The last quarter century has seen a dramatic movement of girls and women into sport, but this social change is reflected unevenly in sports media. This study, a 5-year update to a 25-year longitudinal study, indicates that the quantity of coverage of women’s sports in televised sports news and highlights shows remains dismally low. Even more so than in past iterations of this study, the lion’s share of coverage is given to the “big three” of men’s pro and college football, basketball, and baseball. The study reveals some qualitative changes over time, including a decline in the once-common tendency to present women as sexualized objects of humor replaced by a tendency to view women athletes in their roles as mothers. The analysis highlights a stark contrast between the exciting, amplified delivery of stories about men’s sports, and the often dull, matter-of-fact delivery of women’s sports stories. The article ends with suggestions for three policy changes that would move TV sports news and highlights shows toward greater gender equity and fairness.
AcostaV. R.CarpenterL. J. (2015). Women in intercollegiate sport: A longitudinal national study, thirty-seven year update, 1977-2014. Retrieved fromhttp://www.acostacarpenter.org/
2.
AdamsT.TuggleC. A. (2004). ESPN’s SportsCenter and coverage of women’s athletics: ‘‘It’s a boys’ club.’’Mass Communication and Society, 7, 237–248.
3.
Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles. (1990, 1994, 2000, 2005). Gender in televised sports report. Retrieved fromhttp://www.la84.org/reports/
4.
BernsteinA. (2002). Is it time for a victory lap? Changes in the media coverage of women in sport. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 37, 415–428.
5.
BillingsA. C.YoungB. D. (2015). Comparing flagship news programs: Women’s sports coverage in ESPN’s SportsCenter and FOX Sports 1’s Sports Live. Electronic News, 9, 3–16.
6.
BurstynV. (1999). The rights of men: Manhood, politics and the culture of sport. Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.
7.
CapleH.GreenwoodK.LumbyC. (2011). What league?: The representation of female athletes in Australian sports coverage. Media International Australia, 140, 137–146.
CookyC. (2009). ‘Girls just aren’t interested’: The social construction of interest in girls’ sport. Sociological Perspectives, 52, 259–283.
10.
CookyC.MessnerM. A.HextrumR. (2013). Women play sports, but not on TV: A longitudinal study of televised news media. Communication & Sport, 1, 203–230.
11.
CookyC.WachsF. L.MessnerM. A.DworkinS. L. (2010). It’s not about the game: Don Imus, race, class, gender and sexuality in contemporary media. Sociology of Sport Journal, 27, 139–159.
12.
DanielsE. A. (2009). Sex objects, athletes and sexy athletes: How media representations of women athletes can impact adolescent girls and college women. Journal of Adolescent Research, 24, 399–423.
13.
DuncanM. C.HasbrookC. A. (1988). Denial of power in televised women’s sports. Sociology of Sport Journal, 5, 1–21.
14.
EastmanS. T.BillingsA. C. (2001). Sportscasting and sports reporting: The power of gender bias. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 24, 192–213.
15.
EtlingL.YoungR. (2007). Sexism and authoritativeness of female sportscasters. Communication Research Reports, 24, 121–130.
16.
FarredG. (2000). Cool as the other side of the pillow: How ESPN’s SportsCenter has changed television sports talk. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 24, 96–117.
17.
FleissJ. L.LevinB.PaikM. C. (2005). Statistical methods for rates and proportions. Malden, MA: Wiley InterScience.
18.
GreerJ. D.HardinM.HomanC. (2009). “Naturally” less exciting?: Visual production of men’s and women’s track and field coverage during the 2004 Olympics. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53, 173–189.
19.
HardinM.ChanceJ.DoddJ.HardinB. (2002). Olympic photo coverage fair to female athletes. Newspaper Research Journal, 2, 64–78.
20.
KaneM. J.BuysseJ. (2005). Intercollegiate guides as contested terrain: A longitudinal analysis. Sociology of Sport Journal, 22, 214–238.
21.
KaneM. J.LaVoiN. M.FinkJ. S. (2013). Exploring elite female athletes’ interpretations of sport media images: A window into the construction of social identity and “selling sex” in women’s sports. Communication & Sport, 1, 1–31.
22.
KianE. T. M.VincentJ.ModelloM. (2008). Masculine hegemonic hoops: An analysis of media coverage of March Madness. Sociology of Sport Journal, 25, 235–242.
23.
KoivulaN. (1999). Gender stereotyping in televised media sports coverage. Sex Roles, 41, 589–604.
24.
LaVoiN. M.BuysseJ.MaxwellH. D.KaneM. J. (2007). The influence of occupational status and sex of decision maker on media representations in intercollegiate athletics. Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal, 15, 32–43.
25.
McKayS.DalliereC. (2009). Campus newspaper coverage of varsity sports: Getting closer to equitable and sports-related representations of female athletes?International Review of the Sociology of Sport, 44, 25–40.
26.
MessnerM. A. (2002). Taking the field: Women, men and sports. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
27.
MessnerM. A. (2009). It’s all for the kids: Gender, families and youth sports. Berkeley: University of California Press.
28.
MessnerM. A. (2011). Gender ideologies, youth sports, and the production of soft essentialism. Sociology of Sport Journal, 28, 151–170.
29.
MessnerM. A.DunbarM.HuntD. (2000). The televised sports manhood formula. Journal of Sport & Social Issues, 24, 380–94.
30.
MessnerM. ADuncanM. C.CookyC. (2003). Silence, sports bras, and wrestling porn: The treatment of women in televised sports news and highlights. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 27, 38–51.
31.
MessnerM. A.DuncanM. C.JensenK. (1993). Separating the men from the girls: The gendered language of televised sports. Gender & Society, 7, 121–137.
32.
MessnerM. A.DuncanM. C.WachsF. L. (1996). The gender of audience-building: Televised coverage of men’s and women’s NCAA basketball. Sociological Inquiry, 66, 422–439.
33.
MessnerM. A.DuncanM. C.WillmsN. (2006). This revolution is not being televised. Contexts: Understanding People in Their Social Worlds, 5, 34–38.
34.
MillerK. E.MelnickM. J.BarnesG. M.FarrellM.SaboD. (2005).Untangling the links among athletic involvement: Gender, race, and adolescent academic outcomes. Sociology of Sport Journal, 22, 178–193.
35.
MustoM. (2014). Athletes in the pool, girls and boys on deck: The contextual construction of gender in coed youth swimming. Gender & Society, 28, 359–380.
36.
NylundD. (2004). When in Rome: Heterosexism, homophobia and sports talk radio. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 28, 136–168.
37.
Rightler-McDanielsJ. (2014). Changes through the lens?: U.S. photographic newspaper coverage of female athletes. Sport in Society, 17, 1076–1094.
38.
SaboD.VelizP. (2008). Go out and play: Youth sports in America. East Meadow, NY: Women’s Sports Foundation.
39.
ShefferM. L.SchultzB. (2007). Double standard: Why women have trouble getting jobs in local television sports. Journal of Sports Media, 2, 77–101.
40.
TuggleC. A. (1997). Differences in television sports reporting of men’s and women’s athletics: ESPN SportsCenter and CNN Sports Tonight. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 41, 14–24.
41.
TurnerJ. S. (2014). A longitudinal content analysis of gender and ethnicity portrayals on ESPN’s SportsCenter from 1999-2009. Communication & Sport, 4, 303–327.
42.
WebberJ. D.CarniR. M. (2013). Where are the female athletes in Sports Illustrated?: A content analysis of covers (2000-2011). International Review for the Sociology of Sports, 48, 196–203.
43.
WhitesideE.HardinM. (2012). On being a “good sport” in the workplace: Women, the glass ceiling, and negotiated resignation in sports information. International Journal of Sport Communication, 5, 51–68.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
