Artifact:

Introduction

The Olympics are known as the most popular sporting event every two years. They bring

countries together in unity and patriotism. Another hot-button topic currently is gender equality. This past

January 21st, millions of people ever participated in a world-wide women’s march. Women and men are

standing up across the country for equality for both genders. Bringing these two together a common idea

is equal screen time for male and female sports.

This is important because no person is better than another. All of these athletes are world-class

and are representing their country. They have all earned the honor of being an Olympic athlete. Both

sexes deserve the same amount of viewers and screen time. This study will continue on further research

by looking at a future Olympic games. It is going to be done in a further-forward political and social

climate. It is hoped that the numbers will come out even. If the data comes back skewed one way or the

other, then the research will be used to convince those in charge to give both sexes the same amount of

screen-time.

Literature Review

There has always been a clear separation in media coverage between male and female athletics

(Huffman, Tuggle, & Rosengard, 2004). Whether it’s your college campus newspaper, or ESPN, or even

the Olympic Games; there has always been a clear separation in media coverage (Jones, 2013). The future

of women’s athletics coverage in the media looks promising though, throughout the last three decades the

equality between the sexes has grown (Jones, 2006).

The Olympic Games are the biggest sporting event on the planet, yielding coverage from major

news networks such as ABC, BBC, CBC and TVNC (Jones, 2013). In a 2013 study on media coverage of

the 2008 Olympic, Games Dianne Jones discovered that of nearly 200 headline worth stories over 60% of

those stories were of male athletes (Jones, 2013). Even between the four networks listed above there is

significant variance in the amount of coverage females received during the olympics (Jones, 2013).
TVNZ was the worst when it came to the representation of women, only giving female athletes one-third

of their coverage time (Jones, 2013). During the 2008 Olympics, TVNZ referenced a woman’s

appearance in 38% of stories, comparable to only 24% of male oriented stories (Jones, 2013). These

stories included sexually suggestive phrases such as: ‘she said as she caressed the glamming medal

around her neck. Looking pretty and pink, Liukin…’ and ‘Australia’s Libby Trickett was told by coaches

to do what every woman hates-build up her backside’ (Jones, 2013, p. 255). In stories about male athletes

they are rarely, if ever, compared to women athletes, but this happens way too often with women athletes,

being compared to men (Jones, 2013). For example, an ABC story praised U.S. swimmer Katie Hoff as

“The Female Phelps” (Jones, 2013).

Regardless of all the stereotypes surrounding women and the media, in 2008 ABC bucked a

historic trend by giving the most female coverage out of any other news source covering the Olympic

Games (Jones, 2013). This move by ABC sparked an all-time high in interest, worldwide, of female

athletics (Jones, 2013).

A huge point to look at is how the Olympic Games have increased from three events for women

in 1900, to 137 in 2008 (Delorme, 2014). As well as the number of women in the games in general from

zero in 1996, all the way to 4,637 women in 2008 (Delorme, 2014). According to Delorme (2014) women

made up only 42% compared to men who made up 58% in 2008 (Delorme, 2014)

Dianne Jones has found that in Australia for the 2000 Olympics, females were featured by ​ABC

News Online​, 53% of the time compared to males 47% (Jones, 2006). On the other hand, an American,

and more recent study by Jones has showed that across four major news companies; ​ABC, BBC, CBC, ​and

TVNC​, 62% of online photos were of men (French, 2013). According to French, who conducted her study

in New Zealand, “73.61 percent of articles analysed were male focused, while 6.08 percent were female

focused” (French, 2013, p. 44). Also she talks about how males being on the front page occured over 15

times, while females had 0 such occasions (French, 2013). Im Nicolas Delorme’s study, the goal was to
find whether or not women were being underrepresented in the summer Olympic games (Delorme, 2014).

The findings show that women They are either equitably represented (28.79%) or significantly

overrepresented (46.97%) (Delorme, 2014). All of these studies will help set a precedent for our

Hypothesis. They give researchers an idea of what has come before them and what they should expect

from their studies.

In a more recent study conducted by Billings et al. analyzed 69 hours of NBC’s primetime

coverage of the 2012 Olympics collected data on how athletes were portrayed by societal norms through

commentary (Billings et al., 2014) The study was based around five major sports that had received over

three hours of television coverage. Using gender unbiased sports, they concluded that overall, male

athletes were more likely to have their successes attributed to experience, while Females were more likely

to have their successes attributed to consonance (Billings et al., 2014). Billings et al. also asked “What

types of gendered descriptions of personality or physicality overall are most likely to emerge across all of

the five major Summer Olympic sports during NBC’s primetime Olympic broadcast?” (2014, p. 149).

This question found that overall female athletes were more likely to receive comments about their

emotions, and attractiveness (Billings et al., 2014). While, male athletes received comments pertaining to

“other” category encompassing unique commentary (Billings et al., 2014).

​ mmons and Mocarski used a visual analysis of Facebook profile

In ​She poses, He performs, E

pictures to perform the research (2014). Although this study was based on self-presentation rather than

how media portrays athlete, it still showed how athletes are portrayed in society. The study hypothesized

that “Female athletes will be more likely to portray themselves as stereotypically feminine in profile

pictures than male athletes are to present themselves as stereotypically masculine.” (Emmons &

Mocarski, 2014. p. 130). After performing a chi-square test they found 76% of male athletes were

wearing the uniform of their sport, While 72% of female athletes were wearing the uniform of their sport

(Emmons & Mocarski, 2014). They decided to conduct a second chi-square test which was used to
compare the facial expressions of males and females. This test found a more significant conclusion

(Emmons & Mocarski, 2014). Males were likely to look like they were concentrating 59% of the time,

while females were likely to look like they were concentrating 33% of the time (Emmons & Mocarski,

2014). The chi-square test had inconclusive data on how often males were smiling, while females smiled

60% of the time (Emmons & Mocarski, 2014). Lastly, males and females both had a sexual gaze 4% of

the time (Emmons & Mocarski, 2014). Another significant finding was discovered during this process,

which was the fact that males were more likely to look away from the camera (78%), while Females were

less likely to look away (51%)(Emmons & Mocarski, 2014). In the study motion was also studied, this

showed significant difference, males were in motion 52% of the time, while females were in motion 25%

of the time (Emmons & Mocarski, 2014).

Regardless of how mainstream media outlets cover certain genders in sports athletes are now able

to represent themselves because of social media (Smith & Sanderson, 2015). A study by Smith and

Sanderson (2015) yielded 1,063 photographs from 27 different professional athletes, these photos did not

depict only scenery, food, or objects (Smith & Sanderson, 2015). In these photos 94% depicted the athlete

in an upright athletic position (Smith & Sanderson, 2015). Surprisingly, 99% of the pictures did not

emphasize the butt area, 94% didn’t show off the chest area, and 95% showed zero suggestion of sex at all

(Smith & Sanderson, 2015). In the study females were more likely to have unrevealing and slightly

revealing photos than men (Smith & Sanderson, 2015). Females were significantly more likely to

emphasize their breast in photos and overall were more likely to pose in a somewhat sexual way (Smith &

Sanderson, 2015).

Media biases are not only an issue on the large scale, but also at universities across the United

States (Huffman et al., 2004). In Huffman’s article about gender equality in media coverage the article

concludes that Title IX does not guarantee equal media coverage in sports (Huffman et al., 2004). Title IX

simply guarantees male and female athletes have equal access to sport participation on campus (Huffman
et al., 2004). ​Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 is a federal law that states: "No person

in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of,

or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial

assistance (Huffman et al., 2004). Even though there is a clear difference in the quantity of coverage

between male and female athletics, there isn’t necessarily a difference in the quality of coverage between

the sexes (Huffman et al., 2004). Many times the same broadcasters and writers report both male and

female sporting events (Huffman et al., 2004). Although these broadcasters usually cover male athletics,

when they do cover female athletics they broadcast the same way they would for a male athletic event

(Huffman et al., 2004). Society may be the main contributor to the problem with campus media between

the sexes (Huffman et al., 2004). “By the time they are in college, student journalists and those who make

their story assignment might already be socialized into believing that men’s sports is more worthy of

coverage than women's athletics is” (Huffman et al, 2004, p. 486).

Methodology

The study will be conducted in the form of a content analysis to test the hypothesis: Men and

women do not have equal representation across all televised competitions during the 2020 Summer

Olympics. This study will be using content analysis because it is the most commonly used for quantitative

data collection. The study will be using a coding sheet to help define the representation and portrayal of

both males and females. The study will be mainly looking at airtime differences between male

competitions and female competitions.

The population that the study will be using is all televised sporting events from the 2020 Summer

Olympics. There are 41 events for the Summer Olympics. There is one, Greco Roman Wrestling, that is a

male only competition, and two, Synchronized Swimming and Gymnastics Rythmic, that are female only

competitions. These will not be included in the study, because it means the study cannot measure men and

women equally. Leaving 39 other events. Out of these 39 events, 12 do not have equal events for the men
and women. Which means that there are only 27 events that will be used in this study, they will have an

equal amount of events being competed, regardless of being televised. They can be found on the coding

sheet.

The coding system for this study is going to use two different coders. The coders will watch all

events and code separately. After completing coding the coders will come together and compare all

coding sheets. If the findings are significantly different between the coders, they will recode and start the

process over. Because there are multiple coders coding on their own, this will increase the validity of the

studies measurement.

The study will be using measures of central tendency to compare the amount of airtime male

competitions receive vs the amount of airtime female competitions receive. With this the study will be

finding the mean, median, and mode of the airtimes. In regards to mean, the study will find the average

difference in airtime male and female competitions receive over all 27 competitions in this study. The

median will help eliminate skewed data and give the study a better understanding of the central tendency.

The mode will help the study find the most frequent televised event and gender in regards to total time.

The data collection is valid due to the fact that it is purely quantitative. All of the coding variables

have a reason to be included in this study. The study will have all Olympic coverage from the 2020

Summer Olympics recorded from all networks that are televising it. The study will then go back and use

the coding sheet to collect the data. These will be valid procedures as the study will only be looking at the

televised coverage. Nothing that was streamed online or that is being shown after-the-fact will be

included.

The study will have multiple variables that the study will be planning on marking down on our

coding sheet. This will allow the study to get a much more holistic understanding of the information. The

sport itself will be important because in studies past, (Emmons & Mocarski, 2014. P. 130), there have

been sports that would be defined as masculine or feminine. The time being broadcast is important due to
the fact that this variable is going to be directly affecting the hypothesis. The time recorded is the

independent variable the study is focusing on. The gender of the athlete is crucial because it, along with

the time, will help the study break down the quantitative data. All of these can be found on the coding

sheet.

Conclusion

This study was designed to test the hypothesis: H1: Men and women do not have equal

representation across all televised competitions during the 2020 Summer Olympics. The data collected

will then be analyzed to find the differences between male and female statistics. As well as individual

sports.

Based on our predicted results it is believed that there is more screen time devoted to males and

what are viewed as more masculine sports during the Olympics. In the review of literature it was

discussed that during broadcasts, females are more likely to have their appearances and emotions

commented on. While for males, most commentary is based on their skill. As well, as most online media

sources have male pictures on their headlines.

There were a few threats to validity as well as limitations on this study. One threat to validity may

have been Personal Expectancy Effect. Due to the three main researchers being male, they may expect

there to be more male coverage to start out. Another threat to this study is the Lack of Procedure

Reliability. This threat was combated by the repeated data collection by using two different coders who

each do the same amount of data collection. One limitation of this study will be that it is only covering

one of the Olympic games in only one season. An idea for further research could be doing the same study

but over a longer period of time with multiple seasons and years covered.

There is no limit to the amount of future research that is possible in terms of gender equality in

sports. One possible avenue is viewership in the male vs. female world cups. It would be very interesting
to see in different countries, whether they are participating or not, do the males or females generate more

viewers. A different way research could be done for the Olympics could be done on whether certain

sports are viewed as masculine or feminine. This was previously defined in a study by Dianne Jones

(2006). A final possible avenue for research would be to use interviews or surveys on why there is a

difference between the popularity of the NBA and WNBA.

This study tests the following Hypothesis:

H: As more women compete in the olympics specifically, more women will be represented in the

media and there will be more interest in female sports worldwide.

 References

Billings, A. C., Angelini, J. R., MacArthur, P. J., Bissell, K., Smith, L. R., & Brown, N. A. (2014).

Where the gender differences really reside: The ‘‘Big Five’’ sports featured in NBC’s 2012

London primetime Olympic broadcast. ​Communication Research Reports,​ ​31(​ 2), pp. 141-153.

doi:10.1080/08824096.2014.097142

Delorme, N. (2014). Were women really underrepresented in media coverage of Summer Olympic

Games (1984–2008) An invitation to open a methodological discussion regarding sex equity

in sports media. ​Mass Communication and Society, 17,​ 121-147.

doi:​10.1080/15205436.2013.816740

Emmons, B., & Mocarski, R. (2014). She poses, He performs: A visual content analysis of male and

female professional athlete facebook profile photos. ​Visual Communication Quarterly,​ ​21​(3),

pp. 125-137. doi:10.1080/15551393.2014.893752

French, S. (2013). Still not there: the continued invisibility of female athletes and sports in the New

Zealand print media. ​Media International Australia, 148,​ 39-50.

Huffman, S., Tuggle, C. A., & Rosengard, D. S. (2004). How campus media cover sports: The

gender- equity issue, one generation later. ​Mass Communication and Society,​ 7(4), 475-489.

doi:10.1207/s15327825mcs0704_6
Jones, D. (2006). The representation of female athletes in online images of successive Olympic Games.

Pacific Journalism Review, 12​(1), 108-129.

Jones, D. (2013). Online coverage of the 2008 Olympic games on the ABC, BBC, CBC and TVNZ.

Pacific Journalism Review​, 19(1), 244-263.

Smith, L. R., & Sanderson, J. (2015). I'm going to Instagram it! An analysis of athlete

self-presentation on Instagram. ​Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,​ 59(2), 342-358.

doi:10.1080/08838151.2015.1029125

Reflection:

I believe that in the COM150: Research Methodology, I was able to demonstrate the ability to

conduct systematic inquiry. This class was apart of my second semester sophomore year and was a great

introduction to how the communication field does meaningful research. Before this class I had no clue

that there was any research being done on communication, let alone that it involved topics that I

interacted with every day. The purpose behind the final prospectus assignment was to complete

everything that a normal researcher would do in a communication research project except collect and

analyze the data. The research project that we decided to conduct was a content analysis and it was

designed to test the hypothesis: Men and women do not have equal representation across all televised

competitions during the 2020 Summer Olympics. We chose this content analysis because it was in the

future, and we were able to discuss past Summer Olympics during our review of literature. There are

many different aspects of the final prospectus assignment that demonstrated my ability to conduct

systematic inquiry skillfully. The project was assigned right around the time that the women's march was
happening. Combining that with the Olympics, which are a event televised that can be perfect for content

analysis, created the perfect timing for a research project that would be able to impact readers’ everyday

lives. In the review of literature I was able to pull in the past, present, and future of coverage of women in

the media. Once overall coverage was addressed, I was able to pull in more information on the Olympic

coverage of males vs. females. Following this a study that discussed how athletes, males vs. females,

portrayed themselves on Facebook was an excellent introduction to the legal aspect of title nine. I would

change one thing about the literature review and that is that I wasn’t able to find any articles or research

papers discussing the viewers opinion on what sports were the most desired to be seen. I think that the

viewers perspective is something that has been left out on the research but, in hindsight I would have

caught it during revisions when conducting the actual research. The methodology of this paper has a valid

testing measure due to it being a content analysis, there was a coding sheet that was created. The 27

Olympic Events that have an equal amount of competitions for males and females would be the only ones

that were tested. There would be coders that use the coding sheet to measure airtime, it would be purely

quantitative data collection. From there the sport, gender of the athlete, and airtime would all be analyzed

and discussed in the conclusion section. I believe that this paper and the subsequent sections of this paper

show why I have learned how to conduct systematic inquiry skillfully.