other were conducted from September 2011 to June 2012. Pretests and posttests were administered to participants in three sports programs involving Arabs and Jews: The Friendship Games, Mifalot's.
Findings
While pretests suggest that a great deal of hatred and lack of trust exists among Palestinians, Jordanians, and Israelis, according to the posttest results, by simply playing sports together, feelings of hatred can be greatly reduced and feelings of trust can be enhanced.
Research limitations/implications
The research limitations included the need to shorten the questionnaire in order to encourage the youth to complete it, and the lack of control groups for the Friendship Games and Peres Center studies. More research is needed on this topic, as well as qualitative research to gain more insight into attitude changes.
Practical implications
The most important practical implication of the research is that conflict mitigation through sports programs and activities should be expanded in order to reach more people. The positive attitude changes found as a result of participation in the programs indicates that these joint sports programs really can promote better relations and if they are expanded to reach more people, the effects will be greater.
Originality/value
The originality/value of this study is great, as there has been almost no prior research which actually measured the effects on attitudes of youth of participation in integrated sports programs with Arabs and Jews.
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Yair Galily, Fany Yuval and Michael Bar‐Eli
Local authorities around the world provide different forms and different amounts of direct and/or indirect assistance to professional sport teams, which in most cases are owned by…
Abstract
Purpose
Local authorities around the world provide different forms and different amounts of direct and/or indirect assistance to professional sport teams, which in most cases are owned by private business entrepreneurs. Findings from various studies indicate that professional sports teams do not make a significant contribution to a city in terms of its economy, tourism or even image. The purpose of this paper is to explore and question, from a local public policy standpoint, the justification for financial assistance from the local authority to privately owned professional sports teams that provide a public service or a public good.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to shed light on the process, a two‐staged study was used: an examination of the financial subsidies of ten cities in Israel, focusing in particular on Herzliya, an affluent community north of Tel Aviv. In the second stage, a representative sample of Herzliya's adult residents (18 years old and above) was surveyed with regard to the city's current policy on sports and the policy they would like to see enacted.
Findings
The findings show that both public officials and professional sports officials place subsidizing popular sports rather than professional sports higher on their priorities. The study concludes that the combination of a number of processes has brought about a democratic deficit.
Originality/value
Lack of transparency and the exclusion of the public in decision making processes has led to a democratic deficit in the local authorities. Once it was armed with empirical information and included in the decision making process, the public was able to reallocate the budget to meet its needs.
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Yair Galily, Ilan Tamir, Yoav Meckel and Alon Eliakim
In spite of the fact that the health, mental, and educational benefits of physical activity are well documented, information is still lacking regarding the physical activity…
Abstract
Purpose
In spite of the fact that the health, mental, and educational benefits of physical activity are well documented, information is still lacking regarding the physical activity patterns in Israeli society. The purpose of the present study is to shed light on the changes of physical activity practices between the years 1992‐2008 and to analyze the main reasons for such changes.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted among 501 adults (ages 18‐69) representing the Jewish Hebrew‐speaking population of Israel.
Findings
The percentage of Israelis who engaged in physical activity more than doubled between 1992 and 2008. Almost 56 percent of Israelis took part in some activity on a regular basis in 2008.
Originality/value
This investigation of some of these factors uncovers a cultural transformation as well as demographic, global, and cognitive processes, all of which affected and reflected upon physical activity in Israeli society during that period.
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Robert J. Schinke, Kerry R. McGannon, Jack Watson and Rebecca Busanich
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the authors own assumptions made as academics using two examples from a research project with an Aboriginal community. The first…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the authors own assumptions made as academics using two examples from a research project with an Aboriginal community. The first attempt features a project that silenced the community. Later work engaged the community through tenets of community-based participatory research (CBPR) and a sport development project (SDP).
Design/methodology/approach
This project explores a shift from a mainstream qualitative approach steeped in post-positivism to a de-colonizing methodology which opened up a space for a SDP.
Findings
Mainstream research methodologies tend to silence marginalized communities and overlook local cultural practices. Effective community programming requires extensive consultation, and an approach that centralizes local voices.
Research limitations/implications
Current understandings are limited to one Aboriginal Reserve.
Practical implications
Recommendations are proposed concerning how researchers might embark on practices that support the reversal of colonization and improve relations among people from two cultures previously in conflict. SDP initiatives and applied sport research grounded in CBPR are proposed as conduits to bettering relations among cultures in conflict.
Originality/value
The reader is provided with an example of how to attain goals of SDP at the local level through cultural praxis and a CBPR methodology.
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Peace promotion can include culturally relevant community programming. Some agencies have used sports such as football, for example, as a vehicle for fostering social development…
Abstract
Purpose
Peace promotion can include culturally relevant community programming. Some agencies have used sports such as football, for example, as a vehicle for fostering social development in fractured societies. This paper explores a football project implemented in Beslan, Russia following a 2004 terrorist attack. The purpose of this paper is to examine the approach adopted and the appropriateness of using football as a tool to promote peace amongst survivors of terrorism. It also focuses on the wider impact and significance of projects in comparable contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
This qualitative work examines interview data obtained from eight UK-based staff and two Russian project translators. Each British interviewee also participated in a focus group with their colleagues, which is explored here also.
Findings
Football-based interventions can have beneficial outcomes in certain conditions. It is important to consider contextual nuances, the degree of cultural significance and the various necessary conditions. The use of sport for peace promotion and other forms of social involvement are reliant on a variety of components, including the design and implementation of projects and the quality of staff, together with several environmental, logistical, relational and socio-political factors.
Originality/value
Despite the increase in sport-for-development initiatives, meaningful research in this context is lacking. This is particularly the case in relation to peace promotion. This paper addresses a variety of challenges, approaches and outcomes associated with such projects. This work is uniquely positioned, analysing a neglected political context; it deliberately examines an atypical, exploratory, problematic initiative executed in a dangerous environment and addresses many of the questions posed through such work.
The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement (GFA) through the lens of sport, particularly football, and with reference…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the implications of the Northern Ireland Good Friday Agreement (GFA) through the lens of sport, particularly football, and with reference to theoretical literature on peace-making processes.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is structured in such a way as to review theoretical literature, to consider the nature of the Northern Ireland problem and its implications for sport, to critique the current settlement and to demonstrate its failings using sport as an exemplar. The methods used are a critical review of relevant literature combined with reflections on the author's own involvement in sport and community relations.
Findings
The paper argues that the GFA has resulted in a consociational “solution” to the Northern Ireland problem. The example of sport, and especially the standing of the Northern Ireland football team, indicates that such a settlement fails to address the central problem of two divided communities with different political aspirations and attitudes towards national identity.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis is limited to the extent that it adopts an essentially top down approach. The findings deserve to be confirmed (or indeed refuted) at some future point by a gathering data from football fans and others. However, the implications are that the terms of the GFA should be revisited in the light of evidence of the failings of the current settlement not only as found in this paper but based on recent political developments.
Practical implications
The Irish Football Association has to address the perception that appears prevalent amongst some Catholic players that they are not wanted by the national association. Politicians need to renew their efforts to create greater mutual understanding instead of fooling themselves that so long as they can talk to each other, the communities they represent will remain peaceful.
Originality/value
I doubt if any academic author has had the same degree of involvement in relation to the role of sport in the Northern Ireland peace process. What gives the paper its particular value, however, is the fact that it is probably unique in looking at sport in Northern Ireland with specific reference to political science peace-making literature.