Ice Cold Rant: Sports media is not only male dominated anymore, help the females

Throughout my short media career, I experienced over the last couple of years, several things that irritate me more than anything.  As a young male in the profession, many people eagerly help because they know they were in my position many years ago.

However, the people who do not receive help are the young females trying to make it in the business.

Some media professionals seem they aren’t taking young females seriously while at an event. They live in the past when only males controlled the sports media realm.

Females receive a bad reputation based on select female reporters “hooking up” with professional athletes. In hockey, the “puck bunny” status is automatically placed on every girl in media.

I was privileged to work alongside some great females in the industry and the fact that they have to work twice as hard to gain shred of good reputation is beyond me.

Certain players (especially in Junior) do not aid the females reputation by attempting to take them out (among other things); usually done through social networking –without even meeting them.

Females work twice as hard to only get half as far seems ridiculous.

Many women embrace more talent and more desire in their position than many men in the field, yet they can not seem to push ahead because their reputation is always at risk.

If watched when talking to a player off camera, questions arise about their professionalism simply for talking to that player.

It’s obvious it is a double standard and unwarranted for many of the females in media.  Lay the blame on the select females who actually flirt with a player for inside information, or done worse things with pictures and stories somehow leaking to the media.

With stories like Brett Favre and Ron Artest leaking through the media, about them showing their “stuff,” just adds a reason for people to question the validity of a female reporting and sports.

However, it all falls on the athlete which many people do not think about.  It is always the athlete initiating things and because they are a professional athlete (or on the verge of becoming one), it is overlooked. The blame falls on the media, they should be “more professional”.

Athletes are role models, why don’t they exhibit it?

Female media members deserve the same amount of respect as males in the sports media industry. They overcome more obstacles than a male, especially when dealing with hockey.

It is the “puck bunny” mentality held by players and males in the media that ruin female reporter’s reputations, not the female herself.