| dc.description.abstract | The purpose of this research was to collect empirical
data on the Globe and Mail sports section coverage of
the Modern Winter Olympic Games from 1924 to 1992;
focusing on the coverage of male and female athletes in
relation to Winter Olympic participation rates. All
Globe and Mail newspapers (177) printed that transpired
during the Winter Olympic Games time frame were
analyzed. Content Analysis was performed on 1,184
articles and 532 pictorials appearing in the Globe and
Mail that related to the Winter Olympic Games.
Variables used to examine text and pictorials included:
size, gender reported/depicted, sport, location, type,
performance reported, affiliation and source of
article. Frequency counts and percentages were used to
compare the coverage of male and female athletes. Oneway
ANOVA and ANOVA with a Student-Newman-Keuls
procedure were used to determine if significant
differences existed between the above indices. The
study revealed that the Globe and Mail coverage of the
Winter Olympic Gcunes underrepresented female athletes
compared to male athletes, used few female sport
journalists, and often depicted women in "sex
appropriate” sports. In this study it was discovered
that male Winter Olympic athletes are written about
four (647 to 144) times as much-and photographed three
(346 to 131) times as much as their female
counterparts. Coverage of male and female athletes did
not correlate with participation rates of male and
female athletes. Articles were written by male
reporters almost six (431 to 75) times more frequently
than female reporters. The mean size of articles about
female athletes was significantly larger than the
articles about male athletes (F(l,6) = 5.41, p=.001). | |
