invitation to review article about Washington Redskins controversy

 Based on my earlier publication, I was invited to review for The International Journal of Press/Politics --very cool!!

Howard Journal of Communications

The Effects of Involvement in Sports on

Attitudes Toward Native American Sport

Mascots

Mary Jiang Bresnahan a & Kelly Flowers b

a Department of Communication, Michigan State University, East

Lansing, Michigan, USA

b Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of

Florida, Gainesville, Florida, USA

Published online: 06 May 2008.

Burying the Hatchet? Elite Influence and Public Opinion on the Washington

Redskins Controversy

Journal: The International Journal of Press/Politics

Abstract

In 2013, a number of prominent political and media elites called on the

Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder to change his team’s name

arguing that the term “Redskins” is not only offensive to Native Americans,

but is a relic of a bygone era of racial intolerance. Does exposure to elite

rhetoric on this issue influence public opinion? In answering this question,

we employ a survey experiment in which a panel of respondents was

randomly assigned to read a fictitious USA Today article detailing the

opposition of President Obama, Bob Costas, or Senator Marco Rubio to the

team’s name and subsequently asked their opinions on the team’s

name. We find that exposure to elite messages on this issue leads

respondents to more strongly support a name change and to more clearly

view the term “Redskins” as offensive. Our results further the scholarship

on public opinion concerning Native American mascots and suggests the

conditions in which the barriers to change in sporting institutions may

change.