La cobertura informativa de las deportistas durante los Juegos Olímpicos. [News Coverage of Women Athletes during the Olympic Games].

Abstract

The objective of the research is to analyze the representation and importance of news about women athletes compared to their male counterparts in the television sports coverage by the main generalist channels in Spain during the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games (2016). To do so, the technique of content analysis was used on a total of 861 news items. The results of the research showed an increased in the amount of coverage of sportswomen during the Olympic period with respect to the daily information provided outside the Olympic period, especially in those sports traditionally associated with femininity. This increase in coverage can be ascribed to factors such as patriotic fervour and sporting success, and never exceeded the amount of coverage received by men's sports. There is, however, a certain equity between the sexes in terms of the importance given to the news, owing to the relevance of sporting events and the successes of the national women's team during this period. These results demonstrate the fleeting nature of news about women in sports, limited to when they compete or obtain a win of such importance that it is impossible to ignore and not devote time to it. Even so, these results contrast with the fact that more Olympic medals were won by Spanish women than men at the Olympic Games held in Rio de Janeiro 2016.

Keywords

• women
• sport
• news
• inequality
• olympic games