Women’s and Men’s Prominence in Sports Coverage and Changes in Large-, Medium-, and Small-City Newspapers, Pre- and Post-Title IX

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (6) ◽  
pp. 762-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kent Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Title Ix ◽  
Large City ◽  
Small City ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Local Media ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Sports Coverage ◽  
City Newspaper ◽  
Traditional Patterns

Through the lens of agenda-setting theory, this article investigates whether women’s sports coverage in mainstream newspapers increased after the passage of Title IX, consistent with the expectation that greater equality in athletics and the requirement that schools provide equality in publicity would lead to greater volume and prominence in coverage. Researchers conducted a quantitative content analysis of randomly selected front pages of sports sections from large-, medium-, and small-city newspapers for 10-year intervals in the period 1932–2012 (40 years before and after Title IX’s 1972 passage). Numbers of articles and photos and the square area devoted to them in each year were calculated. The researchers found traditional patterns of story placement and inequality persisted in large-city newspapers over the 80-year span, but small-city and medium-city newspaper coverage changed in favor of women’s sports. Thus, this article explores the thesis that proximity to women’s sports correlates to greater equality of coverage and the advancement of women’s sports. This article provides a springboard for future investigation into a larger question of the role local media play in advancing social change and social movements and suggests local media might be more effective, even if unintentionally, than big media.

“I Can’t Stand Women’s Sports”: The Perception of Women’s Sports by Polish Sports Journalists

2019 ◽  
pp. 216747951987688 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Organista ◽  
Zuzanna Mazur ◽  
Michał Lenartowicz
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Radio Stations ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Sports Coverage ◽  
Inferior Status ◽  
Female Sports ◽  
Socializing Agents

This article analyzes the opinions of Polish male ( n = 18) and female ( n = 18) sports journalists on the representation of women’s sports in media coverage. The surveyed journalists represented journalists from national television stations, radio stations, and press and Internet media. Some of them were working simultaneously in various mass media outlets. In-depth interviews were conducted in various locations in Poland in 2018. An analysis of the journalists’ views from 36 semi-structured interviews indicated a general consensus among the surveyed sports journalists, both male and female, on the inferior status of women’s sports and women’s sports coverage, a negation of need to realign the inequitable coverage of women’s sports and the perception that sports are a neutral institution with respect to gender. The investigated female sports journalists presented more negative and straightforward views on women’s sports than their male colleagues. This article also indicates the minority status of female sports journalists in Poland and their process of socialization in the profession; it discusses the first male socializing agents that introduced and influenced the female journalists with respect to sports as factors that may be responsible for the journalists’ biased belief in the subordinate nature of women’s sports in general and their secondary position in sports media.

An Examination of Women’s Sports Coverage on the Twitter Accounts of Local Television Sports Broadcasters

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 471-491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Hull
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
The United States ◽  
Time Constraints ◽  
Gender Representation ◽  
Market Size ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
Local Television ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Sports Coverage ◽  
Female Sports

This study examines the amount of coverage given to women’s sports by local television sports broadcasters on Twitter. A total of 19,649 tweets from 201 local sports broadcasters throughout the United States were examined using content analytic methods during a constructed 2-week period. Results demonstrated that while a majority of the local sports broadcasters did tweet about women’s sports, these tweets represented only about 5% of the overall number of messages. Further examination demonstrates that female sports broadcasters tweeted about women’s sports less frequently than male sports broadcasters did. Additionally, broadcasters in smaller cities were more likely to report about women’s sports than those in larger cities. While results are consistent with previous research on gender representation on nationally televised highlight shows, these findings are significant because they demonstrate that there is a relationship between gender of broadcaster and market size in relation to the number of tweets about women’s sports. Additionally, data are from Twitter, in which there are no time constraints that would seemingly limit the amount of women’s sports that could be mentioned by a sportscaster.

scholarly journals Gender Representation of Athletes in Finnish and Swedish Tabloids

2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antti Laine
Keyword(s):  
Media Studies ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Gender Representation ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
Sports Journalism ◽  
Male Athletes ◽  
Winter Olympics ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Sports Coverage

Abstract The study examines quantitatively and qualitatively gender representation in Finnish and Swedish tabloids’ sports coverage during Athens 2004 summer and Turin 2006 winter Olympics. Several media studies argue that sports journalism marginalises women’s sports and sexualises female athletes. The results of this study show that male athletes received more coverage than female athletes in every tabloid, but when the number of domestic participants and their level of success were considered, neither country’s tabloids quantitatively marginalised women’s sports. Qualitative analysis found that research stereotypes showing trivialisation and sexualisation of female athletes were incorrect, with the exception of Finnish tabloids representations of female athletes participating in sports that are considered masculine. For the most part, female athletes were represented in the same way as male athletes. However, it should be emphasised that the material is limited to Olympics coverage: during such major sporting events women are treated more equally, particularly quantitatively.

Newswork, News Values, and Audience Considerations

2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (6) ◽  
pp. 647-668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Merryn Sherwood ◽  
Angela Osborne ◽  
Matthew Nicholson ◽  
Emma Sherry
Keyword(s):  
Media Coverage ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
News Values ◽  
Sports Media ◽  
Repetitive Nature ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Sports Coverage ◽  
Male Dominated ◽  
Sports News

Substantial research indicates that women’s sports and female athletes gain only a small fraction of sports media coverage worldwide. Research that has examined why this is the case suggested this can be attributed to three particular factors that govern sports newswork: the male-dominated sports newsroom, ingrained assumptions about readership, and the systematic, repetitive nature of sports news. This study sought to explore women’s sports coverage using a different perspective, exploring cases where women’s sports gained coverage. It identified Australian newspapers that published more articles on women’s sports, relative to their competitors, and conducted interviews with both journalists and editors at these newspapers. It found that small, subtle changes to the three newswork elements that had previously relegated the coverage of women’s sports now facilitated it. This research provides evidence that, at least in some newspapers in Australia, sports newswork has developed to include the coverage of women’s sports.

Women’s Sports Coverage in Israel: Perception Versus Reality

2010 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 92-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilan Tamir ◽  
Yair Galily
Keyword(s):  
Public Interest ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Editorial Boards ◽  
Extensive Coverage ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Sports Coverage ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Female Sports ◽  
The Media

With a focus on the question of public interest, the study investigated editing considerations of women’s sports coverage in written daily newspapers in Israel. To examine sports readers’ views regarding the coverage of women in sports sections, and to compare them with the views of sports editorial boards, a representative survey was conducted among male and female readers of sports columns and among male and female sports writers responsible for coverage. The research findings indicate a lack of connection between the various ends of the media process. Although sports editors of the 3 biggest dailies in Israel claim that there is little interest in women’s sports among sports column readers, the study found that public interest in women’s sports is far from insignificant. In fact, newspaper consumers who read the sports column would like to see more extensive coverage of women’s sports.

Epilogue

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Schultz
Keyword(s):  
Women Athletes ◽  
Title Ix ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
The Past ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
The World ◽  
The Status ◽  
Precipitous Decline ◽  
Sports News ◽  
Television Coverage

This concluding chapter considers the status of women's sports in 2012, the various points of change that brought them there, and reasserts the need to cheer with reserve. Even as the number of women athletes seems to rise, their representation in administrative ranks has dwindled from the pre-Title IX era. In addition, sports sociologists Michael Messner and Cheryl Cooky found that there has been a “precipitous decline” in the amount of television coverage devoted to women's sports over the past several years. In 2009 women's sports garnered just 1.6 percent of network sports news and 1.4 percent of ESPN's SportsCenter. For a brief window in July 2012, however, those numbers temporarily increased as the world tuned in to the Women's Games.

Advocacy From the Liberal Feminist Playbook: The Framing of Title IX and Women’s Sports in News Releases From the Women’s Sports Foundation

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Barnett ◽  
Marie C. Hardin
Keyword(s):  
Title Ix ◽  
Athletic Participation ◽  
Women's Sports ◽  
Advocacy Groups ◽  
Equitable Distribution ◽  
News Releases ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Women’S Sports ◽  
Distribution Of Resources ◽  
The Law

Since Title IX was enacted in 1972, women’s advocates have considered how the law has affected female participation in sports, and critics have suggested that the law has unfairly denied opportunities to men. Studies have examined how journalists have covered Title IX and its consequences, yet few have looked at how advocacy groups have sought to influence coverage of the law. This textual analysis examines press statements published by the Women’s Sports Foundation from 2004 through 2009 and concludes that the organization used frames of community and transcendence in discussing women’s athletic participation. The foundation characterized community as essential to the support of women’s participation in sports and suggested that participation and achievement in sports were symbolic of women’s accomplishments in the larger society. The foundation also focused on fairness and equality as rationales for equitable distribution of resources and opportunities. Title IX was rarely mentioned in press statements.

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