Interview Project:

w/ Katie Conklin

Kody Carlson & Sam Kaplan

SM 436: Race Relations, Cultural Images, and Sport

Meet Katie Conklin!

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• Event Content & Presentation Coordinator

(Dec 2018 - Present)

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• Event Strategy Coordinator (May 2018 - Dec 2018)

• Class of 2018 (Bachelor’s of Arts)
• Sport Management major &

Creative Writing minor

• Delta Gamma Fraternity
• Michigan Sports Business Association

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• SM Alumni Student Mentor Program

Katie’s Roadmap

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Michigan Football

Sports Information Intern

Sep 2015 - May 2018

Executive Producer, Wolverine Women

Oct 2015 - May 2018

Community Relations Intern

Jul 2017 - Aug 2017

Sports Writer

Jan 2015 - Apr 2018

Digital Production

Runner - Rio Olympics

July 2016 - Aug 2016

Event Content and

Communications Coordinator

Dec 2018 - Present

Bachelor’s of Arts

Graduated in May 2018

Topics Inspired by Katie

(Course Concepts)

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Workplace Culture For Women

How diversity & positive workplace cultures vary from team to team

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Diversity & Organizational Leadership

How a diverse leadership group leads to a better work culture for women like Katie

Historical Barriers For Female Journalists

The timeline for the barriers of opportunity for female students at the Michigan Daily

Access To Watch Female Sports

Why it is difficult to find female sporting events on TV

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Ideas To Be Covered

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Katie’s

Experience

“My experience has been positive”

entered the workforce…

“after the culture shift”

What has lead to a culture change?

Does your positive experience reflect the entire female workforce?

Historical barriers for Female Journalists

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• Katie was a sports writer at the Michigan Daily from January 2015 to April 2018
• She covered football, men's basketball, women's basketball, men’s ice hockey, women’s Lacrosse and more
• She developed relationships with staff members and players
• was well respected by various members of the athletic department

Timeline

After the 1980’s

• Women were finally allowed to write for the paper
• They were never assigned to football
• It was assumed they don’t know enough about the game based off stereotypes and prejudice

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Before the 1980s

• Michigan Daily was founded in 1890
• No female writers until the late 1980s
• Women were not given equal access to opportunities
• “women’s work” or “acceptable sexism.”

Present Day

• More opportunities for women in sports journalism/media
• Women are assigned to various sports/teams including football
• Still evidence of gender discrimination and bias in the media

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• WOLV TV, the student run television network
• Katie was an executive producer for Wolverine Women
• Wolverine Women is a female run sports talks show
• The show features interviews with student athletes as well as analysis on all things in professional and collegiate sports

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• Discrimination and prejudice against their opinions was evident and the legitimacy of their analysis was questioned
• People did not believe that they had a genuine understanding of the game
• Women in journalism are looking to be taken seriously
• Katie and her team vowed to defy the stereotypes and thought about what they could do to set themselves apart

Evidence of the barriers for female journalists

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Lack of Access to watch female sports

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NBC Sports

• Katie was with NBC Sports from June 2016 to August 2016
• She served as a digital production runner during the 2016 Rio Olympics
• The team she worked with was typically male dominated
• She worked for a female boss, and was able to work her way up in the department

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Why is it difficult to find female sports on television?

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Why is it difficult to find female sports on tv?

• Lower technical quality and production value
• Oversaturated markets make the growth of women's sports more difficult
• Hypocritical arguments against growth have been made
• Women’s sports coverage has not increased in the last 30 years

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The appetite for professional female sports is there, the accessibility is not.

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Diversity in Leadership creates a positive workplace Culture

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THE NFL’s POSITIVE WORKPLACE Culture

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Katie’s POV

Events team: mostly women

Department: “bit of a boy’s club”

• Loves her team
• Value inclusion & diversity
• Phenomenal leadership
• Hard working/goal oriented
• Encourages all ideas

“What makes a positive work culture?”

• Organizational Leadership

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• Establishing clear values
• Selective Hiring
• Equal Opportunity
• Listen, not try to understand
• Promote change

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Diversity Matrix

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NFL Executive and Senior Vice Presidents

In 2014..

• 23/23 were men
• 20/23 were white

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Mission Statement:

The NFL family, in partnership with players, clubs, owners, and the Players Coalition, works to create positive change in communities across the country and ensure that equal opportunity becomes a reality for all.

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“Sets an example for the

rest of the league for…”

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Workplace Culture

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Social/community impact

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Organizational Leadership

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Equal Opportunity

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Impact of Change

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Other Teams Responding

Then Why Does This Happen?

Coaches are hired to win as a team of men

• b/c there are no female players, they think they are safe from sexism

Did not move on from past negative workplace practices

• Hiring women in recent years doesn’t mean behavior has changed

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Its because...

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Organizational Leadership fails (opportunity, culture, etc)

Threatens the male-dominated workplace culture

Media has unearthed severe bias of NFL ownership

NBC Sports: “media has the power to change”

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(Bad eggs are being unearthed)

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“We are at a time where…”

• derogatory behavior is unacceptable in the public eye
• Its tolerated depending on the specific organization

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• We see platforms for support against toxic behavior…
• however job security creates fear to say something

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Concluding thoughts

Diversity + Leadership =

• better work culture
• more opportunity for women
• safer workplace for women

Beginning of “culture shift”

• Behavior varies between teams

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The networks have the power to make change

• Better accessibility for female sports
• Higher production value

barriers for female journalists

• pushing back against norms
• Seeing is believing

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Women in sports media deserve respect

• Eliminating bias
• mitigating the impact of gender bias

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Thank You

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