PHE 385
Alar Lipping, Ph.D.
Class Project
INTRODUCTION
Mass media serves as a major institution in perpetuating sports in American society. The pervasive influence of mass media and sport is most notably present in print media such as newspapers and magazines and visual media such as television. In terms of gender identity, what is the media coverage regarding symmetrical coverage between male and female athletic events?
Symmetry refers to the extent to which print and visual representations are created regarding not only the quantity of male and female sport coverage but also the quality of coverage. In 1991, a comprehensive content analysis was conducted on four daily newspapers regarding male and female print and photo coverage (Duncan, Messner & Williams, 1991). The study revealed that there was a huge statistical difference in the quantity of men’s and women’s sport coverage: in total number of column inches and the number of male and female athletes. These findings were consistent with several other studies that focused on male and female sport coverage in print media (Blackwood, 1983; Bryant, 1980; Duncan & Sayaovang, 1990; Inman, 1987; Leavy, 1975; Luebke, 1989; Lumpkin & Williams, 1991; Miller, 1975; Reid & Soley, 1979; Women’s Sports Foundation, 1987).
In 1989 the Amateur Athletic Foundation commissioned a study to investigate the quantity and quality of television coverage of women’s sports. The study was entitled Gender Stereotyping in Televised Sport. A follow up study was conducted in 1993, and in 1999 a study was conducted to study the trend from the previous two studies (Duncan & Messner, 1999). The study concluded that the trend in television sport coverage of women from 1989 to 1999 continued to be disproportionately in favor of male athletic events.
Recent studies conducted on print media coverage of specific athletic events such as the Sydney Olympic games of 2000 and the United States Tennis Open, 2000-2003 suggests that there was no significant difference between male and female coverage. However, when these events were contrasted with the total coverage of sports appearing simultaneously with these events there was still a significant difference, both in photo and print coverage.
The purpose of this study is to conduct a content analysis of the summer Olympic Games of 2000 and 2004. During these two Olympiads a number of new sporting events were introduced for females. This study will examine whether there was any gender difference in the coverage of these two Olympiads. Specifically, this study will review the percentage of male and female print coverage; male and female photo coverage; and an analysis of the coverage in terms of gendered language. A number of new sports that were introduced for females include weight lifting and wrestling. The task for this assignment is to determine if there is symmetry in the quantity and quality of sport coverage during the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. The New York Times will be used as the media source.
The following needs to be conducted:
Each student will be placed on a research team for either the 2000 or 2004 Olympic Games
The following roles will be designated on each team: 1. Historian, 2. Reporters, 3.Analysts.
The historian will research their respective Olympic Games to report on how many new sports and events were added for females. Historians will also review how many male and female athletes attended their respective Olympic Games.
Reporters will review the content of their respective Olympic Games. Each reporter will review half of the articles to determine whether there was gender language symmetry.
Analysts will review the content of their respective Olympic Games. Each analyst will review of the Olympic coverage to measure the Olympic coverage for the following percentages: male print coverage, female print coverage, male photo coverage, female photo coverage.
The final report will have the following:
The analysts will prepare an excel sheet that will include the dates (columns) and rows that have male print, female print, male photo, female photo.
The historian will provide a report on when the Olympic Games occurred (dates), where, new female Olympic events, number of female athletes, and number of male athletes.
The reporters will prepare a report on the language that was used in covering male and female events, particular examination needs to be focused on the new sporting events for females.
http://www.womenssportsnet.com/DesktopDefault.aspx?tabid=158
http://www.womenssportsnet.com/DesktopDefault.aspx