The purpose of the study was to survey the role of TV sports programs in permeate of ethical values in Iranian national athlete women. The Methodology was descriptive and survey with field data gathering. The population was national women athletes in Iran which select 97 samples by accessible way from individual and group discipline include “Taekwondo, Shooting, Boating, Kabbedi, and others”. Data gathered by a questionnaire which preparing by researchers and improved validity and reliability. Results by one-sample t-test showed there is a significant effect from TV sports programs in permeates of ethical values and their components as “cultural, economic, religious, politic and social” by the view of women athlete. Also, the results of the Friedman test showed the most effect belongs to social component (3.83 means), cultural component (3.42) and political component (3.22). The suggestion from findings was to review TV sports programs in order to improve the content for the development of ethical values in Iranian national women athletes.
Keywords: TV sports programs, Ethical values, National athlete women, Cultural value, Social value, Political values.
Received: 21 January 2021 / Revised: 16 February 2021 / Accepted: 12 March 2021/ Published: 1 April 2021
The purpose of the study was to survey the role of TV sports programs in permeate of ethical values in Iranian national athlete women.
Today, values are considered as a guiding principle for living in a society or maintaining social relationships (Shah, 2017). Numerous studies have confirmed the role of media in various phenomena and their various components. Most of these cases are supported by media-based theories and especially the theory of highlighting (Ghasemi, Ghareh, Hosseini, & Shajieh, 2017). For example, some researches has shown that in a phenomenon such as sports, the media have an effective role in attracting financial resources and the types of behavior of sports organizations and their growth in society (Khodadadi, Dehghanpouri, & Saderioskoyi, 2019). For example, research has shown that in a phenomenon such as sport, the media have an effective role in attracting financial resources and the types of behavior of sport organizations and their growth in society (Khodadadi et al., 2019).
Ethical values have a set of moral values and principles that are applied in components such as ‘social and cultural’ in behaviors. Ethical values determine the right and wrong behavior of an individual or group. Standards that determine good or bad in guidance and decision making (Paknejad, 2015). In other words, moral values are the rules and principles that human beings apply in life and regulate their behavior towards each other. Moral human values are a group of moral qualities and merits that are required to be observed by the practical intellect of every human being. Moral values are the understanding of what should be and are composed of individual beliefs, thoughts and aspirations (Abedeni, Ghasemi, & Sabounchi, 2020). In the field of moral growth and its measurement, theories of social behaviorism based on the growth perspectives of Piaget, Kulberg, and Bandura's moral judgment are considered by experts. The theoretical foundations and content structure of these views emphasize on moral judgment and learning the laws and social relations of life that affect the social development of the individual (Lotfabadi, 2005). In Rabbani and Shahabi (2011) research, moral values were introduced in the components of ‘social, economic, political, cultural and religious values’. Many scholars have tried hard to identify the factors affecting the ignorance of values and the occurrence of deviations in society, which is one of the effective and useful tools in this field, ‘mass media’ (Abedeni et al., 2020).
Mass media is one of the basic tools for studying social issues, information, education and a very effective factor in the formation of social values (Keshkar, Kargar, & Khorshidi, 2011). Today, mass media encompasses a variety of communication technologies, including newspapers, radio, television, film, and the Internet, which offer a variety of content on ‘social, political, news, and entertainment’ issues on a scale vastly overwhelming (Shah, 2017). Therefore, the media is an important component of communication. Proper selection and use of media has an important role in achieving the goals of mass communication (Ghasemi & Rasekh, 2020).
Different and contradictory attitudes have been expressed about the extent and manner of the influence of the mass media. From attitudes that have a perfect effect on communication messages and consider the audience as a passive and accepting element (media- centered theories) to views that give the main role to the audience and their needs for choosing and accepting an influence from mass media (audience-centered theories). But realistically, it must be acknowledged that the extent and manner of the impact of communication messages depends on various elements and events in the communication process, and any judgment in this regard should be wary of a static and one-sided attitude. Theories with the approach of influencing the mass media can be studied by different paradigm (Ghasemi et al., 2017). In this study, the ‘Agenda Setting Theory’ as one of the ‘media- centered theory’ was considered. According to this theory, the media influences people's information and makes them think by highlighting issues. Robert Ezra Park emphasized that the media influences the view and speech of the audience by prioritizing news content. He considered a direct relationship between the mass media and public opinion. Park mentioned that mass media to select important information and issues of society to be raised and discussed in order to influence the people and their decisions (Azari, 2006; Niroomand & Latefi, 2017). Gatekeeping behind the scenes decide on the choice and priority of news. In fact, the concept of highlighting is very closely related to the concept of gatekeeping. Some other theorists also emphasized the ‘Agenda Setting Theory’ by emphasizing the role of the media in magnifying and prioritizing certain issues and influencing people's priorities (Gill & Adams, 1998). With this approach, specific groups can be surveyed regarding the role of specific media in highlighting or influencing various cultural areas, including ethics, and their responses can be studied. Inequalities in media coverage of women's sports cause them to pay more attention and sensitivity to the mass media. Some research shows that women expect more from the media to cover their sport success. With this kind of differences in the views of media gatekeepers and female athletes, it is possible to examine the influence of the mass media on female athletes (Rasekh, Zareian, Ghasemi, & Rezaie, 2019).
In this regard, television as a media and a communication organization has a wide social and cultural position with different dimensions, which has a high audience due to its visual attractions (Mast, 2016). Social media, by selecting selected programs and increasing the level of access to television programs and even selecting it, has provided the ground for increasing consumption and its individual and social effects (Lemos, 2010). Therefore, one of the sensitive institutions that has a decisive role in achieving the goals in all requirements is television, which is of special importance due to the level of coverage and its effectiveness (Ghasemi, 2008). Nowadays, watching TV has been a fun activity everywhere that takes up more of our time than other activities (Kaburia, 2016). In recent years, television sports programs, as a global phenomenon, have undergone extensive changes in the scope of activities, technologies, public applications, revenue and development. Television has played an undeniable role in the development and growth of sports in the world (Ghasemi, Tojari, & Keshkar, 2011). After 1950, television sports programs quickly became popular due to their easy accessibility, fast reflection and high credibility, and today, sports program enthusiasts use television more than any other medium (Keshkar, Karegar, & Biniaz, 2015). Also, television networks as the communication veins of today's world have not been spared from this influence and sports programs have a special place in television networks. In many countries, television is one of the most important sources for receiving news, information and entertainment programs. Sports programs are broadcast in several sports sections at different times of the day and night on the national networks (Shahbazi, Mostafaei, Daei, & Sajjadi, 2018). Sport as a phenomenon is closely related to social and moral values and this plays an important role in the production of culture and cultural structure of any society and in this regard is one of the most important phenomena of cultural transmission in the social structure that plays an important role in personality formation and expression (Aghapour & Zarepour, 2012). In general, one of the most important goal of national sports mass media can be to development of sports in different dimensions. For example, television programs may encourage people to exercise, to enjoy being national champions, to observe ethics on the sports field. In some societies, women are mentioned as the driving force of the family and society, and more attention is paid to them for development. In other words, exercising women will be a factor in the development of sports in the family and society (Ghasemi, 2008). Hence, women beliefs about the world of sports can be influenced by what they see on television. The way sports programs are presented on television affects the way women look at sports (Keshkar et al., 2015). Since television, as the most popular media (Wilson, 2018), allows the observation of athletes' behaviors, so it can play an important role in transmitting values and role modeling. Television sports programs become a society in terms of how to deal with behavioral abnormalities (Fathi, 2010). So that the effect of television on the development of ethics and value, by various studies showed that television, like all other media, has an effect on the values of society (Keshkar et al., 2015). Some findings showed that there is a close relationship between watching TV and moral development. This shows that television affects morality. Also television can strengthen, accelerate, and promote harmful habits; In other words, television can also be used in a positive sense to promote healthy habits and stimulate professional values (Keshkar et al., 2011; Wakefield, Flay, Nichter, & Giovino, 2003; Wilson, 2018). Some researchers reported that television had an effect on social values. According to Singh and Sandhu (2011) value systems, promotion of materialism, negative impact on human behavior, misleading information content on television, increased sexual incentives, disrespect for cultures and negative impact on family were some of the factors that had negative effects. Keshkar et al. (2015) studied the role of television sports programs in transmitting moral values and role modeling of students. They found differences between girls and boys in terms of duration of watching television sports programs, expected moral values and moral values (political, cultural and social). Also there was a difference between what is transmitted through television as well as the moral characteristics of sports models. In the findings of these researchers, there was an emphasis on the need to explain the current situation in order to provide solutions and suggestions to achieve the desired situation, as well as the role of television in creating desirable changes in the field of ethics and moral values.
One of the most important areas for conducting research studies is “women’s sports”. About half of the population is made up of women, and this community, as nurturers of generations, has an important role to play in the transmission and transmission of moral values. In the meantime, champion athletes, especially women in national costumes, can play a greater role as reference groups in society. Now, in the view of group that television sports programs can enhance the values of “cultural, social, religious, political, and the like”, it has become a general question for researchers and the focus of research. A review of the studies found shows that this area is less considered in research. Most studies related to television focused more on reducing the negative effects, and thus the positive effects and how to increase the impact on the female athlete community were less considered. Considering the undeniable role of mass media, especially television and sports programs in shaping and directing the beliefs, attitudes and thoughts of society and women, as well as creating a suitable context in the field of sports and considering the contradictory results regarding the positive or the negative effect of television on moral values; This study seeks to ask whether television sports programs are effective in transmitting moral values to Iranian women national athletes.
The research method was ‘applied in purpose’ and ‘descriptive and survey in strategy’. Due to the unavailability of the entire statistical population, the available statistical sample of 97 people was selected. The data gathered by questionnaire from Rabbani and Shahabi (2011) with title Moral Values Questionnaire. This questionnaire measures 5 components: political, economic, cultural, social and religious. For re-validation, they were confirmed by 15 physical education professors and the reliability of the questionnaire was obtained based on Cronbach's alpha coefficient on 40 students equal to 0.914 Table 1.
Table-1. Cronbach's Alpha Values of Questionnaire by Components.
Components |
Number of Questions |
Cronbach's Alpha Coefficient |
Cultural Values |
10 |
0.806 |
Economic Values |
6 |
0.780 |
Religious Values |
10 |
0875 |
Political Values |
8 |
0.790 |
Social Values |
10 |
0.867 |
Total |
44 |
0.914 |
Samples were members of Iranian national team from different sports such as athletes in rowing (32%), shooting (20.6%), Kabaddi (17.5%), taekwondo (16.5%) and karate (13.4%). The mean age of the research samples was 23.70 years with a standard deviation of 6.275. Finding showed 80 people (82.5%) watched T.V. sport programs at least 2 hours in during the day and night, and another results were between 3 to 4 hours. The 43 (44.3%) of the samples selected a special TV sports programs with planning. Based on the research findings, 56 (57.7%) of samples followed sports news through the Internet and 41 (42.3%) follow sports news through television findings 49 (50.5%) watch more sports news and also 44 (45.4%) of the samples watch more sports matches. Most of the audience of sports programs was first sports news (96%) and then live broadcast of sports events (87%).
Table 2 shows the results of the one-sample t-test for the role of television in the transmission of moral values.
Table-2. The one-sample t-test for the Role of Television in the Transmission of Moral Values.
| Components | Mean |
Difference from the mean |
T |
df |
sig.value |
| Cultural Values | 3.143 |
0.643 |
14.891 |
96 |
0.001 |
| Economic Values | 2.943 |
0.443 |
8.016 |
96 |
0.001 |
| Religious Values | 2.667 |
0.167 |
0.011 |
96 |
0.001 |
| Political Values | 3.085 |
0.585 |
12.855 |
96 |
0.001 |
| Social Values | 3.247 |
0.747 |
15.934 |
96 |
0.001 |
The results showed there is a significant difference between the means of components as “economic values, religious values, political values and social values”. Therefore, it can be said that from the perspective of women national athletes, television sports programs have an impact on transmitting values. In order to prioritize the role of television in transmitting the dimensions of values, Friedman test was used and the results were described in Table 3.
Table-3. Friedman Test Results for Prioritizing the Role of Television in the Transmission of Moral Values.
Rank |
Components |
Mean of Rank |
Frequencies |
χ2 |
df |
sig.value |
1 |
Social Values |
3.83 |
97 |
87.619 |
4 |
0.001 |
2 |
Cultural Values |
3.42 |
||||
3 |
Political Values |
3.22 |
||||
4 |
Economic Values |
2.59 |
||||
5 |
Religious Values |
1.94 |
Based on the results of Friedman test, it can be seen that from the perspective of women national athletes, there is a significant difference between the role of television in transmitting different aspects of moral values (Sig = 0.027, 2x = 10.29). By point of view of participant, this impact respectively more to less are “cultural values, economic values, religious values, political values, and social values”.
According to the results obtained from the sample t-test, it can be said that from the perspective of women national athletes, television sports programs have an effective role in transmitting cultural values. Also, according to the obtained values related to the average rank of the dimensions of cultural values. This result showed between the questions of questionnaire for assessment the social values, respectively “attention to appearance”, “respectful behavior”, and “honesty” had more points. The results were somewhat consistent with the findings of Keshkar et al. (2011); Wilson (2018); Rabbani and Shahabi (2011). This alignment indicates the obvious role of television in the studied components and items. In cultural values, questions related to “self-devotion”, “critical thinking”, and “self-acualization” were answered with more points. These results were near to the results of Keshkar et al. (2011); Wilson (2018) and Rabbani and Shahabi (2011). From the perspective of female athletes, it seems that sports programs do play an expected role in the development of social values.
In political component, questions about “justice”, “fairness”, and “accountability” in respectively had important role. The results were somewhat consistent with the findings of Keshkar et al. (2011); Wilson (2018) and Rabbani and Shahabi (2011). It can be said that television and sports programs, due to their capabilities, are one of the most important factors in changing beliefs, standards and political values, because they are able to shape people's thoughts and behavior through careful and controlled planning. Also they direct viewers arbitrarily towards political values. According to the results, in the opinion of women national athletes, television programs have an effective role in transmitting economic values. Based on the average rank values from the perspective of them, questions as “the values of profit-seeking”, “trustworthiness”, and “adherence to promises”, had respectively more pints. The results were consistent with the findings of Keshkar et al. (2011); Wilson (2018); Rabbani and Shahabi (2011). Medrano, Aierbe, and Orejudo (2010) in their study of television viewing and values showed that the relationship between values and television preferences should be studied as an educational resource for moral education. The effects of television are very wide and varied, these effects may be long-term and short-term, they may be strong or weak, and these effects may be due to the content of the communication. Also they may have psychological, political, economic or social aspects. They are also likely to influence apparent beliefs, information, skills, attitudes, and behaviors, and especially economic values. The proliferation of mass media has led to a change in values, so that in the current era of globalization of communications and media have affected the generational value gap. In religious values, by view of respondents questions about “continence”, “faith”, and “piety” on respectively took more points. Also, based on the results, there was no significant difference between the observed and the desired average about questions as “persuading the good and forbidding the evil behaviour”, “visiting holy places”, and “spiritual beliefs”. Therefore, it can be said that from the point of view of women national athletes, television programs do not have a favorable role in them. The results were somewhat consistent with the findings of Singh and Sandhu (2011). They showed the impact of TV advertising programs on the social and moral behavior of Indian viewers. Their empirical analysis of the opinions of 520 respondents showed that television advertising undermines social, moral and religious values and has a negative impact on human behavior. According recent study, there were effective role in conveying “continence”, “faith”, and “piety”, and weren’t significant on “perusing the good and forbidding the evil behavior”, “visiting holy places”, and “spiritual beliefs”. In explaining this results, it can be stated that changing attitudes and values seems to be a long-term process. Therefore, in a limited time return, it is not possible to change attitudes. At the same time, managers and programmers face many restrictions, especially by religious, law, and regulations in Iran and they cannot produce appropriate and favorite sports programs for women.
One of the limitations of the research was that the researcher only collected the views of national female athletes. Therefore, for the comprehensiveness of the research and more accurate conclusions, the scope of this research can be generalized to national female athletes of other countries and their points of view can be compared. Also, to increase the accuracy of the effect of various TV sports programs, experimental methods can be used to examine the effect of each program on the cognition, attitude, and behavior of each female athlete.
From the perspective of women national athletes, television sports programs play a role in conveying cultural values, economic values, religious value, and political values. Only the role of sports program is not as expected. In totally mean of all components or generally called moral values is more than expected mean. Therefore, in order for television to play its moral role in women's sports, it must first observe its own ethics and components. For example, fairness in the coverage of women's sports events in media can be analyzed as a moral behavior. With proper planning, TV sports programs can be used as a useful tool to strengthen the moral values of society. On the other hand, the study of television behaviors in positive and negative dimensions towards the development of moral values is an important necessity in any society. Television can use the perspectives and expectations of female athletes, to produce appropriate programs to reinforce the moral values for a greater presence of women in sports. This can be followed by moderating discourses in removing social, legal and religious barriers. According to the research findings, producers and gatekeepers of TV sports content are advised to consider “ethical criteria for sports programs” and plan accordingly.
Funding: This study received no specific financial support. |
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. |
Acknowledgement: The authors would like to acknowledge the sport management department of Payame Noor University for spiritual support. |
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