Scheduled for Sociocultural Aspects of Physical Activity I Free Communications, Thursday, April 3, 2003, 2:45 PM - 4:00 PM, Convention Center: 304


2000 Summer Olympics: Analysis of Gender and Media

Christy Greenleaf1, Karen H. Weiller1 and Catriona Higgs2, (1)University of North Texas, Denton, TX, (2)Slippery Rock University, Slippery Rock, PA

Mass media often reflects and perpetuates a hegemonic view of society (Herman & Chomsky, 1988) resulting in the marginalization of particular groups, such as women. Daddario (1998) has suggested that the perception of so-called “natural” sex differences is reinforced through media presentations that privilege men over women. Historically, sport has been considered a masculine domain and while strides have been made towards sport as a more inclusive domain, “gender privilege” (Jaggar, 1991) still exists. Examination and analysis of media presentation of elite athletic events, such as the Olympic Games, is critical as media continue to serve as a frame of reference for societal attitudes towards masculinity and femininity. The purpose of this study was to examine televised coverage of the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in order to determine the amount of time and quality of coverage devoted to men’s and women’s same sport activities. Additionally, data from the 2000 Games were compared to data from a previous study examining the 1996 Atlanta Games (Weiller, Higgs, & Martin, 1996). NBC presented 162.5 hours of 2000 Olympic coverage, which was videotaped. Coverage of sports participated in by both male and female athletes (i.e., basketball, volleyball, baseball/softball, soccer, gymnastics, swimming, diving, track and field, water polo, rowing, and cycling) was content analyzed. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted using methodology from previous media analysis studies (Duncan & Hasbrook, 1988; Duncan & Messner, 2000; Weiller et al., 1996). Quantitative analysis focused on the amount of time devoted to each competition and segments time lengths. Qualitative analysis focused on the narrative used by commentators to describe athletes and events. Quantitative analysis revealed that two men’s sports, basketball (89%) and cycling (82%) were featured for a greater percentage of total time than the women’s events, while four women’s events received a much greater percentage of total time, volleyball (82%), softball (98%), soccer (96%) and water polo (70%). Qualitative analysis indicated that ambivalent comments (i.e., comments presenting both a positive and negative slant on the athlete’s performance), hierarchy of naming (i.e., referring to athletes by their first name, indicating familiarity), and gender marking (i.e., verbal and graphic indications of events as specifically women’s events) were made more frequently about female athletes, while nicknames were used or commented on more frequently for male athletes. Comparison of 1996 and 2000 Games revealed both improvements and stagnation in media production and coverage of women’s events.

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