Examining Stereotypical Written and Photographic Reporting on the Sports Page: An Analysis of Newspaper Coverage of Interscholastic Athletics

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess the presence of gender-biased or stereotypical coverage in the written and photographic newspaper reporting of interscholastic sports. Over a one-year timeframe, a total of 602 newspaper issues were randomly selected from Florida’s 43 daily newspapers. These daily issues contained 1792 articles and 827 photographs that fit the criteria for inclusion. The results of the study were consistent with previous research on the media’s stereotypical coverage of athletics. Both female and male athletics were over-represented in both written and photographic coverage of traditionally accepted “sex appropriate” sports. Male athletics were under-represented in both written and photographic coverage of “sex inappropriate” sports. Female athletics, when analyzing their participation in “sex inappropriate” sports, were under-represented in the photographic coverage but not in the written coverage. Overall, there existed hegemonic masculinity within the sports pages of the Florida print media.

Sacrificing Dignity for Publicity: Content Analysis of Female and Male Athletes on “Sports Illustrated” and “ESPN the Magazine” Covers from 2012-2016

“…This is an important implication for media: if the role of journalism and its media is to serve, reflect and shape our understanding of the world around us (see Kane, 1998), then we can argue that these images enhance and support attitudes and values that our society hold about male and female athletes, their role, and their "place" in our culture. Data obtained in this study demonstrates that female athletes continue to receive strikingly less coverage than male athletes (Koivula, 1999;Leath & Lumpkin, 1992 Kane, 1996;Messner, Duncan, & Cooky, 2003;Pedersen & Whisenant, 2003;Vincent, Imwold, Johnson, & Massey, 2003).…”

Mujer y pintura deportiva: La Colección del Consejo Superior de Deportes (España) / Women and Sport Painting: Collection of Superior Council of Sports (Spain)

“…Así, analizar el mensaje trasmitido a través de las imágenes, sean pictóricas, fotográficas, cinematográficas, etc., permite detectar e identificar las ideas implícitas y, en su caso, el tratamiento sexista y discriminatorio existente en ellas (Bishop, 2003;Wenner, 2013). Las imágenes que comprenden el deporte contienen la idea, el contenido que se le asigna (Shields, Gilbert, Shen y Said, 2004), condicionado por la realidad del tratamiento masculino y androcéntrico del deporte (Pedersen y Whisenant, 2003).…”

“…En cuanto a los deportes que aparecen en las pinturas de la muestra (ver Tabla 3) el análisis de la frecuencia con la que los distintos tipos de deporte son representados, establece grandes diferencias (ver, por ejemplo, Pedersen y Whisenant, 2003 El fútbol es el deporte más representado, con aproximadamente un tercio de las pinturas dedicadas a esta modalidad deportiva, lo que probablemente se deba a la influencia del citado deporte en la sociedad actual y a su protagonismo en los medios de comunicación. El siguiente deporte que aparece más representado es el boxeo, seguido del automovilismo, el ciclismo y el tenis.…”

“…Los hombres son los que se encuentran representados en mayor proporción, y además lo hacen realizando actividades deportivas como fútbol, atletismo o baloncesto, es decir, los que gozan de un mayor prestigio social o más práctica como ya se había mostrado (Pedersen y Whisenant, 2003). Por el contrario, las mujeres generalmente aparecen representadas realizando actividades expresivas (por ejemplo en Táboas y Rey, 2008) o danza y natación (López-Villar, 2011).…”

Women (Not) Watching Women: Leisure Time, Television, and Implications for Televised Coverage of Women's Sports

“…Women's sports advocates have advanced two main arguments to explain the relatively weak following of women's sports. Firstly, scholars have largely argued that the lack of exposure for women's sports impedes its ability to gain a faithful audience; further, such “symbolic annihilation” suggests women's lack of importance in the wider sports landscape (Adams & Tuggle, 2004; Eastman & Billings, 2001; Hardin, Lynn, Walsdorf, & Hardin, 2002; Hartley & Paris, 2001; Pedersen, 2003). Secondly, others have pointed to the ways in which women's sports are framed as an additional mechanism for communicating to viewers that what they are watching is unimportant or inferior.…”