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Examining Equity in Newspaper Photographs

A Content Analysis of the Print Media Photographic Coverage of Interscholastic Athletics

Bowling Green State University, USA

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.

Key Words: content analysis • hegemonic masculinity • interscholastic athletics • newspaper • photographic coverage

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, Vol. 37, No. 3-4, 303-318 (2002)
DOI: 10.1177/1012690202037004895


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