(Social) Media Scrutiny & Pressure:

In an interview with Sky Sports, Paul Pogba highlights some key areas around media scrutiny and pressure, and the negative connotations associated with football players via different media platforms (most prominently in social media). 

Why do people and the media care so much about what footballers do in their personal lives? Are footballers not allowed to express themselves and enjoy their hobbies outside of football?

Jesse Lingard said this on Paul Pogba:

“[Paul] loves football to death but a certain section of the public forms an impression through social media when we’re seen dancing or having fun, all we’re doing is expressing ourselves and connecting with our followers. We live in the moment… what’s wrong with that?”

Pogba eludes to plenty of footballers who like to experiment with different hairstyles, most iconically David Beckham, but why are behaviours like these outside an athletes’ sport so heavily scrutinised and frowned upon by journalists and pundits? Everyone is unique and has a right to live their life in the way they wish to live. No one should be judged or criticised for this. 

Personally, I believe we should oppose individuals who judge/criticise the way players CHOOSE to conduct themselves outside of the game instead of reinforcing common stereotypes and hypercritical statements and behaviours. We should advocate allowing athletes to live and express themselves freely and avoid confusing their athletic identities with their personal ones. 

I found it interesting when Paul asks the interviewer to repeat a list of players they’d mentioned that have experienced media scrutiny and questioned if they have anything in common… are the media biased towards a specific group of individuals and certain behaviours and/or characteristics? Does this tend to be overlooked and ignored?

Link to interview: https://lnkd.in/d38bhis8

#mediascrunity #socialmedia #pressure #stereotyping