Gender Differences in Sports News Coverage on Twitter

Clara Sainz- de-Baranda, Alba Adá-Lameiras and Marian Blanco-Ruiz
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Clara Sainz- de-Baranda: Department of Communication Studies, Faculty of Humanities, Communication and Library and Science, University Carlos III of Madrid, Getafe, 28903 Madrid, Spain
Alba Adá-Lameiras: University Institute on Gender Studies, University Carlos III of Madrid, 28903 Getafe, Spain
Marian Blanco-Ruiz: University Institute on Gender Studies, University Carlos III of Madrid, 28903 Getafe, Spain

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 14, 1-13

Abstract: Gender stereotypes influence boys’ and girls’ self-perception, with the differential treatment received by sports figures in the media being one of the main factors in the perpetuation of stereotypes about sports. The objective of this research is to analyze if the new communication channels, such as Twitter, maintain gender stereotypes when reporting sports news. For this purpose, the four most followed media in Spain were analyzed: ( @ElPais_Deportes , @ABC_Deportes , @Marca and @MundoDeportivo ) over a period of five months, from March to June 2016. Our sample was composed of 6544 tweets, with 96.19% about sportsmen compared to 3.81% that portrayed women. The sport with the most media coverage was football (72.11%), for men as well as for women, followed by basketball (6.63%). It is clear that despite the growing international triumphs of Spanish women athletes in recent years, the latter continue to be underrepresented in the media. Female athletes receive more media coverage according to the sport which they engage in (“gender-appropriate” sports), with the exception of football, and not in accordance with their accomplishments. Twitter remains at the service of traditional media replicating the same gender biases and even augmenting them.

Keywords: sport; gender; twitter; mass media; journalism; female athletes; women (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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