Answer

Political Science in the News

It is often the assumption that sporting events do not carry any political connotations. It has effectively been seen as a medium for fostering unity and cohesion. This has however not entirely been the case. Sporting events and specifically the World Cup tournaments have led to political strife particularly with respect to the hosting of the events. During different times, different countries host the events and the opportunity to host the events has become very prized. There is a structured process that is often followed in this regard wherein interested countries table their bids then ultimately, the FIFA executive committee members take a vote. There have been allegations of corruption and bribery thereto the acts of which were intended to unduly place certain countries ahead of the game. The aim of this paper is to study two media articles published by the Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg respectively and determine the extent to which the information therein elicits the typical politics that often surround the hosting of the FIFA World Cup tournaments.

The Los Angeles Times article dubbed FIFA Releases report detailing alleged corruption in World Cup bids of Russia and Qatar relatively speaks about the backdoor details surrounding the choice of the country that hosts a World Cup tournament (Associated Press, 2017). Herein, the author alludes to the fact that hosting such an event is not only prestigious (socio-politically) but it also comes with significant economic gains. The article further provides a brief exposition on the extent to which corruption, bribery, and undue influence were used to ensure Russia won the bid.

The second media article for review was published by Bloomberg and it is dubbed, Your Guide to World Cup’s Corruption Scandals (Ludden, 2018). This is a relatively lengthy article that provides detailed information on the events before, during and after Russia and Qatar won the bids to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments respectively. The article provides information regarding the selection process from as far back as the 1930’s. It is a reliable source for gaining an understanding of the typical politics that often surround the FIFA World Cup tournaments.

The two articles are similar to the extent that there is reliance on primary sources as evidence of the allegations, assertions, and information presented in the articles. In the LA Times article, from the onset, the author makes reference to an investigation report that was published by FIFA regarding the manner in which the FIFA voters exploited the murky voting structure to ensure that Russia and Qatar get the chance to host the World Cup tournaments (Associated Press, 2017). The report that the LA Times made reference to had been published by investigator Michael Garcia (Associated Press, 2017). The Bloomberg article similarly makes reference to the statements of Chuck Blazer, a FIFA executive member who provided whistle-blowing revelations which spurred the inquiry thereto (Ludden, 2018).

Another similarity between the two articles is that the authors went into great length to describe how the voting system had been conveniently compromised thus leading to a win for Russia and Qatar. This similarity, however, comes with a distinguishing angle. James Ludden’s report on the Bloomberg provides longer and more detailed background information on the events before, during and after Russia and Qatar won the bid to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments respectively. James Ludden, for instance, makes reference to a corruption scandal that erupted in 2015 leading to the arrest of dozens of soccer executives by the Swiss Police (Ludden, 2018). This (among others) pertinent information was not addressed in the Los Angeles article. James Ludden further illustrates the selection process from as far back as the 1930’s and provides holistic information on the events that led to the level of compromise that was witnessed during the selection process (Ludden, 2018).

Another difference between these two articles is that whereas the information on the LA Times article is relatively centered on an investigation report that was tabled by Michael Garcia and published by FIFA as illustrated above, the Bloomberg article relies on several sources, as evidenced by the wide scale of information presented in the article. The demerit of the latter article, however, is that most of the extensive information provided has not been referenced thus the credibility and truthfulness of the assertions made cannot be backed.

The LA Times article is more effective in transmitting information to the intended audience. This effectiveness is for instance evidenced by the appropriate use of schemas. The article indicates thus;

“After years of intrigue about allegedly corrupt World Cup bidding, FIFA published an investigation report Tuesday that showed how voters exploited the murky system yet allowed Russia and Qatar to host the 2018 and 2022 tournaments” (Associated Press, 2017, p. 1).

It is quite clear that the author is making use of information that was previously known to the audience to jog the mind of the listeners (Entman, 2010). Thereafter, the author introduces new information as a build-up on that schema (Entman, 2010). The same model has significantly been used in the Bloomberg article.

Political science has been described as the study of political phenomena (Basu, 2012). Politics is essentially about power relations and power imbalances wherein an entity sees to it that another entity carries out a particular task in accordance with the whims of the powerful party (Basu, 2012). As illustrated above, the politics surrounding Russia and Qatar’s acquisition of the right to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cup tournaments respectively are a testament of power imbalances and the use of political power to gain an advantage over others. As illustrated in the articles highlighted above, it is apparent that there are hidden political factors that placed Russia and Qatar ahead of the game.

            Sporting events and specifically the world cup tournaments have led to political strife particularly with respect to the hosting of the events. Although there is a structured process that is often followed in selecting the country that acquires the right to host, this process is often marred with corruption and bribery. The Los Angeles Times and Bloomberg as authored by Associated Press and James Ludden respectively provide an exposition on the typical politics that often surround the FIFA World Cup tournaments.