Differences in the television media's representation of men's and women's sports

Abstract

This study investigates the question of whether the television media displays men and women’s sports differently. Sixty-one programs of the CBS nightly news sports’ segment and ESPN’s Sports Center between the dates of March 20 through May 7, 2000 were recorded and viewed. The segments were evaluated based on the following ten items: The number of men’s and women’s sports covered, the amount of time given to men’s and women’s sports, the gender of the lead story, the number of visual clips for men’s and women’s sports, the use of first and/or last names, sexual references to an athlete, the portrayal of a weakness or strength was exemplified in an athlete, production errors, whether the sports were gender marked, and if aggressive language was used.