Kelly Thayer
Dr. Ted Gournelos
CMC 200
9/28/12
Annotated Bibliography
Adams, Terry and C.A. Tuggle. “ESPN’s SportsCenter and Coverage of Women’s Athletics:
“’It’s a Boys’ Club.’” Mass Communication & Society 7, no. 2 (2004): 237-248.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=97cab672-274a-41a2-b088d1600c7d5fcc%40sessionmgr113&vid=4&hid=126.
This article focused on a comparison to a prior study of female athletes’ under-representation in
sports media. The initial study was a content analysis of CNN’s Sports Tonight and ESPN’s
SportsCenter highlights in 1997, which revealed only 5% of these highlights were of female
athletes. The amount of media airtime women received in the 1997 study concluded the fact that
female athletics were secondary and insignificant. The reproduction of this study was conducted
in 2002 for a four-week period content analysis of ESPN’s SportsCenter late night highlights.
The results of the study showed a shockingly lower percentage of women’s athletics were
featured on these programs. The original study has only predetermined what the results were in
the second study, where women are still being marginalized within ESPN’s SportsCenter. The
article will aid me in arguing that women’s sports are under-represented in the media as well as
an aspect of how female athletes are portrayed differently than male athletes in television.
Angelini, James R. “Television Sports and Athlete Sex: Looking At the Differences in Watching
Male and Female Athletes.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 5, no. 21
(2008): 16-32. doi: 10.1080/10934520701820752.
The study conducted in this article used a different method to researching the content of men
and women’s sports. Through an interpretive approach, this paper examines the psychological
affect of men and women’s sporting events on its viewers. 53 (28 female and 25 male)
undergrad participants were tested on self-reported arousal and psychological responses while
viewing televised sports clips of the same and opposite sex. The results show for both male and
female viewers that there were higher levels of self-reported arousal while viewing male
athletes but there were no differences in psychological arousal while viewing male or female
athletes. High levels of self-reported arousal support the idea that we are taught to believe that
male sporting events are more interesting and therefore provoke these higher psychological
measures. These findings are crucial to my study in differentiating the affect visual
representations of male and female athletes play on its viewers and how sports media viewers
respond.
Angelini, James R. and Andrew C. Billings. “An Agenda That Sets the Frames: Gender,
Language, and NBC’s Americanized Olympic Telecast” Journal of Language & Social
Psychology 29, no. 3 (2010): 363-385. doi: 10.1177/0261927X10368831.
Prime-time coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics focused 90% of its broadcasting on five
sports (gymnastics, diving, swimming, track and field, and beach volleyball) including both male
and female competitors. A content analysis of 74.5 hours (equal time of male and female
coverage) of coverage during the 2008 Olympics were analyzing the language used by sports
commentators and how it framed gender. The study focused on specific coding language and
whether this framing was gendered similarly or differently across the five sports. The results of
this study show there were inherent gender differences in commentary/language between male
and female athletes in every sport except for diving. These differences mostly resulted in talk
about successes and failures of the Olympians. Since this article focuses on the gender
differences in commentary of each sport, the study will support me in arguing that female
athletes are being represented differently than male athletes in the media, and specifically in
sports commentary.
Angelini, James R., Paul J. MacArthur and Andrew C. Billings. “What’s The Gendered Story?
Vancouver’s Prime Time Olympic Glory on NBC.” Journal of Broadcasting &
Electronic Media 56, no. 2 (Apr2012): 261-279. doi: 10.1080/08838151.2012.678515.
Compared to the amount of airtime in the Beijing Olympics, the 2010 Vancouver Winter
Olympics displayed a gender variance in airtime with male dominated sports controlling three
fifths more coverage than female sports. The method they used in this study was a content
analysis of the 64 hours of prime time coverage from NBC including comments, descriptors,
commentary, amount of athlete mentions, and the amount of airtime dedicated to each gender
sport. The results confirm men’s sports received 70% more coverage than female sports, men
received more athlete mentions compared to women (including the top 20 mentioned athletes).
There were many gender divides in dialogue referring to men’s and women’s success and
failures. The article heavily studies the affect that dialogue has on gender differences. Statistics
from this study will help me argue that sportscaster dialogue is based on gender and supports the
notion that women are being marginalized in sports casting.
Billings, Andrew C. “From Diving Boards to Pole Vaults: Gendered Athlete Portrayals in the
“Big Four” Sports at the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics.” Southern Communication
Journal 72, no. 4 (2007): 329-344. doi: 10.1080/10417940701667563.
Coverage of the Olympic games is the perfect foundation to analyze gender variances within
sports media. 30 students analyzed a total of 70 hours of prime-time coverage of the 2004
Summer Olympics. Each student was assigned to examine two hours of coverage for gender
biases within the “Big Four” sport (gymnastics, diving, swimming, and track and field). The
study resulted in utter differences within characterizations of male and female athletes in the Big
Four sports. Gymnastics was found to have the highest amount of gender variances within the
coverage and how female and male gymnasts were being reported. There were also significant
differences of gender marking in diving. Swimming and track and field did not produce as many
gender differences within NBC’s commentary, but still notable. The example of gymnastics
within this study is relevant in arguing my point that though male and female gymnasts do not
perform all of the same events, gender marking is inherently present within a same sex sport.
Bissell, Kimberly L. and Andrea M. Duke. “Bump, Set, Spike: An Analysis of Commentary and
Camera Angles of Women’s Beach Volleyball During the 2004 Summer Olympics.”
Journal of Promotion Management 13, no. 1/2 (2007): 35-53. doi:
10.1300/J057v13n01•04.
Sexualizing males and females is a crucial technique used in advertising. Beyond mass media,
sports advertising also use these methods with their own world-class athletes for its viewers.
Portraying athletes not only markets that athlete, but promotes the sport as well. This article is
based on a content analysis of six beach volleyball games in the 2004 Summer Olympics. The
study was testing for the highlighting of sexuality in commentary as well as visual coverage of
the women’s US beach volleyball team of Misty May and Kerri Walsh. Results of the study
showed that sexualized talk and stereotyping was not prevalent in the audio commentary but the
camera angles and camera shots portrayed these female athletes sexually. The camera stills and
videos depicted the USA team in a sexualized manor while also selling the sport through its
athletes as well. Aside from the lack of support of sexualized talk in commentary, the study of
the visual representations of female athletes in televised coverage will play a significant role in
stating that female athletes are sexualized while playing their sports and by the advertising of the
sport.
Carty, Victoria. “Textual Portrayals of Female Athletes.” Frontiers: A Journal of Women
Studies 26, no. 2 (2005): 132-155.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=97cab672-274a-41a2-b088d1600c7d5fcc%40sessionmgr113&vid=16&hid=126.
The employment of Title IX for women encouraged all females to play and compete in sports.
This was the foundation for the popularity of female sports and the social transformations that
went along with it. The article conducts a content analysis of representations of female athletes in
both commercials and textual advertisements. Though the examples of commercial
advertisements were a bit dated (1996), the results relay a message that is still common within
female sports advertisements today. There is an emphasis on aspects of a women’s femininity
and a lack of interest in the athlete’s strengths as a woman. The portrayals of femininity of
women in ads confirm that there are and will be gender differences compared to males in the
media. This article is relevant as it applies history to Title IX as well as female athletes being
sexualized due to their body types through male-dominated sports media.
Duncan, Margaret Carlisle. “Sports Photographs and Sexual Difference: Images of Women and
Men in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic Games.” Sociology of Sport Journal 7, no. 1 (1990):
22-43.
Duncan, Margaret Carlisle and Cynthia A. Hasbrook. “Denial Power in Televised Women’s
Sports.” Sociology of Sport Journal 5, no. 1 (1988): 1-21.
Engleman, Andrea N., Paul M. Pedersen, and Robert Wharton. “Coverage by Gender in ESPN
The Magazine: An Examination of Articles and Photographs.” International Journal of
Sport Management 10, no. 2 (2009): 226-242.
http://iupui.academia.edu/AndreaEagleman/Papers/1085063/Coverage_by_gender_in_ES
PN_The_Magazine_An_examination_of_articles_and_photographs.
Media is extremely important to the world of sports and the promotion and construction of its
athletes. This article focused on a content analysis on ESPN The Magazine, and its representation
of male and female athletes through an examination of articles and photographs. They study
conducted a descriptive analysis of photographic and print from the years 1998-2007. After
coding the articles and photographs throughout these issues of the magazines, results proved the
recurrent theme that men and male sports obtained 96.6% of all articles and females and female
sports received around 3.4% of the articles. Through an examination of the photographs, men
also covered 94.7% of all photographs while women accounted for only 5.3% of the visual
coverage. The gender coding examples within this study will aid me through my study I will
conduct to find gender differences and portrayals in the media, specifically in my content
analysis.
Fink, J.S. and L.J. Kensicki. “An Imperceptible Difference: Visual and Textual Constructions of
Femininity in Sports Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women.” Mass Communication
& Society 5, no. 3 (2002): 317-339. doi: 10.1207/S15327825MCS0503_5.
Sports Illustrated is a magazine that is focused for men and typically under or misrepresents
women and highlights women’s femininity, if included in the issue. The study first analyzed
Sports Illustrated to discover if there had been any progress in coverage of female athletes within
the magazine. Second, the study did a content analysis of photographs and articles in Sports
Illustrated and Sports Illustrated for Women to see if the emphasis on femininity and
construction of gender shown in Sports Illustrated made its way into the pages of the magazine
created for females. Graduate students looking for gender construction descriptors coded nine
issues of each magazine. The results of the Sports Illustrated study showed that women are still
under represented within the magazine. Results of the second study showed no correlation but
that women were still being sexualized more compared to men, which relates to my study of
gender differences in the media.
Kane, Mary Jo. “Media Coverage of the Female Athlete Before, During, and After Title IX:
Sports Illustrated Revisited.” Journal of Sport Management 2, no. 2 (1988): 87-99.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=97cab672-274a-41a2-b088d1600c7d5fcc%40sessionmgr113&vid=28&hid=126.
Kian, Edward Ted M., Michael Mondello and John Vincent. “ESPN-The Women's Sports
Network? A Content Analysis of Internet Coverage of March Madness.” Journal of
Broadcasting & Electronic Media 53, no. 3 (2009): 477-495.
http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=97cab672-274a-41a2-b088d1600c7d5fcc%40sessionmgr113&vid=22&hid=126.
March Madness is a three-week period each spring dedicated to coverage of NCAA Division 1
men and women’s basketball. This study used a content analysis of ESPN’s March Madness
(2006) to compare the gender differences found through television and print sportscasts
compared to the coverage of two sports dominated websites. The study tested for gender-specific
descriptors used by the CBS SportsLine and ESPN Internet sportswriters when writing about
March Madness’ men’s and women’s basketball. The results of this study did not support past
studies with gender-specific descriptors for one sex or the other. Though most of the articles did
focus on the men’s basketball tournament, descriptors examined suggest that the online writers
praised women for their skill and athleticism just as much as they do for men. This article will
help to counteract my assumption of gender differences in the media, but gives hope to equality
of men’s and women’s sports in the future.
Messner, Michael A. “Sports and Male Domination: The Female Athlete as Contested
Ideological Terrain.” Sociology of Sport Journal 5, no. 3 (1988): 197-211.
https://rollins.illiad.oclc.org/illiad/illiad.dll?Action=10&Form=75&Value=35795
Tang, Tang and Roger Cooper. “Gender, Sports, and New Media: Predictors of Viewing during
the 2008 Beijing Olympics.” Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media 56, no. 1
(2012): 75-91. doi: 10.1080/08838151.2011.648685.