Courting a debate

Ellen Alperstein couldn’t be more wrong in her misinformed column on alleged media bias concerning coverage of the women’s basketball tournament (“March’s Media Bias,” March 31). There is a simple reason why the media, be it television or print, give far more coverage to the men’s college basketball tournament than to the women’s tournament: No one cares about women’s basketball!

That harsh reality is borne out by the fact that this year’s men’s tournament has earned significantly higher ratings than the women’s tournament.

The sad truth is that the majority of sports fans are males, and they simply do not care for women’s basketball, for whatever reason. They also happen to make up the majority of the audience that reads the sports section and watches TV sports. So why give coverage to a sporting event they couldn’t care less about?

Leonard Levine

Tarzana

*

Please thank Ms. Alperstein for her wonderful article about media gender bias. I was elated to see someone articulate all the frustrations I feel, seemingly on a daily basis, at the lack of coverage of women’s sports.

Heaven forbid we miss out on a chipmunk running across a putting green for coverage of an obscure story like the WNBA’s L.A. Sparks trading one of their most popular players, or the USC women’s basketball team coming within two seconds of eliminating the No. 1 seed in the NCAA women’s tournament.

Michelle Mindlin

West Hollywood

*

I just wanted to thank Alperstein. It is a shame that our local Fox sports stations don’t publicize the women’s college basketball teams here in Southern California. We have very competitive teams from UCLA, USC, UCSB, CSULB, Pepperdine and more. But you wouldn’t know it, as Fox would rather televise the world series of darts than a UCLA or USC women’s game.

At least ESPN has been covering all of the women’s games, and they did a very nice tribute to Pat Summitt and her accomplishments in the world of women’s basketball. They actually interrupted a game in progress to show Tennessee winning and earning Pat her 880th win of her career, passing Dean Smith on the all-time list.

Terri K. Taylor

Westminster

*

Alperstein alludes to the fact that all of this “sells the culture short.” I think that’s nonsense. Are men complaining that the fashion industry and its media coverage is mostly female-based? No, because the reality is that the market is dictating how much attention each gender should receive.

I will agree with you on one point, however: I don’t need to hear about the Lakers again this season!

JL Wardell

San Diego