Examining Equity in Newspaper Photographs
- 1 December 2002
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in International Review for the Sociology of Sport
- Vol. 37 (3-4), 303-318
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690202037004895
Abstract
Sport has long been considered the generic preserve of males. Because of hegemonic masculinity, females have encountered myriad obstacles in their quest to participate in and receive the benefits from sports. The mass media have aided in the establishment of these barriers with their biased coverage of the institution of sport. While the existence of under-representative and stereotyped coverage of females has been documented across the various media and sport participation levels, there has not been any determination of equitable coverage at the interscholastic level. This content analysis, through its investigation of the newspaper photographic coverage given to high school athletics, seeks to fill this void. A total of 827 photographs were examined from 602 randomly selected newspaper issues. The sample was taken over a one-year timeframe from all the daily newspapers (n= 43) based in the State of Florida. The study found that female athletics, even when compared to the independent standards of enrollment, participation, and sports offered, were significantly under-represented in number of photographs and total photographic column inches. Male athletics not only received more photographic coverage, their photographs were also better positioned and more likely to be color photographs. Collectively, the newspapers upheld hegemonic masculinity through their under-representation and marginalization of high school female athletics.Keywords
This publication has 32 references indexed in Scilit:
- The Globe and Mail Coverage of the Winter Olympic GamesJournal of Sport and Social Issues, 1999
- Pretty Versus Powerful in the Sports PagesJournal of Sport and Social Issues, 1999
- THE INEQUITABLE NEWSPAPER COVERAGE OF MEN'S AND WOMEN'S ATHLETICS AT SMALL, MEDIUM, AND LARGE UNIVERSITIESJournal of Sport and Social Issues, 1998
- GENDER (IN)EQUITY IN THE NCAA NEWS?Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 1994
- GENDER EQUITY IN SPORTS MEDIA COVERAGE: A REVIEW OF THE NCAA NEWSJournal of Sport and Social Issues, 1994
- What is hegemonic masculinity?Theory and Society, 1993
- Images of Men in Sport Media: The Social Reproduction of Gender OrderPublished by SAGE Publications ,1992
- The Post Title IX Female Athlete in the MediaJournal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 1989
- Sport and the Oppression of WomenJournal of Sociology, 1983
- Reliability of Content Analysis: The Case of Nominal Scale CodingPublic Opinion Quarterly, 1955