Gender differences through the lens of Rio: Australian Olympic primetime coverage of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games

Abstract

This study explored gender differences within the Australian primetime broadcast of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games. Forty-five broadcast hours from the Seven Network were examined regarding clock-time, name mentions, and descriptions divided by biological sex, finding that the Seven Network devoted nearly equal clock-time to male and female athletes, yet 14 of the top 20 most mentioned athletes (70%) were men. In terms of word-by-word descriptors, gender differences were also uncovered on many levels relating to attributions of athletic success, failure, personality, and physicality. The findings of this study suggest that—at least within an Australian sports context—gender portrayals ranged from relative equality to significant differences depending on the metric employed. Theoretical and practical implications are provided.

Women, men, and five Olympic rings: An examination of Chinese Central Television’s broadcast of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics

“…Beyond the USA, the Canadian network at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics allotted 39.6% of the total primetime coverage to women’s sports (MacArthur et al, 2017). In Australia at the 2016 Rio Olympics, moreover, the Seven Network devoted 50.2% of the total primetime airtime to female athletes (Xu et al, 2017).…”

“…Xu et al (2018) examined CCTV’s broadcasting of gymnastics at the 2016 Rio Olympics from a gender lens, suggesting that female athletes received 43.3% of the total coverage, while the percentage that male gymnasts received was 56.7%. The finding that CCTV favored male gymnasts provided a contrast to the media coverage in the USA and Australia, in which the networks usually rendered more attention to female gymnasts (Billings et al, 2018c; Xu et al, 2017), reflecting that gymnastics has been conventionally unpacked as a feminine sport (Hardin and Greer, 2009). The researchers attributed CCTV’s low profile of female gymnasts to Chinese male gymnasts’ outstanding athletic performance in past Olympic Games (Xu et al, 2018).…”

“…Specifically, female athletes received 36.6%–53.3% of the total name-mentions at the Summer Olympics and 36.4%–43.0% of the total name-mentions at the Winter Olympics between 1996 and 2016. Outside the USA, the Canadian network devoted 38.8% of all mentions to female athletes at the 2014 Sochi Olympics (MacArthur et al, 2017), and the Australia-based Seven Network rendered 43.3% of the total number of name-mentions to female athletes at the 2016 Rio Olympics (Xu et al, 2017).…”

“…Regarding the top 10 or 20 most-mentioned athletes, NBC—between 1996 and 2016—featured women 40.0%–60.0% of the time at the Summer Olympics and 20.0%–40.0% of time in the Winter Olympics (Billings et al, 2018a). Beyond the USA, Canada had seven women out of the top 20 most-mentioned athletes (35.0%) at the 2014 Winter Olympics (Angelini et al, 2012), while the Australian network featured six women among the top 20 most-mentioned athletes (30.0%) at the 2016 Summer Games (Xu et al, 2017). Overall, women received fewer name-mentions compared to their male Olympic counterparts, although the sex gap is comparatively smaller compared to all other sports media offerings.…”

Smiling assassins, brides-to-be and super mums: the importance of gender and celebrity in media framing of female athletes at the 2016 Olympic Games

“…Analysis of Australian prime time coverage of the 2016 Games indicates that although male and female athletes received nearly equal clock time, the content of coverage differed substantially, illustrating that sports media coverage of the Olympics remains strongly gendered (Xu et al, 2017). Sport has become increasingly mediatised, with the importance of celebrity becoming more prominent for the commercial success of individual athletic careers (Andrews & Jackson, 2002;Rowe, 2009).…”