Answering the Research Question
After conducting my content analysis, I will conclude that racial identity does affect the media portrayals of NFL quarterbacks by ESPN, but that there are changes occurring in this phenomenon. It would be ludicrous to state that there is no effect, as there is evidence in the content analysis that points to similarities to the themes, I developed in my literature review and that represented my preexisting perceptions. Therefore, there were effects present. However, there were also outliers present in the small dataset. These outliers could potentially no longer be outliers if the data sample were much larger, which I believe could potentially happen as more media portrayals take place. There was also evidence of equality in representation occurring, which I think could potentially be taking place as society becomes intolerant of bias and racism with political climates of cancel culture and political movements such as Black Lives Matter only growing.
Future Research
In the future, this study should be expanded to include a larger sample size. Twenty-five data sources for a study where the segments are no more than a couple minutes provides little opportunity for a deep analysis.
A different avenue that additional, related research could examine is the draft profiles of quarterbacks coming into the league. One could also expand beyond quarterbacks and look at various positions that have been dominated by different racial identities, such as the running back or the cornerback position. In the case of the draft profiles, I believe there would be an opportunity for a larger sample to choose from. I think it would be interesting to look at the positions in the NFL from a Black point of view. In the case of the running back position, one could study this position similarly to the quarterback position, but instead of observing how Black players are potentially at a disadvantage in representation in terms of media representation, one could observe how there is a possible disadvantage in the representation of white running backs by the media. For the cornerback position, there would be no way to really observe representation of white cornerbacks as there has not been one since 2003. This study would need to analyze why the position itself is mainly played by Black athletes.