This report examines how the National Broadcasting Company’s (NBC’s) primetime telecasts of the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympic Games and the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games presented male and female athletes. Clock-time analyses (of how much time each sporting event was featured in primetime) and salience analyses (of the most mentioned athletes by NBC employees) are reported. Results show that women received the majority of clock-time and name mentions during both Olympiads, a further continuation of NBC’s most recent Olympic broadcast practices, which appears to continue to be driven by American women winning the majority of the United States’ medals during both the Summer and Winter Games.
BillingsA. C.AngeliniJ. R. (2019). Equity achieved? A longitudinal examination of biological sex representation in the NBC olympic telecast (2000–2018). Communication & Sport, 7(5), 551–564. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167479519863652
3.
BillingsA. C.AngeliniJ. R.MacArthurP. J. (2018). Olympic television: Broadcasting the biggest show on Earth. Routledge.
4.
BillingsA. C.AngeliniJ. R.MacArthurP. J.BissellK.SmithL. R. (2014). (Re) calling London: The gender frame agenda within NBC’s primetime broadcast of the 2021 Olympiad. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 91(1), 38–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077699013514416
5.
BillingsA. C.HardinM. (2022a). Celebrating a decade of intellectual development – and a vision for the future of communication and sport. Communication & Sport, 10(1), 3–5. https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795211055516
6.
BillingsA. C.HardinM. (2022b). Gender, sports, and cultural barometers: The state of play in the year 2022. Communication & Sport, 10(4), 591–593. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167479522111169
ButterworthM. L.KassingJ. W. (2015). Introduction to “mapping the terrain”: Shaping the landscape of communication and sport scholarship. Communication & Sport, 3(1), 3–7. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167479514544952
10.
CohenB. C. (1963). Press and foreign policy. Princeton University Press.
11.
CookyC.CouncilL. D.MearsM. A.MessnerM. A. (2021). One and done: The long eclipse of women’s televised sports, 1989-2019. Communication & Sport, 9(3), 347–371. https://doi.org/10.1177/21674795211003524
12.
GhanemS. (1997). Filling in the tapestry: The second level of agenda setting. In McCombsM.ShawD. L.WeaverD. (Eds.), Communication and democracy (pp. 3–14). Erlbaum.
JacksonD.TrevisanF.PullenE.SilkM. (2020). Towards a social justice disposition in communication and sport scholarship. Communication & Sport, 8(4–5), 435–451. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167479520932929
15.
McCombsM. E.ShawnD. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. The Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187.
16.
MustoM.CookyC.MessnerM. A. (2017). “From fizzle to sizzle!”: Televised sports news and the production of gender-bland sexism. Gender & Society, 31(5), 573–596. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243217726056
