WNBA All-Star gets honest about media coverage

The media has moved forward in many ways since the rise of women’s basketball, both collegiately and professionally. And while we’ve stopped to ask these athletes how they feel about all this sudden attention on them, we haven’t asked the players how they feel about the coverage.

Obviously, it’s not the players’ job to dictate what the media does and doesn’t cover. At the same time, they have the unique vantage point of seeing how the league has been covered now and in the past. In the process , some of the original media outlets — the legacy media — that championed women’s basketball have been sidelined.

So, The Athletic’s Zena Keita deftly asked Seattle Storm All-Star Nneka Ogwumike how the media can improve its coverage of the WNBA . Since she’s a veteran player and influential leader in the WNBA and the fact that her younger sister, Chiney , is a rising star at ESPN, Ogwumike is uniquely qualified to answer that question and do so with intellect and grace.

And in doing so, she stressed the significance of relying on veteran WNBA media professionals and ensuring a variety of perspectives in coverage.

“I love this question. I mean, I think that there’s different groups when it comes to media. I think that we have OGs,” she said. “Y’all know who you are; you were there from the beginning. And I think I’m always kind of careful about using the word ‘gatekeeping.’ I definitely think that it is important for people to have a gateway into things while still understanding the history.

“I think that the OG media can do a really good job of leading that way, letting people know, ‘Hey, this is how it used to be; this is where it is now. These are the stories that have been told over and over again. These are the stories that need to be told.’ And I think all of the media that’s coming in — I mentioned it earlier during the scrum — I can understand, and I even witness a lot of the [OG] media now getting elbowed out by bigger entities that are just here because they feel like it’s hot.

“But we have people that have been not only around for a really long time but have taken women’s sports seriously for a very long time. And we have people who are very interested in women’s sports and maybe didn’t know how to get in. I feel like with the media, giving grace to yourself no matter where you land on the spectrum while everyone is still having the same perspective of moving this forward.

“We go where everyone goes. Yeah, we wouldn’t have the games without the players, but they wouldn’t know us without you telling our stories. And so, I think it’s very important for us to maintain the level of diversity and collaboration as we see this grow from all corners and all aspects of what we all love the same way.”

[ The Athletic , Women Hooping on YouTube]

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