Skip to Main Content
Explore News

Watch Beyond the Box Score: The Female Voice in Sports Media Video

Watch Video

Co-sponsored by Medill, Northwestern Athletics, the Northwestern Women's Center and One Book One Northwestern.

 The state of sports journalism today, the advantages and disadvantages women face in the media and the perceptions they must overcome was addressed during “The Female Voice in Sports Media,” the fifth installment of the “Beyond the Box Score” lecture series hosted by Medill and Northwestern Athletics.

USA Today columnist Christine Brennan (BSJ80, MSJ81) moderated the discussion with a panel that includes CNN’s Rachel Nichols (BSJ95), Fox Sports’ Pam Oliver and ESPN’s Cassidy Hubbarth (BSJ07).

Each panelist has her own story, but there are countless others that need to be told. That is why, to coincide with the event, Medill students profiled a collection of women in sports media, many of whom are Northwestern alumni. The stories, hosted in an online collection on Medium, launched in January and will continue to be published leading up to and following the event.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS

Rachel Nichols serves as the sole sports anchor at CNN, where she contributes exclusive reporting, commentary and analysis on the biggest sports stories across the network. Prior to joining CNN and Turner Sports in January 2013, Nichols spent nine years at ESPN, where she was a correspondent for SportsCenter, NFL Countdown, NBA Countdown and E:60.

Pam Oliver joined the NFL on FOX team in 1995. She contributes feature stories and sideline reports for the NFL on FOX, FOX NFL SUNDAY and FOXSports1. She also contributes to Turner Sports’ coverage of the NBA playoffs. Before working at FOX, she was a reporter at ESPN. Oliver graduated from Florida A&M University.

Cassidy Hubbarth is an anchor on ESPN’s SportsCenter and hosts NBA Tonight on ESPN2. She joined ESPN in 2010 as a studio anchor and host for college football and basketball on ESPN3. Prior to ESPN, Hubbarth was a host and reporter at the Big Ten Network and Fox Sports South.

Moderator Christine Brennan is an award-winning USA Today sports columnist, best-selling author and commentator for ABC News, CNN and PBS. She was the first female sports journalist at The Miami Herald, the first woman to cover the NFL for The Washington Post and the first president of the Association for Women in Sports Media.

ABOUT “BEYOND THE BOX SCORE”

Medill’s Beyond the Box Score lecture series was established in 2011 and is an annual event that features discussions about the world of sports and sports journalism. Previous lectures have touched on the coverage of college athletics, storytelling in sports and race in sports and sports journalism. Past panelists include distinguished notable sports journalists such as George Dohrmann, LZ Granderson, Jeremy Schaap, Kevin Blackistone, Stewart Mandel, Doug Collins and more.

 ABOUT ONE BOOK ONE NORTHWESTERN

This year’s Beyond the Box Score lecture is partner programming with One Book One Northwestern and its 2014–15 selection “Whistling Vivaldi.” The book, written by Claude Steele and published in 2010, explores the ways stereotypes can undermine the performance of the people they target.