UNT study: Gender bias still evident in media's coverage of the Olympics

When the Summer Olympics begin Aug. 13 in Athens, Greece, female athletes can count on having more time on U.S. television than ever before, thanks to coverage by six NBC networks. But according to a UNT research team, increased coverage of female athletes will probably not result in equitable coverage of male and female athletes if past Summer Olympics coverage on NBC is any indication.

Commentators will probably focus more on female athletes' appearances and personal lives than on their athletic ability, call the female athletes by their first names and refer to them as girls, researchers say.

Karen Weiller and Christy Greenleaf of the Department of Kinesiology, Health Promotion and Recreation, and Catriona Higgs, professor of physical education at Slippery Rock University in Pennsylvania, reviewed NBC's broadcasts of the Summer Olympics in 2000 (Sydney), 1996 (Atlanta) and 1992 (Barcelona) to analyze coverage of sports that include both male and female athletes, comparing the references commentators make about female athletes and male athletes.

Sports analyzed included basketball, volleyball, gymnastics, swimming, diving, baseball/softball, track and field, water polo, soccer, rowing and cycling.

The results of the research showed that men's sports and male athletes are taken more seriously by commentators than women's sports and female athletes. Weiller, Greenleaf and Higgs plan to continue their research by analyzing coverage of the Athens Olympics.

BY NANCY KOLSTI nkolsti@unt.edu

Other featured articles in this issue

• Defense bill approved by Congress includes $4.8 million for UNT
• 2004 proclaimed ‘Year of the University Press'
• UNT summer commencement is Saturday
• About the commencement speaker
• Scholarship established to honor pioneering students, North Texas' desegregation
• Campus Chat changes to be unveiled Aug. 30
• Add, make changes to benefits this month
• UNT libraries conducting school supply drive benefiting Denton-area children
• Hop a bus to Austin for the Mean Green football season opener
• Avoid sales tax as you outfit your Mean Green wardrobe
• UNT enrollment for the 2004 Summer II term down slightly from 2003 official count

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