Abstract
This study examines how U.S. and East Asian sports journalists framed the global cultural phenomenon known as Linsanity. Jeremy Lin, an undrafted Asian American National Basketball Association (NBA) player for the New York Knicks, rose from obscurity in February 2012 with a series of dazzling performances to lead his team back into the playoff picture. Lin’s feats, coupled with his life story and unique status as just the fourth Asian American NBA player, caused such a media frenzy that he appeared on the cover of both Time and Sports Illustrated magazines that same month.
Newspaper coverage of Linsanity in the New York Times and five newspapers in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan (N = 214) was analyzed via a two-dimensional measurement scheme for examining media frames. Results found that both the United States and Asian samples tended to frame the phenomenon of Linsanity at the individual level and were very positive in tone. However, stories in The New York Times were more likely to address Lin’s story in terms of his impact on his sport (NBA/basketball community frame), while Asian newspapers tended to utilize the societal frame more by giving more focus to Lin’s influence on issues of nationwide concern.
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Cassidy, W.P. (2022). Linsanity and its Aftermath: Sports Journalism Framing of Jeremy Lin. In: Bien-Aimé, S., Wang, C. (eds) Perceptions of East Asian and Asian North American Athletics. East Asian Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97780-1_9
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