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Media Coverage
Researchers have shown that media coverage for women’s sports has been significantly less than the coverage for men’s sports. Millions of young women from all over the world play sports every day. However, the amount of women playing sports does not correspond to the amount of media coverage that they get. In 1989, a study was conducted that recorded and compared the amount of media coverage of men and women’s sports on popular sports commentary shows. They analyzed 3 different two-week periods by recording the amount of time that the stories were on air and the content of the stories. After recording sports news and highlights, they wrote a quantitative description of what they saw and a qualitative of the amount of time that story received.

During the first year that the research was conducted, it was recorded that 5% of the sports segments were based on women’s sports, compared to the 92% that were based on men’s sports. When conducted again in 1993, women’s sports coverage only increased to 5.1% while men’s sports coverage increased to 93.8%. In 1999, women’s sports coverage reached an all-time high when it was recorded at 8.7%. However, in 2004, the percentage decreased to 6.3% and then reached an all time low in 2009, decreasing down to 1.6%. Researchers also measured the amount of time that women’s sports were reported in the News ticker, the strip that displays information at the bottom of most news broadcasts. When recorded in 2009, only 5% of Ticker coverage was based on women’s sports, compared to the 95% that was based on men’s sports. When researching the actual amount of time that women’s sports stories were mentioned, they focused particularly on differences between the National Basketball Association and the Women’s National Basketball Association. They recorded two different time periods, when they were in season and when they were off-season. The WNBA had a total 8 stories, which was 5:31 minutes, which were shown on air while they were in season, which was less than the NBA, who had a total of 72 stories, which was approximately 65:51 minutes. During the off-season, the WNBA did not receive any stories or time on the Ticker, while the NBA received a total of 81, which were approximately 50:15 minutes. When compared, the WNBA had a total of 8 stories and 5:31 minutes while the NBA had 153 stories and 1:56:06 hours. Aside from the coverage, the actual games had significant differences in the way the games were presented. The WNBA games had lower sound quality, more editing mistakes, less views of the shot clock and less camera angles. There were less verbal and visual statistics about the players and they were shown less often throughout the game. The quality of the stories has also significantly changed. In past studies, women were sexualized either sexualized, portrayed as violent, or portrayed as girlfriends, wives and mothers. Female athletes were often included in gag stories that involved sexual dialogue or emphasized their bodies. In Australia, the wives the men’s cricket team are given more media coverage than the players on the women’s cricket team, who also have had a better season that the men’s rugby team. It wasn’t until 2009 that women started being acknowledged for their skill. Sportscenter broadcasted segments called “Her Story,” which was respectful commentary that highlighted the women’s athletic career. In newspapers and articles, coverage on men’s sports once again dominated coverage on women’s sports in a ratio of 23-1. In 1990, a study was conducted that recorded and compared the amount of media coverage of men and women’s sports on popular newspapers. They analyzed 4 different magazines for three months and recorded the amount of women’s sports stories that were featured and the content of the stories. Women’s sports made up 3.5%, compared to the 81% of men’s coverage. Out of the percentage of coverage, only 3.2% of the stories were on the front page. The length of these articles, in comparison to men’s articles, is 25-27% shorter. When it came to the pictures that accompanied the article, women were featured in 274 photos, 7.1%, compared to the 3,570 photos, 92.3%, that men were featured in. There was uproar in 2012 when the first woman that represented Saudi Arabia in the 2012 Olympics competed in track. That was the most women’s sports coverage that there had been in several years. Exactly 12 months later, the newspapers returned to featuring only 4% of articles on women’s sports.