Sociology

Mass media plays the basic role of conveying information, convincing, entertaining to its audience. Sport and tourism has gained significance in providing an avenue for recreational activities as a result of how it has been portrayed positively by the media. On one side, sports have formed a field where people looking for leisure can relax and enjoy their free time thanks to the work of mass media. For mass media to function well the existence of a ready audience is very important. Mass media has provided sport with a higher platform to reach its larger audience than the people who attend live sport events at the sports stadiums by giving them an equal opportunity to watch these sporting events at the comfort of their homes or other places. Today the wide sporting fan has developed as a result of the work of the mass media by allowing the fans to keep in touch with their favorite sports. In this respect, media has played a big role in creating iconic players through their feedback fro he audience. As a result they have benefited in advertising.

Generally sports form one very important and crucial component in leisure and reaction. Although some of these activities may seem to be quit inaccessible to a relatively small minority in a population, sports are equally important for the general wellbeing of a person, psychical fitness and health at large. However, there has been a specific trend or phenomena which characterize leisure activities which is highly held upon the concept of class and societal stratification based on economic wellbeing of a family or an individual (Bull, Hoose  Weed, 2003).

Some leisure activities have been marginalized while others secluded socially for certain groups of persons deemed able.  For instance tourism is one type of a leisure activity which has been isolated due to high prices which revolve around fairs entailed in traveling across the boarders and some groups are therefore unable to access and enjoy some of these luxurious events in the society.

Children and the poor are the most affected.  Other factors of social stratification which might be a hindrance to leisure and recreation activities emergence from gender based differences.

 The biological endowment of both men and women is different. Men are adapted to enjoy and engage in various leisure activities while females are limited by virtue of muscle strength and agility to perform various activities. The society by large is a hater of fun through socialization and gender roles categorization of activities for both men and females. Thus. society defines to large extend the most pleasurable activities for men and females in a population. The disabled people form another category of persons who are socially disadvantages in engaging into pleasurable activities. Their physical stature has played a role in limiting their physical prowess (Bull, Hoose  Weed, 2003). However, in order to break the barriers towards accessing these facilities the government, media and other information challenges have taken an upper hand to educate the masses on the importance of leisure and sports.

The new technologies like my space, personal blogs and you tube has provided these fan base with an avenue which they can interact with their players or give their personal comments about their favorite sports, teams and players (Harris, 2005). This has brought about a revelation on the field of the audience who are now feeling as a part of heir favorite sporting activities by being possible to comment or give their personal views. 

For instance, big international media groups like BBC world and CNN have taken a lead role in promoting tourism of the legendary Silk Road which was used by the caravans from China to Europe. On the other hand, the micro media technologies such as my space, personal blogs and you tube have helped people share and spread information about their experiences in various destinations. as a result of  this positive reporting and sharing, various resorts and destinations has receivers secondary leisure visitors who have been recommended by their friends relatives and associates who had visited these destinations earlier. Conversely, media has the capacity to make or break the tourism industry, negative reporting about happenings on a given destination can make tourists shun away from these destinations (Bull, Hoose  Weed, 2003). However, these reports are sometimes necessary to act as a caution and safeguarding the security of tourists who might be caught up in a middle of a crisis if adequate information was not provided prior to their visit.

In summary mass media remains one of the important tools of building up sports and tourism as a significant form of leisure. The competition among the major mass media channels has lead to improvement in professionalism and straight forward reporting as well as provision of up to date information on both sport and tourism arena.