Women's sports coverage: online images of the 2008 Olympic Games

Article


Jones, Dianne. 2010. "Women's sports coverage: online images of the 2008 Olympic Games." Australian Journalism Review. 32 (2), pp. 89-102.
Article Title

Women's sports coverage: online images of the 2008 Olympic Games

ERA Journal ID9203
Article CategoryArticle
Authors
AuthorJones, Dianne
Journal TitleAustralian Journalism Review
Journal Citation32 (2), pp. 89-102
Number of Pages14
Year2010
Place of PublicationAdelaide, Australia
ISSN0810-2686
Abstract

A content analysis of sports photographs from the 2008 Olympic Games on ABC News Online shows greater exposure for sportswomen who stepped outside the boundaries of conventionally appropriate female behaviour to participate in power sports and team sports. Yet, in total, female athletes received far fewer photographs than male athletes. Frequent depictions of them as passive subjects rather than active competitors in their sports echoed the historic and stereotypical treatment of women in sports media. News Online's coverage was heavily tilted towards three types of sports – swimming, athletics and basketball – limiting the opportunity for portrayals of successful female and male athletes in lesser-profile Olympic sports. The findings of this study are also compared with News Online's reporting of two previous consecutive Olympics.

Keywordsmedia coverage; sports; women; women's sports; Olympic Games; 2008
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020470101. Communication studies
470105. Journalism studies
440599. Gender studies not elsewhere classified
Public Notes

File reproduced in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher/author.

Byline AffiliationsSchool of Humanities and Communication
Institution of OriginUniversity of Southern Queensland
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