Representation of gender in sports news from a sociological perspective

Abstract

The purpose of writing this article is to represent gender in the sports news of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2016 Rio and to analyze it from a sociological perspective. In this article, the method of content analysis has been used. The statistical population is all the contents of Shargh newspaper in 2016 and 1400. The statistical sampling of the present study was purposefully selected, which included 418 textual data (news, reports, interviews and articles) published in Shargh newspaper during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2016 Rio Olympics. In the present study, based on a specific process in content analysis, Shargh newspaper textual data in the coding process were classified into three levels: basic themes, organizing themes and comprehensive themes. These three levels were shown along with the relationships between them. A comparison of the results obtained from the content analysis of Shargh newspaper in the two periods of the two Olympics shows that while in the Rio 2016 Olympics, the newspaper's approach was based on the concepts of "hegemony", "sports metaphors" and "surrealism", but in In addition to the similarity of the results with the approach and news policy in the concepts of "sports metaphors" and "surrealism" with the news approach of the Rio 2016 Olympics, it was observed that there is a slight point in the concept of "hegemony" Gender and hegemony have occurred in the coverage of sports news at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. ‌ Representation, Gender; Sports News; Olympics, thematic analysis ‌ ‌Introduction The media is one of the most comprehensive and effective institutions for the production, reproduction and distribution of knowledge and knowledge compared to other institutions of knowledge in the new world. (Mehdizadeh, 2008). Sport is always the subject of the media from different dimensions. Gender is one of the most important issues in this area and has caused a lot of controversy in this area. (Ahmadi et al., 2015).Sport and the media are interdependent and coexist peacefully. (Sharipour, 2009)Here, one of the tools that play a significant role in displaying the culture of a sports community by using the institution of sports is the media. Among the media outlets in any society are the sports press, which in addition to the entertainment, entertainment and information aspects, also have a gender representation aspect. (Motahari, 134: 136) Accordingly, the present study seeks to represent gender in the textual data of Olympic sports news in the newspaper (Shargh) with a sociological perspective. In other words, the importance of this study is to determine whether there is a particular bias in favour of women or men in the coverage of Olympic sports news by the newspaper (Sharq). ‌ Methodology This research has been conducted using the pragmatism paradigm and a descriptive-exploratory approach, within the framework of a qualitative method for data collection and analysis. Firstly, a documentary and library study was conducted to investigate the existing background in the field of the theoretical foundations and model of concepts related to the research subject. Then, to understand the type of Iranian media's view of gender in reflection of Olympic news, the research method of this paper was based on the qualitative research strategy and the thematic analysis method. Specifically, textual data (including 418 articles) from the events of the two Tokyo 2020 and 2016 Rio Olympics in Shargh newspaper were purposefully sampled and analyzed based on common aspects, related themes, main themes, and finally the central themes of each research subject. Lastly, the network of themes related to the representation of gender in Iranian media was drawn and analyzed. Findings ‌‌According to the encodings and analyses performed on the text data of Shargh newspaper during the Tokyo 2020 and Rio 2016 Olympics, the most important themes extracted from the news are the reflections of this sporting event as follows: hegemony, sports metaphors, and hyperreality. The newspaper can be categorized into two types of metaphors: the metaphor of sexism and the metaphor of war. In hyperreality, magnifying or distorting information about a real sporting event causes no trace of the original reality to remain in television or press reports. However, it should be noted that in both Olympics, the distortion of sports news has occurred and reports have been misrepresented. Regarding hegemony, the newspaper sought to support the dominant male ideology in the reflection of the 2016 Olympic news, which portrayed gender discrimination as the dominant male ideology in the sports community. But at the 2020 Olympics, by criticizing TV attitudes reflected in the tournament report, this hegemonic view has been somewhat moderated, and a more unbiased view or gender equality has been approached. The metaphor of war and the metaphor of sexism indicate the existence of a kind of "sexist language" whose application creates or promotes an irrelevant or unfair distinction among different genders, reflecting the sexism of the social system. In the metaphors of war in sports reports, a kind of competitive language in social systems is created and strengthened. This applies to both male and female athletes in both Olympics. The results show that the concepts of hegemony, sports metaphors, and hyperreality play a key role in depicting gender representation in sports news of this medium. Olympic news with an emphasis on gender is a social construct, and the concepts of "hegemony, sports metaphors, and hyperreality" by Shargh newspaper are addressed to the audience, interpreting, rethinking, and representing gender. In conclusion, the signs reflected in some news related to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics show a gentle rise in the direction of gender neutrality and even the supporting role of women's sport in this medium.

Keywords

• representation, gender
• sports news
• olympics, thematic analysis