Content analysis of The Globe and Mail sports section coverage of the Winter Olympic Games

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).