Framing the Athlete: Media's Role in Translating Sports Science to Society

The media has emerged as a critical intermediary between sports science research and public understanding. It shapes public perceptions, influences participation behaviours, and frames scientific knowledge in ways that affect both policy and practice. This theoretical paper explores the role of media in sports science communication, drawing on agenda-setting, framing, diffusion of innovations, and mediatisation theories. These frameworks explain how media constructs narratives, facilitates knowledge translation, and impacts research visibility. While media provides opportunities for broad dissemination and engagement, ethical challenges persist in the forms of bias, commercialisation, and oversimplification of scientific findings. This paper critically investigates the role of the media in shaping public understanding and communication of sports science. Media outlets are examined as pivotal agents that both bridge academic research and public discourse, while simultaneously commanding influence over how sports science issues, such as concussion protocols and doping, are translated and prioritized. The analysis is structured through the lens of agenda-setting, framing, diffusion of innovations, and mediatisation theories, highlighting media’s complex functions in knowledge translation and public. The paper synthesizes empirical and theoretical literature, noting how sports media can both cultivate unity and perpetuate biases, including gender, racial, and commercial influences.