Public affairs management in Major League Baseball steroid use

Public Affairs Management: MLB and Steroids

Steroid use has been an important topic where Major League Baseball is concerned, and this has been seen to be more serious than in other sports. Many baseball players today are breaking records that have been around for some time, and with this taking place the talk of steroids has been increased, because it is believed that steroids are being used by these individuals in order to break these records. The purpose here is to look at the background of the issue through reviewing some literature on the subject, analyze what has been seen in that literature, and draw conclusions regarding the issue of Major League Baseball and steroids when it comes to public affairs management. The issue of whether steroids are being used is important, but the central issue here is how these accusations and the testing policies that are necessary are dealt with when it comes to public affairs or public relations.

Background

For centuries, competitive athletes have looked for some way to have more of an advantage in their desire for a victory, despite the physical and psychological effects that steroids may cause them, and despite the problems that the use of the steroids can cause for those that work with these athletes in a public relations capacity (Diacin, Parks, & Allison, 2003). The international anxiety that is seen currently regarding steroid use in athletes began as far back as the 1950s, and has continued since that time. During that early time, the chief concern focused on the Soviet athletes and their use of many anabolic steroids during the 1956 World Games, which were held in Moscow (Diacin, Parks, & Allison, 2003). Since that time, however, baseball has become the most significant sport where steroid use has been a concern, and those that work in public affairs are having a difficult time ensuring that players are tested and appropriate actions are taken. The controversy regarding steroids use is an important one (Yesalis, et al., 1993). Those that advocate the use of drug testing say that the health and the safety of all of the athletes and the others around them, the necessity of deterring the use of controlled substances, and the assuring of a fair competition are benefits that cannot be ignored, and therefore the testing is not only important, but necessary (McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2001). The critics of the drug testing policies argue, however, that the policies work to unfairly single out specific athletes for close scrutiny, tempts many of these same athletes to find ways to cheat the test, and that testing also violates the Constitutional right of privacy (McCabe & Ricciardelli, 2001).

Analysis