‘Nothing to report’: a semi-longitudinal investigation of the print media coverage of sportswomen in British Sunday newspapers

Abstract

The under-representation of female athletes by print media has been widely acknowledged by feminist media scholars. However, there have been a number of recent studies which suggest that things are changing in terms of progress towards gender equality. In light of such studies this article examines the representation of sportswomen in five British Sunday newspapers, three broadsheets (The Sunday Times, The Observer and The Sunday Telegraph), and two tabloids (the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Express), over a 24-month period (January 2008–December 2009). The results suggest that sportswomen are still overwhelmingly under-represented in British print media.

Keywords

coverage equality newspapers representation sportswomen Sunday

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