“gender in televised sports” study

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GENDERINTELEVISEDSPORTS

NEWSANDHIGHLIGHTSSHOWS,1989‐2009

CO‐INVESTIGATORS

MichaelA.Messner,Ph.D.UniversityofSouthernCalifornia

CherylCooky,Ph.D.PurdueUniversity

RESEARCHASSISTANTRobinHextrum

UniversityofSouthernCalifornia

WithanIntroductionbyDianaNyad

CenterforFeministResearch,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia

June,2010

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TABLEOFCONTENTSI.INTRODUCTIONbyDianaNyad…………………………………………………………………….………..3II.SUMMARYOFFINDINGS…………………………………………………………………………………………4III.DESCRIPTIONOFSTUDY…………………………………………………………………………………………6IV.DESCRIPTIONOFFINDINGS……………………………………………………………………………………8

1. Sportsnews:Coverageofwomen’ssportsplummets

2. ESPNSportsCenter:Adeclineincoverageofwomen’ssports

3. TickerTime:Women’ssportsonthemargins

4. Men’s“BigThree”sportsarethecentralfocus

5. Unequalcoverageofwomen’sandmen’sproandcollegebasketball

6. Shiftingportrayalsofwomen

7. Commentators:Raciallydiverse;Sex‐segregated

V.ANALYSISANDINTERPRETATIONOFFINDINGS…………………………………………………….22VI.REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………………..…………………28VII.APPENDIX:SELECTEDWOMEN’SSPORTINGEVENTSDURINGTHESTUDY…………..30VIII.BACKGROUNDANDPURPOSEOFTHESTUDY………………………………….…………….….33IX.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS……………………………………………………………………………………….34X.ABOUTTHECO‐INVESTIGATORS………………………………………………………………..….…….35

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I.INTRODUCTIONByDianaNyad

Fortwodecades,theGENDERINTELEVISEDSPORTSreporthastrackedtheprogress—aswellasthe lackofprogress—inthecoverageofwomen’ssportsontelevisionnewsandhighlights shows.Oneof thepositiveoutcomesderived frompasteditionsof thisvaluable study has been a notable improvement in the often‐derogatory ways thatsportscommentatorsusedtoroutinelyspeakofwomenathletes.Thegoodnewsinthisreportisthatthereisfarlessinsultingandovertlysexisttreatmentofwomenathletesthantherewastwentyoreventenyearsago.Thebadnews,inthesetimesofwomen’sempowermentandsuccessinmostspheresofoursociety,isthattheoverallcoverageofwomen’ssportshasdeclinedtoalevelofoutrageouslysmallnumbers.Asaformerworld‐classathlete,andthroughmythirtyyearsworkinginsportstelevisionand radio, Ihavecertainly come toknow theuphill challengeswewomen face in themalebastionofsports.Iamalsofullyawareofthemarketforcesatworkinshapingtheeveryday programming decisions in televised sports. But in reading thismost currenteditionofGENDERINTELEVISEDSPORTS,Iconfesstobeingshockedtolearnthatsince1989verylittlehaschangedintheworldoftelevisedsportsnews.Asamatteroffact,for women athletes, and fans of women’s sports, things have devolved, rather thanhavingevolved.It isfranklyunfathomable,andunacceptable,thatviewersareactuallyreceiving less coverageofwomen’ssports than theywere twentyyearsago…andthatthesportsnewsisstillbeingdeliveredalmostexclusivelybymen.ThereisnodoubtthattherehasbeenagenderrevolutioninAmericansportsinrecentdecades.Millionsofgirlsplaysportseveryday.Tensofthousandsofwomencompetein college and professional athletics. Women’s athletic skill levels have risenastronomicallyoverthepasttwentyyears insportsfrombasketballtovolleyball, fromswimming to soccer. It is time for televisionnewsandhighlights shows tokeeppacewith this revolution. I can only hope that, five years from now, when this study isconductedagain,itwillfindasubstantialnumberofwomenamongtheranksofsportsnewsandhighlightscommentators,andthatthey,alongwithmencommentators,willhave joined the Twenty‐first Century by reporting fairly and equitably on women’ssports. The coverage today misrepresents both the participation and the interest inwomen’ssportsacrossourpopulationatlarge.Diana Nyad is formerly a commentator with Fox Sports News and ABC Sports, andcurrentlycontributesaweeklycolumnforNationalPublicRadio.

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II.SUMMARYOFFINDINGS

♦ COVERAGEOFWOMEN’SSPORTS:LOWERTHANEVER

♦ Women’ssportswereunderreportedinthesixweeksofearlyeveningandlatenighttelevisionsportsnewsonthethreenetworkaffiliatessampledinthestudy.Men’s sports received96.3%of theairtime,women’s sports1.6%,andgenderneutral topics 2.1%. This is a precipitous decline in the coverage ofwomen’ssportssince2004,when6.3%oftheairtimewasdevotedtowomen’ssports,andthelowestproportioneverrecordedinthisstudy.

♦ ESPN’s nationally‐televised program SportsCenter devoted only 1.4% of itsairtimetocoverageofwomen’ssports,adecline in theircoverageofwomen’ssportscomparedwith1999(2.2%)and2004(2.1%).

♦ ESPN and two of the network affiliates (KNBC and KCBS), continually ran ascrollingtickertextbaratthebottomofthescreen,reportingscoresandothersports news. The proportion of “ticker time” devoted to women’s sports onKNBC and KCBS was 4.6%, more than triple the thin airtime they devoted towomen’ssportsintheirmainbroadcasts.SportsCenterdevoted2.7%ofitstickertimetowomen’ssports,downfrom8.5%in2004.

♦ MEN’S“BIGTHREE”SPORTS:INOROUTOFSEASON,ALWAYSTHECENTRALFOCUS

♦ 100%of theSportsCenterprogramsand100%of thesportsnewsshows in the

sampleledwithamen’ssportsstory.Leadstoriestendtobeamongthelongeststoriesinthebroadcast,containingthehighestproductionvalues.

♦ 72% of all airtime (main and ticker coverage) focused on men’s basketball,football, and baseball. Other men’s sports, especially most individual sports,werepushed to themargins alongwith the fewwomen’s sports that receivedanycoverage.

♦ Reporterscontinuallydevotedairtimetomen’ssportsthatwereoutofseason—pro and college football inMarch and July, pro baseball in November, or probasketballinJuly—whilefailingtoreportonwomen’ssportsthatwerecurrentlyinseason.

♦ WOMEN’SANDMEN’SPROANDCOLLEGEBASKETBALL:SEPARATEANDUNEQUAL

♦ TheWNBAreceivedatinyfractionofthecoveragethatwasdevotedtotheNBA,

bothwhenin‐season,andwhenout‐of‐season.

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♦ CollegebasketballinMarchisasportbeingplayedbothbywomen’sandmen’steams during the same time frame. The three network affiliate news showsdevoted zero time, andSportsCenter gave token attention towomen’s collegebasketball,whilelavishinghugeamountsofairtimetomen’scollegebasketball.

♦ Newsandhighlightsshows’scantcoverageofproorcollegewomen’sbasketballwas usually relegated to the margins, appearing more often on the scrollingtickeratthebottomofthescreenratherthanintheprogram’smaincoverage.

♦ VIEWSOFWOMEN:LESSSEXUALOBJECTIFICATION;SPARINGSERVINGSOFRESPECT

♦ Past studies observed that women athletes (and women spectators) were

frequentlyportrayed indemeaningways—assexualobjects,oras thebruntofcommentators’sarcastichumorinstoriesonmarginalpseudo‐sports.Therewasfar lessof this sort of sexist humor aboutwomen in 2009, though thismay inpart reflect that women in any form were increasingly absent from thebroadcasts.

♦ AlargechunkofESPN’sSportsCenter’smeagercoverageofwomen’ssportswasdevoted to a short March series, “Celebrating women’s History Month: HerTriumph, Her Story.” These features had high technical quality, and weredeliveredinarespectfultone,butwerecordonedofffromregularSportsCenterhighlights,andpresentedassomethingseparateanddifferent.

♦ A handful ofwomen’s sports storiesmade theirway into news and highlightsshowswhenthestorylinewasfocusedonarule‐breakingincidentlikeafight,oronsomeothercontroversyinwomen’ssport.

♦ Ontherareoccasionswhenwomenwerefeaturedinsportsnewsandhighlightsshows,theywereusuallypresentedinstereotypicalways:aswivesorgirlfriendsoffamousmaleathletesorasmothers.

♦ SPORTSCOMMENTATORS:RACIALLYDIVERSE,SEX‐SEGREGATED

♦ Past studies revealed that news and highlights commentators were racially

diverse, but most were men. This dual pattern of racial diversity and sexsegregationcontinuedin2009.Thethreenetworkaffiliatesincludednowomensports announcers, while women announcers appeared in a small number ofSportsCenterbroadcasts. UnlikegeneralTVnewsanchororweatherpositions,theTVsportsnewsandhighlightspositionisstilldefinedalmostexclusivelyasamaleoccupation.

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III.DESCRIPTIONOFTHESTUDYAswiththe1989,1993,1999and2004studies,thecentralaimofthecurrentstudywasto compare the quantity and quality of TV news and highlights shows’ coverage ofwomen's versus men's athletic events. So that we might comment on change andcontinuity over time, we replicated the previous iterations of the study. First, weanalyzed three two‐week segments (a total of six weeks) of televised sports newscoverage on each of three local (Los Angeles) network affiliates. Second, we studiedESPN’sSportsCenter,replicatingourfocusonthissportshighlightsshowthatwebeganin1999andcontinuedin2004.Over the past decade, television news and highlights shows have introduced visualtechniques(e.g.,splitscreensandscrollingtickers)ofconveyinginformationthatinviteviewerstolisten,viewimages,andreadtextthatrefersimultaneouslytotwoormorestories.Asin2004,mostofthe2009sportsnewsandhighlightsprogramsinoursampleincludedacontinualrunning“ticker”atthebottomofthetelevisionscreen.Thetickeruseswrittentexttoreportgamescores,headlines,andbreakingsportsnewsthatmayormaynotbereportedthroughthemainconventionalverbalreportingandvisualimages.Weanalyzedthequantityoftickercoveragedevotedtowomen’sandtomen’ssports.

SAMPLE

TelevisedsportsnewsWeanalyzedsixweeksoftelevisionsportsnews(boththe6:00p.m.segmentsandthe11:00p.m.segments)onthethreelocalnetworkaffiliates(KNBC,KCBS,andKABC).Asinthe1989,1993,1999and2004studies,inordertosampledifferenttimeperiodswhendifferentsportswerebeingplayed,weanalyzedthree,two‐weekperiods:March15‐28;July12‐25;November8‐21.Amountsofairtimedevotedtomen’sversuswomen’ssportsweremeasured.Thescrollingtickeratthebottomofthescreen(in caseswhere itwaspresent)alsowas timed, todetermine theproportionof tickerreports devoted to women’s versus men’s sports. In addition to the quantitativemeasures, we analyzed the quality of coverage in terms of visuals and verbalcommentary.ESPNSportsCenterWeanalyzedthreeweeksofone‐hour11:00p.m.ESPN’sSportsCenter.Thesethreeweekscorrespondedwiththefirstweekofeachofthethreenetworknewssegments:March15‐21,July12‐18,andNovember8‐14.WeaddedSportsCentertothisstudy in 1999, sowe can now compare our 2009datawith the 1999 and 2004data.Amountsofairtimedevotedtomen’sversuswomen’ssportsweremeasured.Followingapracticebeguninthe2004study,thescrollingtickeratthebottomofthescreenwas

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timed,todeterminetheproportionoftickerreportsdevotedtowomen’sversusmen’ssports.Inadditiontothequantitativemeasures,weanalyzedthequalityofcoverageintermsofvisualsandverbalcommentary.(Therewereasmallnumberofdatesonwhichtherewasno6pmorno11pmsportsnewsreportincludedinourdata,andtwodateswithinthesampleperiodforwhichwehavenoSportsCenterbroadcast. Inmostof thesecases, regularly schedulednewsorhighlights programs did not occur, because they were pre‐empted by live sportsbroadcasts. In addition, Sunday KCBS news shows usually contained no sports newsduring the 11:00 broadcast, because the station covered sports on a special “SportsCentral”showthatwasnotincludedaspartofourstudy.)

RESEARCHMETHOD

Theresearchdesignandmethodsofdatacollectionandanalysis(bothquantitativeandqualitative)wereidenticaltothoseofthe1989,1993,1999and2004studies.InStage1oftheresearch,werecordedallofthesportsnewsandhighlightssegments.InStage2,theresearchassistantviewedalloftherecordingsandcompiledawrittenpreliminaryquantitativedescription.InStage3,oneinvestigatorindependentlyviewedallofthetapesandaddedherwrittenanalysistothatoftheresearchassistant.Inthisstage,aqualitativeanalysiswasaddedtothequantitativeanalysis.InStage4,thedatawerecompiledandanalyzedforthisreportbythetwoinvestigators,usingbothsetsofwrittendescriptionsoftherecordings,andbyviewingportionsoftherecordingsonceagain.InStage5,oneinvestigatorwroteuptheresearchreport.

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IV.DESCRIPTIONOFFINDINGS

1.Sportsnewsonthreenetworkaffiliates:Coverageofwomen’ssportsplummetsChasmbetweencoverageofwomen’sandmen’ssportswidensInthe1989and1993studies,wenotedthatfemaleathletesrarelyreceivedcoverageonthe televised sports news. The 1999 study revealed an encouraging increase in theproportionofsportsnewsdevotedtocoverageofwomen’ssports,followedbyasmalldeclinein2004study.AsFigure1Aillustrates,the2009proportionofairtimedevotedtowomen’s sports dropped precipitously to 1.6%, by far its lowest level in any yearmeasuredoverthepasttwodecades.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%

1989 1993 1999 2004 2009

5.0% 5.1% 8.7% 6.3% 1.6%

92.0% 93.8% 88.2% 91.4% 96.3%

3.0% 1.1% 3.1% 2.4% 2.1%

Figure1ANetworkNewsbysex,19892009

neutral/both

men

women

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Thethreenetworkaffiliatessharesimilarstyles.Inpaststudies,thethreenetworkaffiliatesshowedverysimilarpatternsofcoverage,alldevotinghugelydisproportionateamountsof time tomen’s sports. Thesesimilaritiescontinuedwith the 2009 study, but as Figure 1B shows, therewere also differences.KNBC,whichinthe2004studyshowedthehighestproportionofcoverageofwomen’ssports(8.9%)droppedoffto1.1%coverageofwomen’ssportsinthe2009study.KABCand KCBS both hovered closer to the 2% level, also representing a regression incoverageofwomen’ssportsfrompreviousstudies.

Asinpaststudies,therewaslittledifferencebetweentheeveningandlate‐nighteditionsofthethreenewsshows,intermsofcoverageofwomen’ssports.Alsoconsistentwithpastyearsofthestudy,theNovemberperiodofthesamplecontainedtheleastamountofcoverageofwomen’ssports(almostnone).Therewasmarginallymorecoverageofwomen’ssportsduringtheMarchandJulyperiods.

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

KABC KCBS KNBC

2.1% 1.5% 1.1%

95.8% 98.3% 95.3%

2.2% 0.2% 3.6%

Figure1BNetworkAffilates'MainCoveragebySex,2009

neutral/both

men

women

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2.ESPNSportsCenter:Decliningcoverageofwomen’ssportsIn1999(whenweaddedSportsCentertothestudy)andagainin2004,theproportionofthe popular highlights show’s coverage devoted to women’s sports was significantlylower than proportions devoted by TV news shows. As Figure 2 illustrates,SportsCenter’scoverageofwomen’ssportsdeclined in2009to1.4%, justahair lowerthanthecombinedcoverageofthethreenetworknewsshows.

5.0% 5.1%

8.7%

6.3%

1.6%2.2% 2.1%

1.4%

0%1%2%3%4%5%6%7%8%9%10%

1989 1993 1999 2004 2009

Figure2NewsandSportsCenterAirtimedevotedtoWomen'sSports,

19892009

NetworkNewsSportsCenter

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3.TickerTime:Women’ssportsonthemarginsESPN’s SportsCenter and two of the network affiliate news shows (KNBC and KCBS)continuallyranascrollingtickertextbaratthebottomofthescreen,reportingscoresandothersportsnews.Theproportionof“tickertime”devotedtowomen’ssportsonKNBC and KCBS was 4.6%, more than triple the proportion of the thin airtime theydevoted towomen’s sports in theirmain broadcasts. In 2009, SportsCenter devoted2.7%of its ticker timetowomen’s sports. While this isalmostdouble the1.4%maincoverage that SportsCenter devoted to women’s sports, it represents a decline from2004,whenthehighlightsshowdevoted8.5%ofitstickertimetowomen’ssports.

4.Men’s“BigThree”sportsarethecentralfocusMenalwayslead.Everysportsnewsorhighlightsbroadcastbeginswithaleadstorythatsetsthetoneofthebroadcast.Leadstories,especiallythoseonSportsCenter,tendalsotobethelongeststories of the broadcast, containing the highest production values (often includingmultipleinterviews,gamefootage,musicalmontage,graphicstatistics,ancillaryon‐sitereporters, etc.). In our sample, 100%of theSportsCenterprograms and 100%of the

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

ESPNSportsCenter KCBS&KNBCnews

2.7% 4.6%

96.4% 94.6%

1.0% 0.8%

Figure3TickerTimebysex,2009

neutral/both

men

women

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sportsnewsshowsbeganwithamen’ssportstopicastheleadstory.Notallmen’ssportsareinthespotlight.AsFigure4illustrates,bothESPN’sSportsCenterandthenetworkaffiliates’newsshowsdevotedthevastmajorityoftheirattentiontothreemen’ssports.Whencombiningallmain coverage and ticker time, the three men’s sports of football, basketball, andbaseball receivedacombined71.7%ofall coverage. Men’sgolfwasadistant fourth,receiving5.6%of thecoverage. Nineteenothermen’s sports shared18%of the totalcoverage.Meanwhile,basketballwastheonlywomen’ssporttoreceiveanythingcloseto substantial attention,garnering1.5%of theoverall coverage. Fourotherwomen’ssports (golf, soccer, tennis and softball) shared less than 1% of the total combinedcoverage. In previous iterations of the study, tenniswasusually themost commonlycoveredwomen’ssport(43%ofallwomen’ssportsstoriesinthe2004studyweretennisstories).Thiswasnotthecasein2009.

18%

32%21%

6%

18%

2%1%2%

Figure4Sportscoveredincombined(mainplusticker)coverage

onTVnewsandSportsCenter,2009

men'sfootball

men'sbasketball

men'sbaseball

men'sgolf

allothermen'ssports

women'sbasketball

allotherwomen'ssportsNeutral/both

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Evenwhennotinseason,the“BigThree”aregivencenterstage.Reporters continually delivered stories on men’s sports that were out of season,includingespeciallystoriesonprofessional (andoccasionallycollege)football inMarchandJuly,probaseballinNovember,andprobasketballinJuly,asTable4shows.

Table4Maincoverageof“BigThree”men’ssportswhileoutofseason

(numberofstories;minutes:seconds) KABC,KNBC&KCBS ESPNSportsCenterNovembermen’sbaseballstories

32stories17:01

8stories5:52

March&Julymen’sfootballstories

26stories14:11

42stories46:18

Julymen’sbasketballstories

60stories35:31

21stories14:44

5.Unequalcoverageofwomen’sandmen’sproandcollegebasketballFigure4andTable4showedthatcoverageofthe“BigThree”men’ssports,evenwhenoutofseason, farexceededthecoverageofallwomen’ssports,whether in‐seasonornot. However, overall comparisons of men’s and women’s sports might be seen asmisleading—like comparing applies and oranges—since there are still some men’ssports (men’s pro football and baseball in particular) for which there are no fullydevelopedwomen’s equivalents. Thus, it is instructive to compare a sport forwhichthere are equivalentmen’s and women’s teams and leagues. For this purpose, wecomparedthecoverageofprofessionalandcollegewomen’sandmen’sbasketball.TheNBAiswherecoveragehappensTable 5A shows a comparison of coverage of the WNBA (the Women’s NationalBasketball Association) and coverage of the NBA (the men’s National BasketballAssociation). Breaking down in‐season and out‐of‐season coverage of themen’s andwomen’s professional leagues sheds light on thedepthof the gender asymmetries innewsandhighlightsshows.

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Table5A

CoverageofWNBAandNBA,inseasonandoutofseason(numberofstories;minutes:seconds)

March July

WNBAonKABC,KNBC&KCBS

(outofseason)0stories;0:00

(inseason)3stories;2:51

WNBAonESPNSportsCenter


(inseason)5stories2:40

NBAonKABC,KNBC&KCBS



NBAonESPNSportsCenter (inseason)21stories;22:26


TheWNBAreceivedscantcoverageinthemainreportsofboththenetworknewsandSportsCenterbroadcasts—evenwheninseason.ButasTable5Billustrates,theWNBAdid receive significant in‐season coverage in the rolling ticker, at the bottom of thescreen.

Table5BTickercoverageofNBAandWNBA,Inseasonandoutofseason

(numberoftickerstories;minutes:seconds) March July

WNBAonKABC,KNBC&KCBS



WNBAonESPNSportsCenter


(inseason)22stories7:56

NBAonKABC,KNBC&KCBS



NBAonESPNSportsCenter (inseason)28stories;22:26


Wheninseason(July)thevastmajority(70of78)ofWNBAstoriesthatappearedonthecombinednewsandhighlightsshowswereliterallymarginalizedtothescrollingticker.OnlyeightWNBAstoriesweregivenairtimeinthemainbroadcast.Whenoutofseason

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(March),WNBAcoveragewasentirelyabsent fromtheboththemainreportsandtheticker. Meanwhile,NBAstoriescontinuedtobegivengenerousmainstoryandtickercoverage,whether in‐seasonorout‐of‐season. Figure5comparesthetickerandmaincoverage of WNBA and NBA, combining the total number of in‐season and out‐of‐seasonstoriesonthenewsandhighlightsshowsduringtheMarchandJulysamples.

MarchMadness:MainlyforMenCoverageofwomen’sandmen’s collegebasketball during themonthofMarchoffersperhapsanevenbettercontrast, since thesesportsarebeingplayedduring thesametime frame. As Table 5C illustrates, news shows ignored entirely women’s collegebasketball gameswhile ESPN gave them token attention. Meanwhile, both thenewsandhighlightsshowswerelavishingmajorattentiononmen’scollegebasketball.

870

153

120

Figure5Numberofprobasketballstories,

combinednewsandhighlightsshows

WNBAmain

WNBAticker

NBAmain

NBAticker

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Table5CIn‐seasoncoverageofMen’sandWomen’sNCAAbasketballinMarch

(numberofstories;hours:minutes:seconds)

Men’sNCAAbasketball Women’sNCAAbasketballKABC,KNBC&KCBS,maincoverage

60stories;1:17:47 0stories;0:00

KABC,KNBC&KCBS,tickercoverage

33stories;13:48

0stories;0:00

ESPNSportsCenter,maincoverage

40stories;1:36:33 4stories;1:12

ESPNSportsCenter,tickercoverage

56stories;1:28:33

7stories;5:07

This comparison of women’s and men’s NCAA basketball reveals the highlyasymmetrical coverage of the same women’s and men’s event during the sametemporalframe. AkintothecoverageoftheWNBA,theveryscantattentiongiventowomen’s NCAA basketball (all of it appearing on ESPN) was mostly relegated to themarginsofthescreen,onthescrollingticker.It’snotthatthegenerouscoverageofthemen’stournament leftnotimeforcoveringthewomen’stournament.Producersdecidedtocoverotherthingsinstead.OnMarch20, for instance, KABC spent all of it’s 3:33 long sports report on the men’s NCAAtournament,closingwithalengthyhumorousstoryaboutShaquilleO’Neillgoing“manoamano”witha93yearoldgrandmotherinacontesttopickNCAAmen’stournamentwinners. As viewers see the old woman, dressed in a suit and dress shoes andawkwardly trying to dribble a basketball, commentator Kurt Sandoval quips that thewoman“knowsabsolutelynothingaboutbasketball and ispickinggameson instinct.”OnMarch23,KNBCdevotedgenerouscoveragetothemen’stournamentandnonetothewomen’s,butspentthirtysecondscoveringagag‐featureaboutaburgerwith5000calories and300 gramsof fat that fans cannowpurchase at aminor leaguebaseballparkinMichigan.Andthenextday,KNBCgavewomen’ssportsanodwithastorythatfeaturedshotsof tennis starSerenaWilliamswearinga shortdress, climbingoutofasunroofofacar,ontoitsrooftoplaytennis,lobbingaballbackandforthagainstmaleplayerAndyMurraywhostoodatopanothercar.This stuntwas intendedtopromotethestartoftheEricssonOpentournament.CommentatorMarioSolisquipped,“Tennisanyone?...I hope nobody decides to use a drop shot!” Thiswas the onlymention ofwomen’s sports during this broadcast. Also on March 24, during the heart of thewomen’stournament,KABCrana1minute,31secondfeatureonthe70thanniversaryofLittleLeagueBaseball,andduringits11:00broadcasta29secondfeatureon2½‐yearold“poolprodigy”KeithO’Dell.

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6.Shiftingportrayalsofwomen

Inpaststudies,wepointedtocommentators’commonpracticeofusingsarcastichumorinportrayingwomenathletes(andsometimeswomenspectators)asobjectsofridicule,asparticipants in laughable“gag sports” (e.g., awoman’snudebungee jump in1999,and a “weightlifting granny” in 2004), and/or as sexual objects. In 2004,wenoted adeclineindisrespectfulorinsultingtreatmentofwomen,comparedwithpreviousyears.In2009,wesawevenlessofthissortofsexisttreatmentofwomen,thoughthismayinpart reflect that women in any form were absent from the broadcasts. We outlinebelow four themes that emerged in the rare occasions when women were affordedsomeairtime.RaremomentsofrespectfulcoverageIn2009,wefoundafewinstanceswhereresourcesandtimeweredevotedtodeliveringhigh‐quality and respectful reports on a women’s sporting event. For instance, onNovember14,SportsCenterpresenteda20‐secondlongstoryhighlightinganupcomingBaylor vs. Tennessee women’s college basketball game. The story was respectful intoneandincludedcompellinggamefootage.AnotablechunkofSportsCenter’smeagercoverage of women’s sports during our March sample was devoted to a series offeaturesentitled“CelebratingWomen’sHistoryMonth:HerTriumph,HerStory.”Oneof these thirty‐second long stories would run during the hour‐long broadcast, eachfocusingonanindividualwomanathlete,suchasRachelFico,oneof“thenation’sfinestin high school softball,” and college skier Kelly Brush, who had been paralyzed in anaccidentbutstillparticipatesindownhillskiing.Each“HerStory”featurewascordonedoff fromregularSportsCenterhighlights,presentedassomethingdistinctandseparate(appearingattheendofacommercialbreak,beforetheresumptionofSportsCenter’sregular sports highlights report, which contained little or no coverage of that day’swomen’ssportsevents).The“HerStory”featureshadhightechnicalquality,andweredeliveredinarespectfultone.SexualizedgagstoriesThenewsbroadcasts includedasmallnumberof sexualizedgagstoriesaboutwomenthatseemedlikethrowbacksto1990sbroadcasts.Forinstance,onNovember11,2009,KNBC’sFredRoggindeliveredagag‐storyonanewJapaneseproduct:

“How ‘bout this:With theholiday seasonquickly approaching, here’saperfectstockingstufferforthatwomanwholovestoplaygolf.AJapanesedesignerhascreatedabra thatunfolds intoaputtinggreen. The ‘Make‐The‐PuttBra’ turnsintoaself‐contained,five‐footlongmatthatcomescompletewithateeandgolfballs.”[ViewersseefootageofaJapanesewomanwearingashort,pleatedwhiteskirt,modeling the bra, putting a golf ball into the holewithin the breast cupportionofthebra.]“Ifthat’snotenoughthebraalsocomeswithamotivational

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tapethatblaresthetraditionalJapanesewordsofencouragement,‘Nicein!’Yes,itistrulyagiftthatkeepsongiving.”

The “Japanese Putting Bra” was a twenty‐four second‐long story embedded in abroadcast consistingotherwiseof storieson fourmen’spro sports (football, baseball,soccerandicehockey),andwithinatwo‐weekstretchoftimewhenKNBChadalmostnocoverageofwomen’ssports.On July 18, in a report that focused entirely on men’s sports, KABC’s Kurt Sandovalclosedwitha28‐secondlongstoryontheLakerGirlsTryouts. Intapedfootageofthetryouts,viewerssawyoungdancingwomenwearingsportsbratopsandbikinibottoms,ascameraspositionedbelowthempannedupfromtheirlegstotheirabdomens,theirbreastsandfinallytheirfaces,duringwhichSandovalreported:

“Finally,withTrevorArizainHoustonandLamarOdom’scontractoffthetable,Laker fansneededsomething tosmileabout. Webringyou, theLakerGirl try‐outs.GoodtoseelifeisactuallywellinElSegundoforLakerfanstoday.Severaldozensputtingontheirbestshowtotrytowinthatcoveted—highlycoveted—spotontheLakerGirlroster.JustaskPaulaAbdulifitcanhelpyourcareer.Wewishall the ladieswell tonight.”AFemaleco‐anchorresponds,“You justmadeDanny’sevening”(referringtoKABCweathermanDannyRomero). Off‐screen,laughtererupts,towhichSandovalresponds,“Weaimtoplease.”

Fights,assaultsandscandalsWomen’s sportswereapparentlydeemednewsworthywhen thenewsangle involvedphysicalviolence,egregiousrule‐breaking,oreconomicproblemswithinthesportitself.Forinstance,onNovember11,KNBC’sFredRoggindevoted39seconds(ofabroadcastof2:40thatotherwisecoveredonlymen’ssports)toagraphicdiscussionofalarmoversoccer player Elizabeth Lambert’s on‐field hair‐pulling assault on another player.SportsCenter used a clip of Lambert’s hair‐pulling incident as one of its November 8“UltimateHighlightsClips.”AndonNovember9,KABCdidashortstoryonafightthatbroke out in the stands at a high school girls’ soccer game. On July 13, KABC’s KurtSandovalreportedthatLPGAcommissionerCarolineBivenshadbeenoustedasaresultof “a major revolt on the women’s tour.” Noting the devastating impact that thedecliningeconomyhas recentlyhadonwomen’s golf, Sandoval concluded that “It’s agreatgameofgolftheyplay. It’s justthatthegolffanswanttoseethebighitters likeTiger,sowewishthemwelltogetthatresolved.”Womenasgirlfriends,wivesandmothersWhen women do nudge into the frame of news and highlights shows, they arecommonly presented in conventional heterosexual roles, including as wives orgirlfriendsofprominentmaleathletes. On July12,KABC’sCurtSandoval reportedonauto‐racing star Dario Franchitti, showing a clip of him during a moment of victory,

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kissinghiscelebritywife: “AnotherfabulousoutingforDarioFranchitti. Likelife’snotgoodenough:He’smarriedtoAshley Judd.” A July14storyonKABCfocusedonUSCquarterbackMatt Cassel’s newly‐signed $63MillionNFL contract. Commentator RobFukuzakijokedthatit“definitelypays…datingaquarterbackatUSC,”towhichhismaleco‐anchor laughedandsaid,“I’mnottouchin’thatone!” AndonNovember16,KABCreported that NFL running back LaDainian Tomlinson had been motivated to have astandoutgameafterhiswifeleftasurprisegiftinhislocker:apositivepregnancytest.Acommonwaytoportraysuccessfulwomenathleteswastoforegroundtheirstatusaswivesormothers.Forinstance,aJuly18KABCstoryonbeachvolleyballchampionKerriWalsh mentioned her husband’s volleyball win that day, and noted her ownannouncement that she is ready to return toplayonly twomonthsafter givingbirth.Similarly,onJuly12,SportsCenterdeliveredashortWNBApromotionforthenextday’sWNBAgametobebroadcastonESPN,saying“…thenewmomCandaceParkerleadstheLosAngelesSparkstoConnecticuttotakeontheSun.”SportsCenter’s“HerStory”segmentonMarch20deliveredhigh‐qualityproductionandrespectful commentary on awoman athlete,while presenting herwithin the familiarframeofwoman‐as‐partnertoahigh‐profilemaleathlete.ThestoryofOlympicstrackandfieldchampionSanyaRichardsandwasnarratedbyherfiancé,profootballplayerAaronRoss.“Hello,”Rossbegan,“MynameisAaronRoss,oftheNewYorkGiants.AndIwanttotelltoyoutodayaboutmyfiancé,SanyaRichards.”AsviewerssawstillphotosofRichardscompeting,Ross’svoice‐overcontinued,“Herworkethicissecondtonone.Itrainwithherandstilltothisdayhavenotbeenabletomakeitthroughaworkout.”ViewerssawtapedclipsofRossandRichardsworkingout together,asRossexplainedthatthenightbeforethefinalsintheOlympicsinBeijing,Richardssaid,“’I’mgoingtogooutthereandgiveitmyall.’Andshesuredid.ShecamehomewithaGold.”Negativedepictionsofmen?Sprinkledthroughoutthe2009studywereafewstoriesthatmadefunofmenathletes,sexualized them,or focusedon their transgressions. For instance,on July23,KNBC’sFred Roggin mocked soccer star David Beckham’s declining athletic skills and hisascending status as an international sex symbol: “David Beckhamwas—was—a greatplayer.Butnowhe’stheAnnaKournikovaofsoccer.Womenlovetolookathim.And,let’sbehonest,somemendoaswell. Butwiththatsaid,there’splentyofpeopleouttherethatsimplydon’tlikehimnow.”Inaddition,therewereseveralstoriesduringJulyonall of thenews shows that focusedonNFLquarterbackBenRoethlisbergerhavingbeenaccusedofrapingawomaninLakeTahoe. Therewasalsotheoccasionalstand‐alonestory, suchas theKNBCreport in JulyonLoganCampbell,anathlete fromNewZealand who, in order to raise money for his training for the Olympic Games, hadopened a brothel. Themain difference in how these negative or derogatory storiesaboutmenathleteswerepresented,ascomparedwiththoseonwomen,wasthattheywereembeddedwithinaseeminglyunendingflowofrespectfulandcelebratorystories

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aboutmen’ssportsandmaleathletes.Bycontrast,anegativestoryonawomanathleteusuallystoodaloneastheonlywomen’ssportsstoryinaparticularbroadcast.

7.Commentators:Raciallydiverse;sex‐segregatedIn past studies we noted that the TV sports news announcers were all men, whileSportsCenter included a few women announcers. In contrast to the sex segregationamong sports commentators, the studies revealed considerable racial diversity. Thisdual pattern of racial diversity and sex segregation continued in 2009. As Table 7Ashows,onlyonefemaleannouncerappearedduringourentiresamplingofKABC,KCBSand KABC—and she was not a regular anchorperson, instead appearing briefly as anancillary reporter. Taken together, the three network affiliates appear to be verydiverse racially; however KNBC accounts for all 40 appearances of a Latino maleannouncer (Mario Solis), KABC accounts for all 46 appearances of an Asian/PacificIslandermale announcer (Rob Fukuzaki), and KCBS accounts for all appearances of aBlackmaleannouncer(JimHill).

Table7ARaceandSexofKABC,KCBS,andKNBCSportsNewsAnnouncers

WMBMLMAM WFBFLFAFAnchors85464046 0000Ancillary0000 1000Total85464046 1000

%oftotal39%21%18%21%>1%0%0%0% [WM=WhiteMale;BM=BlackMale;LM=LatinoMale;AM=Asian/PacificIslanderMale; WF=WhiteFemale;BF=BlackFemale;LF=LatinaFemale;AF=Asian/PacificIslanderFemale]

Men 99.5% White 39%Women 0.5% Black 21%

Latino 18%Asian/Pacific 21%

Grouped together, the data on the three network affiliates indicate that sports newscommentaryintheLosAngelesTVmarketcontinuestobearaciallydiverseprofession.Meanwhile, in contrast to other on‐camera TV news positions, such as main (non‐sports)newsanchors,ancillaryreporters,andweatherreporters,thepositionofsportsnews commentator remains almost absolutely sex segregated. The 2009 dataillustrating this pattern of racial diversity and occupational sex segregation are nearly

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identicaltothoseinour2004data.As Table 7B shows, SportsCenter evidences less racial diversity, but more genderdiversity among its announcers than found on the TV sports news shows. Womenannouncers,however,appearedonSportsCentermostoftenasancillaryreporters,andonlyrarelyinthemorecentralroleasanchorannouncers.

Table7BRaceandSexofSportsCenterAnchorandAncillaryAnnouncers

WMBMLMAMOther WFBFLFAFAnchors1910002 3000Ancillary8323103 10230Total10233105 13230

%oftotal64%21%1%0%3%8%1%2%0% [WM=WhiteMale;BM=BlackMale;LM=LatinoMale;AM=Asian/PacificIslanderMale; WF=WhiteFemale;BF=BlackFemale;LF=LatinaFemale;AF=Asian/PacificIslanderFemale]

Men 89% White 72%Women 11% Black 22%

Latino 3%Asian/Pacific 0%Other 3%

At 11%, SportsCenter’s proportion of women announcers during our 2009 sample isabout the same as it was in 2004, when it was 12%. Compared with 2004,SportsCenter’s announcers were somewhat more racially diverse, especially amongwomenannouncers. In2004,all21ofSportsCenter’swomenannouncerswerewhite.In2009,fiveof18appearancesbywomenannouncerswerebywomenofcolor,albeitallfiveappearedinancillaryannouncerpositions.Thethreeinstanceswhereawomanappearedintheanchorposition,shewaswhite.

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V.ANALYSISANDINTERPRETATIONOFFINDINGS:ADEEPENINGSILENCE

ThefirstGENDERINTELEVISEDSPORTSreportwasissuedin1990,nearlytwodecadesafter Title IX fueled an explosion of girls’ and women’s athletic participation in theUnitedStates.The1990reportheraldedtherecentsurgeofgirls’participationinyouthsports, the dramatic upswing of girls’ and women’s high school and college sportsopportunities and participation, and the stirrings of growth in women’s professionalsports. The study concluded that sincewomen’s sports receivedonly5%of TVnewscoverage,peoplewhogetallormostof their informationfromtelevisionnewswouldhave little idea howdramatically sports had changed. One common response to the1990 studywas an optimistic view: members of the public andmany students withwhomwediscussedourfindingsassumedthatTVcoveragewassimply laggingbehindthe surging popularity ofwomen’s sports; they predicted thatmedia coveragewouldgraduallycatchuptothegrowingparticipationratesofgirlsandwomeninsport.Twentyyearslater,thisoptimisticpredictionofanevolutionaryriseinTVnewscoverageof women’s sports has proven to be wrong. During the ensuing two decades, girls’participation inyouthsportshascontinued to rise (Sabo&Veliz2008;Staurowskyet.al., 2009). In 1971, only 294,000 U.S. high school girls played interscholastic sports,comparedwith3.7millionboys.In1989,thefirstyearofoursportsmediastudy,highschoolboyathletesstilloutnumberedgirls,3.4millionto1.8million.By2009,thehighschoolsportsparticipationgaphadclosedfurther,with4.4millionboysand3.1milliongirlsplaying(NationalFederationofStateHighSchoolAssociations2009).Thistrendisechoedincollegesports.In1972,theyearTitleIXwasenactedtherewereonlyalittleover 2women’s athletics teams per college. By 2010, the number had risen to 8.64teams per NCAA school (Carpenter & Acosta 2010). Women’s professional sports,including theWNBA (which began play in 1997) has developed a somewhat strongerfoothold in the larger pro sportsmarketplace. However, during this two decades ofgrowthinwomen’ssports,thegapbetweenTVnewsandhighlightsshows’coverageofwomen’sandmen’ssportshasnotnarrowed,ithaswidened.Women’ssportsin2009received a paltry 1.6% of the coverage on TV news, and an anemic 1.4% on ESPN’sSportsCenter.WHYTHESILENCE?This deepening silence about women’s sports in mainstream televised news andhighlightsshowsisnothingshortofstunning,especiallywhenconsideredalongsidethefact that theworld of sports is no longer a “male preserve,” inwhich boys andmenenjoy privileged and exclusive access to sport participation opportunities. To be sure,there isanexpandingarrayofmediasourcesof sports information, including Internetwebsites,whichfansofwomen’ssportscantapfornewsabouttheirfavoriteathletes

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orteams.Thoughitisnowhereneartheleveloftheseemingly24/7livebroadcastsofmen’ssportsacross theTVdial, thenumberof livebroadcastsofwomen’ssportshasalsoexpandedoverthepasttwentyyears(includingfarmorewomen’sNCAAbasketballtournamentgamesshownlivetodaythanin1989). Buttelevisionnewsandhighlightsshowsremaintwoextremelyimportantsourcesofsports information.Theircontinuedtendency to ignore or marginalize women’s sports helps to maintain the myth thatsportsareexclusivelyby,about,andformen.Howcanweexplainthegrowingchasmbetweencoverageofwomen’sandmen’ssportsin our six‐week sample? We are cautious in interpreting why coverage of women’ssports has nearly evaporated, based entirely on our content analysis of theprogramming. Toanswerthis“why”questionwouldrequireastudythatalsofocuseson the production end of news and highlights shows. What assumptions and valuesguidethedecisionsofproducers,editorsandTVsportscommentatorsonwhatsportsstories are important to cover, and how to cover them? When asked, producers,commentators,andeditorswillusuallyexplaintheirlackofattentiontowomen’ssportsbyarguing that theyare constrainedbya combinationofmarket forces, andby theirdesiretogiveviewers“whattheywanttosee.”Weunderstandprogrammers’desiretorespond to market realities and viewer preferences; however, our discussion belowpointstowaysinwhichthefocusonmen’ssportsisdrivenbyabroadrangeoffactors.TIGHTERBUDGETS,NARROWEDFOCUS?The expansion of new media has been accompanied by shrinking revenues fortraditionalmassmedia, leading to tighter budgets and staff cuts for traditional newsoutlets. In aMarch, 2010editorial blog, LosAngeles Times sports editorMike Jamesresponded to reader complaints about the newspaper’s lack of coverage of collegewomen’sbasketballandothersmaller‐marketsports:

True,wehaven’tbeencoveringalotofwomen’sbasketballthisseason,asidefromacoupleoffeatures,largelybecausewomen’sbasketballhasn’tbeenamajordrawin L.A…Consequently,wehave tomake thedifficultdecisionseverydayonwhateventsandsportswedocoverandthosethatwecan’t.Ourdecisionhasbeentotryto make sure we reach the greatest number of readers we can with resourcesavailable, and regrettably, that means that some areas don’t get much regularcoverage(Edgar2010).

James’ lament about the impact of recent staff cuts at the LA Timeswould surely beechoedby hundreds of newspaper editors across thenation. As reporters andothersportsnewsstaffarecut,newspapersplayitsafeandassigntheirremainingstafftobig‐marketsportsteamsthat,theyassume,“thegreatestnumberofreaders”wanttoreadabout. However, it is unlikely that the well‐documented financial decline of printjournalismcanexplaintheincreasinglypaltrycoverageofwomen’ssports intelevisionnews.AnditcertainlycannotexplainthescantcoverageonESPN’sSportsCenter.Inits2010mediaguidepublished forpotentialadvertisers,ESPNclaimsthat it is the“Most

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viewed ad supported cable channel,” and crows that the 2009 broadcast year wasESPN’s“highestratedever”(ESPN2010,p.5).Clearly,ESPNhasnoshortageofviewers,orpresumablyofadvertisingrevenue.Thenetwork’sdecisiontoignorewomen’ssportsmustbeduetootherfactors.PITCHINGSPORTSNEWSANDHIGHLIGHTSTOMEN?ESPN tells potential advertisers that in 2009 it was the top cable network viewedconsistentlybymenaged18‐54,andthatithasbeen“Men’sfavoriteTVnetworksince1998.”(ESPN2010,p.5).Clearly,thewaysinwhichESPNtargetsits’programmingtomale viewers is reflective of a larger trend, wherein TV producers carve out marketniches that situate male viewers in the electronic equivalent of locker roomscharacterizedbymalebanterandironichumor(Farred2000;Messner&MontezdeOca2005;Nylund2007).AfoundationalassumptionofthosewhocreateprogrammingformenonprogramslikeSportsCenterseemstobethatmenwanttothinkofwomenassexualobjectsofdesire,orperhapsasmothers,butnotaspowerful,competitiveathletes.Thisisaquestionableassumption, especially when we consider the dramatic growth of men’s support fortheir daughters’ athletic participation in recent decades (Messner 2009; Sabo& Veliz2008).ButevenifthissexistassumptionaccuratelycapturesthedesiresandvaluesofalargeswathoftheU.S.maledemographicthatwatchesESPN,it isprobablyinaccuratetooperatefromthesameassumptionsconcerningviewersofeveningTVnews. Afterall, a sports reporton theeveningand late‐nightnews isa short (two to fiveminute)segment embedded within a larger news report that is being viewed by a diverseaudience. Presumably a large proportion of TV news viewers are women, many ofwhomareunlikelytofindthemale‐centricviewsofthelockerroomoritsironic,sexistbanter to be very inviting. Wewonder howmanywomen—and indeed, howmanymen—simplytuneoutwhenthesportssegmentoftheeveningnewsbegins.PACKAGINGWOMENATHLETESFORPRESUMEDMALEVIEWERS?In past iterations of this study, we pointed to the ways that sexist humor in sportscommentarymade fun of women and trivialized women athletes (and often womenspectators at sporting events). We argued that this trivialization and sexualization ofwomen in thebroadcasts served tomarginalizewomen’s sports,whilealsocreatingaviewing experience formale viewers thatmeshed neatly with the feeling of a lockerroomculturethataffirmsthecentralityofmen(Messner,Duncan&Cooky2003;Kane&Maxwell, in press). In 2004, we noted a lessening of this sort of trivialization andsexualizationofwomeninthebroadcasts.Our2009studyrevealedthatthesepracticesnearlydisappeared.It is a positive development that sports news and highlights viewers are less oftenseeingdisparagingandsexistportrayalsofwomen(Berstein2002;Daniels2009;Daniels&LaVoi,inpress).However,thisdeclineinnegativeportrayalsofwomenhasnotbeen

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accompaniedbyanincreaseinroutinecoverageofwomen’ssports.Instead,whenthenewsandhighlights showsceased toportraywomenathletes in trivialandsexualizedways,theynearlyceasedportrayingthematall.Viewing thewomanathlete through themale gazeof sexualizedhumor is apparently(and thankfully)nowdiscredited; instead,nowwomenathletesarebeing re‐packagedto be seen through another male gaze—as family members. The “women’s sportshistory”segmentsduringtheMarchsegmentofSportsCenterofferanintriguingglimpseintoprogrammers’assumptionsabouthowtopresentwomen’ssportstomaleviewerswhoareusedtobeingfedasteadydietofmen’ssports.Whilethesespecialsegmentshad high technical quality, and were produced in ways that were respectful of theaccomplishments of the women athletes, two elements were notable. First, thesefeatureswereplaced inanether landbetween regularSportsCenter storiesandESPNcommercial breaks. Clearly, they were meant to be viewed as something different,separate and apart from the regular sports highlight shows (which on these nightscontinuedtheirnormalcoverageofmostlythe“BigThree”men’ssports).Second,oneofthemwasnarratedbythevoice‐overofthemalefiancéofthewomanathletebeingfeatured. We interpret this as a strategy tomakeawomanathlete recognizable andpalatable to a presumablymale audience: in (mostly) rejecting the past practices ofmakingawomanathletefamiliarand“consumable”toamaleaudiencebysexualizingher, producers in 2009weremore likely to package thewoman athlete instead as afamilymember,inafamiliarroleasmother,girlfriendorwife.This re‐packaging of women athletes meshes with the larger commercial project ofpackaging women athletes as heterosexual mothers/wives. This practice has beencriticized both for the ways in which it renders lesbian and other women athletesmarginal or invisible, and also for the ways in which it maintains the public view ofwomen athletes from the vantage point ofmen’s continued positions of centrality insociallife(Pfister2010).Connectedwith the silencingofwomenathletes is the fact that thevoicesofwomencommentators are still entirely absent from TV sports news, and very rare onSportsCenter. UnlikeTVnewsanchor,reporter,andweatherannouncerpositions,theoccupationofTVsportscommentatorisstillverysex‐segregated(Etling&Young2007;Sheffer & Shultz 2007). Women have had a very difficult time breaking in to sportsbroadcasting,remainingrelegatedatbesttomarginalrolessuchas“sidelinereporter”duringanNBAormen’scollegebasketballgame.Viewersofsportsnewsandhighlightsshows are treated to a constant barrage of words and images about men’s sports,narratedbyacacophonyofmen’svoices.AUDIENCESANDAUDIENCE‐BUILDINGIntheabsenceofaudienceresearch,wemustbecautiousindrawingconclusionsaboutthemeaningsthatTVviewersmakeofsportsnewsandhighlightsshows.However,wecan speculate on these questions, based on our analysis of the trends over the past

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twenty years, and the dominant meanings that are conveyed in the patterns ofgenderedcoverageofsportsstories.Ithasbeenknownformanyyearsthatsportsnewsandhighlightsshowsdonotsimply“giveviewerswhattheywant,”insomepassiveresponsetodemand.Instead,thereisadynamic reciprocal relationship between commercial sports and the sports media.MediascholarSutJhallycalledthisself‐reinforcingmonetaryandpromotionalloopthe“sports‐mediacomplex”(Jhally1984).Whenweaddfansintothisloop,wecanseehowinformationandpleasure‐enhancementarepartofacircuitthatpromotesandactivelybuilds audiences for men’s sports, while simultaneously providing profits for men’ssportsorganizations,commercialsponsors,andthesportsmedia.Sportsfansseekoutnewswrapsandhighlightsofgames—evenofgamestheyhavealreadywatchedintheirentirety—notsimply for information,butbecauseviewingthesereportsenhancesandamplifiesthefeelings—thetension,suspense,andexhilaration—theymayhaveenjoyedafewhoursearlier.TVnewsandhighlightsshowsdonotsimply“reflect” fan interest incertainsports,assportscommentatorsandeditorsoftenargue. Theyalsohelptogenerateandsustainenthusiasm for the sports they cover, thus becoming a key link in fans’ emotionalconnection to the agony and ecstasy of spectator sports. Fans of men’s sports—especiallytheBigThreeoffootball,basketball,andbaseball—areusedtohavingthisfixroutinelydeliveredfreeofchargetotheirlivingrooms.Thisemotionalenhancementisbutoneelementof the larger roleof TV sportsnews inbuilding audiences formen’ssports.Meanwhile,theirsilencehelpstoensuresmalleraudiencesforwomen’ssports,whilekeepingfansofwomen’ssportsonemotionallife‐support.Wehavenoted inpast studieshowa comparisonof coverageofwomen’sandmen’sNCAAbasketballoffersanespeciallyvaluablewindowintoTVnews’audience‐buildingfunctions(Messner,Duncan&Wachs1996).Our2009dataenhanceourunderstandingof how audience‐building works. As we noted above, far less time was devoted toreporting on the women’s NCAA tournament than on the men’s. What was moststrikinginthe2009studywastheamountoftimeallofthenewsandhighlightshowsspenton (and theenthusiastic,evenexcited tonewithinwhich theycouched) reportsabout upcomingmen’sNCAA tournament seedings andmatch‐ups. Little or no suchanticipatoryreportsonthewomen’sgamesappearedonthebroadcasts.Evenafterthetournament games started, reports on the women’s games were, at best, usuallyrelegatedtotheticker. Meanwhile,themen’stournamentwasreceivinglargechunksofcoverageineverybroadcast.Audience‐building formen’s sportspermeates themassmedia in a seeminglyorganicmanner. As such, these promotional efforts are more easily taken for granted and,ironically, may be less visible as promotion. News and highlights shows are twoimportant links in a huge apparatus of audience‐building formen’s sports. But theyrarelyoperatethiswayforwomen’ssports.

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HOWCANCHANGEOCCUR?Can these stubbornpatternsof inequitable coverageofwomen’s sportsbebrokenorchanged?Clearly,thelongitudinaldatafromourstudyshowsthatthereisnoreasontoexpectanevolutionarygrowthinmediacoverageofwomen’ssports.Tothecontrary,our research shows that the proportion of coverage devoted to women’s sports ontelevisednewsoverthepasttwentyyearshasactuallydeclined,andthereisnoreasontobelieve that this trendwill reverse itself in thenext twentyyearsunlessproducersdecide that it is in their interests to do so. For this to happen in a substantial way,powerrelationsandperceptionsofgenderwillhavetocontinuetochangewithinsportorganizations,withcommercialsponsorswhopromoteandadvertisesports,andwithinthemassmedia.Theseshiftsinperceptionwillnotcomeaboutbythemselves,butwillinvolvechangesandpressuresfromanumberofdirections.One important source of such change within the mass media would involve anaffirmativemovetowarddevelopingandsupportingmorewomensportsreportersandcommentators. Whilewe should be cautious in assuming thatwomen reporterswillnecessarilycoversportsdifferentlyfromthewaysthatmendo,thereissomeevidenceto suggest that women sports reporters are less likely to cover women athletes indisrespectful ways, andmore likely to advocate expanding the coverage of women’ssports(Hardin&Whiteside2008;Kian&Hardin2009;LaVoiet.al.,2007.Sportsorganizations toocancontribute tochangebyproviding the sportsmediawithmoreandbetterinformationaboutwomenathletes.Indeed,alongitudinalstudyshowsthatuniversitysportsinformationdepartmentshavevastlyimprovedtheirpresentationofwomen’ssportsintheirannualmediaguides(Kane&Buysse2005).Sportsfanscanalsobeanactivepartofthislooptopromotechange:audiencememberscancomplaindirectlytotheproducersofsportsprograms—totellthemthattheydonotappreciatesexist treatmentofwomen insportsnewsandhighlightsshows,andtotell themthatthey want to see more and better coverage of actual women’s sports. That’s why,perhaps,theycallit“demand.”Overall, we find the results of this study to be discouraging. Clearly, change hashappened,butnotinthedirectionofincreasedcoverageofwomen’ssports.Inrecentyears, sports news and highlights shows have evidenced a retrenchment, expressedthroughanarrowedfocusonafewcommercially‐centralmen’ssports.

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VI.REFERENCESBernstein, A. 2002. “Is it time for a victory lap? Changes in the media coverage ofwomeninsport,”InternationalReviewfortheSociologyofSport37:415‐428.Carpenter, L. J. & V. Acosta 2010. Women in intercollegiate sport: A longitudinal,nationalstudy,thirty‐threeyearupdate.http://www.acostacarpenter.org/Daniels,E.A.2009.“Sexobjects,athletesandsexyathletes:Howmediarepresentationsof women athletes can impact adolescent girls and college women,” Journal ofAdolescentResearch24:399‐423.Daniels, E., & N. M. LaVoi, in press. “Athletics as solution and problem: Sportsparticipationforgirlsandthesexualizationoffemaleathletes,”InT.A.RobertsandE.L.Zubriggen (Eds.) The sexualization of girls and girlhood. New York: Oxford UniversityPress.Duncan,M.C.,M.A.Messner&N.Willms2005.Genderintelevisedsports:Newsandhighlightsshows,1989‐2004.LosAngeles:AmateurAthleticFoundationofLosAngeles.http://www.aafla.org/11pub/over_frmst.htmEdgar,D.2010.“Whichsportstocover?It’satoughcall,”LosAngelesTimeseditorialblog,March12. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/readers/2010/03/which-sports-to-cover-its-a-tough-call.html ESPN2010.2010PocketGuide.ESPNMarketingandSales.http://www.espncms.com/Etling, L., & R. Young 2007. “Sexism and authoritativeness of female sportscasters,”Communicationresearchreports,121‐130.Farred, G. 2000. “Cool as the other side of the pillow: How ESPN’s SportsCenter haschangedtelevisionsportstalk,”JournalofSportandSocialIssues24:96‐117.Hardin, M. & E. Whiteside 2008. “Maybe its not a ‘generational thing’: Values andbeliefsofaspiringsportjournalistsaboutraceandgender,”Mediareporttowomen36:8‐16.Jhally, S. 1984. “The spectacle of accumulation: Material and cultural factors in theevolutionoftheSports/MediaComplex,”Insurgentsociologist12.Kane,M.J.,&H.D.Maxwell(inpress).“Expandingtheboundariesofsportmediaresearch:Usingcriticaltheorytoexploreconsumerresponsestorepresentationsofwomen’ssports,”JournalofSportManagement.

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Kian,E.M.&Hardin,M.2009.Framingofsportscoveragebasedonthesexofsportswriters:Femalejournalistscountertraditionalgenderingofmediacoverage.InternationalJournalofSportCommunication,2,185‐204. LaVoi,N.M.,Buysse,J.,Maxwell,H.D.,&Kane,M.J.2007.“Theinfluenceofoccupationalstatusandsexofdecisionmakeronmediarepresentationsinintercollegiateathletics,”WomeninSport&PhysicalActivityJournal,15:32‐43Messner,M.A.2009.It’sallforthekids:Gender,familiesandyouthsports.Berkeley:UniversityofCaliforniaPress.Messner, M. A., M. Carlisle Duncan & C. Cooky 2003. “Silence, sports bras, andwrestling porn: The treatment of women in televised sports news and highlights,”Journalofsportandsocialissues27:38‐51.Messner, M. A., M. Carlisle Duncan & F. L. Wachs 1996. "The gender of audience‐building: Televised coverage of men's and women's NCAA basketball," Sociologicalinquiry66:422‐439.Messner,M.A.&MontezdeOca,J.2005.“Themaleconsumerasloser:Beerandliquorads inmega sportsmedia events. Signs: Journal ofwomen in culture and society30:1879‐1909.National Federation of State High School Associations 2009. 2008‐09 High schoolathleticsparcipationsurvey.http://www.nfhs.orgNylund, D. 2007 Beer, babes and balls: Masculinity and sports talk radio. StateUniversityofNewYorkPress.Pfister, G. 2010.Women in Sport: Gender relations and future perspectives. Sport insociety,13,234‐248.Sabo,D.F.&P.Veliz2008.YouthsportinAmerica.EastMeadow,NY:Women'sSportsFoundation.Sheffer, M. L. & Brad Schultz 2007. “Double standard: Why women have troublegettingjobsinlocaltelevisionsports,”Journalofsportsmedia,2,77‐101.Staurowsky, E. J., DeSousa, M. J., Ducher, G., Gentner, N., Miller, K. E., Shakib, S.,Theberge,N.,&Williams,N.2009.HerlifedependsonitII:Sport,physicalactivity,andthehealthandwell‐beingofAmericangirlsandwomen. EastMeadow,NY:Women’sSportsFoundation.

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VII.APPENDIX:SELECTEDWOMEN’SSPORTINGEVENTSDURINGTHESTUDYPERIOD

Selected list of sports events in which women competed during the study periods:March15‐28,July12‐25andNovember8‐21,2009.

INTERCOLLEGIATESPORTSMarch11‐14,NCAAMEN/WOMEN'SSKIINGCHAMPIONSHIPS‐FINALS,BethelandRumford,MaineMarch13‐14,NCAADIVISIONIINDOORTRACK&FIELDCHAMPIONSHIPS,FINALS,CollegeStation,TXMarch19‐21,NCAADIVISIONIWOMEN'SSWIMMING&DIVINGCHAMPIONSHIPS,CollegeStation,TXMarch19‐22,NCAAMEN/WOMEN'SFENCINGCHAMPIONSHIPS‐FINALS,UniversityPark,PAMarch20‐22,NCAAWOMEN'SICEHOCKEYCHAMPIONSHIPS–FROZENFOUR,Boston,MAMarch21‐31,NCAADIVISIONIWOMEN'SBASKETBALLCHAMPIONSHIPS,TrentonRegional,Trenton,NJMarch21‐30,NCAADIVISIONIWOMEN'SBASKETBALLCHAMPIONSHIPS,BerkleyRegional,Berkley,CAMarch21‐30,NCAADIVISIONIWOMEN'SBASKETBALLCHAMPIONSHIPS,RaleighRegional,Raleigh,NCMarch21‐31,NCAADIVISIONIWOMEN'SBASKETBALLCHAMPIONSHIPS,OklahomaCityRegional,OklahomaCity,OKNovember20‐22,NCAADIVISIONIFIELDHOCKEYCHAMPIONSHIPS‐FINALS,WinstonSalem,NC

PROFESSIONALBASKETBALLJuly12,WNBA,Minnesota@SanAntonio;Chicago@SeattleJuly14,WNBA,LosAngeles@ConnecticutJuly15,WNBA,SanAntonio@Washington;Atlanta@Minnesota;Chicago@Indiana;Sacramento@Phoenix;Detroit@Seattle;July17,WNBAAtlanta@Indiana;Connecticut@SanAntonio;Seattle@SacramentoJuly18,WNBA,NewYork@Washington;Detroit@PhoenixJuly19,WNBA,Indiana@Connecticut;Atlanta@NewYork;SanAntonio@Chicago;Minnesota@Seattle;Detroit@SacramentoJuly21,WNBA,Indiana@WashingtonJuly22,WNBA,Atlanta@Detroit;NewYork@Chicago;Sacramento@Connecticut;Minnesota@Phoenix;LosAngeles@Seattle;Indiana@SanAntonio;Chicago@Washington;Sacramento@NewYorkJuly25,WNBA,AllStarGame,Connecticut

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GOLFMarch20‐22,MASTERCARDCLASSICHONORINGALEJOPERALTA,LPGATour,Huixquilucan,MexicoMarch26‐29,PHOENIXLPGAINTERNATIONAL,LPGATour,Phoenix,AZJuly9‐12,USWOMEN’SOPEN,LPGATour,Bethlahem,PAJuly23‐26,EVIANMASTERS,LPGATour,Evian‐les‐Bains,FranceNovember6‐8,MIZUNOCLASSIC,LPGATour,Shiga,JapanNovember12‐15LORENAOCHOAINVITATIONALbyBANAMEXandCORONALIGHT,LPGATour,GuadalajaraMexicoNovember19‐22,STANFORDFINANCIALTOURCHAMPIONSHIP,LPGATour,HoustonTexas

TENNISMarch11‐22,BNPPARIBASOPEN,WTATour,IndianWells,CAMarch25‐April5,SONYERICCSONOPEN,WTATour,Miami,FLJuly11‐19,ECMPRAGUEOPEN,WTATour,Prague,CzechoslovakiaJuly13‐19,INTERNAZIONALIFEMMINILIDIPALERMO,WTATour,Palermo,ItalyJuly25‐Aug.2,BANKOFTHEWESTCLASSIC,WTATour,Stanford,CANovember4‐8,COMMONWEALTHBANKTOURNAMENTOFCHAMPIONS,WTATour,Bali,IndonesiaNovember20,MIXEDDOUBLESNATIONALCHAMPIONSHIPS,USATennis,Tucson,AZOTHERSPORTSMarch12‐15,WORLDSINGLEDISTANCESPEEDSKATINGCHAMPIONSHIPS,Richmond,BritishColumbia,CanadaMarch20‐22,U.S.A.MASTERSINDOORTRACK&FIELDCHAMPIONSHIPS.Boston,MAMarch20‐22AmericanCupFinal&ChampionsChallengeLadies&Men,SaltLakeCity,UTMarch2‐22,SOUTHERNCALIFORNIAQUALIFIER,USAVolleyball,Anaheim,CAMarch22‐29,WORLDFIGURESKATINGCHAMPIONSHIPS,LosAngeles,CAMarch28,IAAFWORLDCROSSCOUNTRYCHAMPIONSHIPS,Amman,JordanJuly12,CANADACUPCHAMPIONSHIPS,USASoftball,Surrey,BritishColumbia,CanadaJuly12‐16,JUNIOROLYMPICNATIONALCHAMPIONSHIPS,USAGymnastics,St.Paul,MNJuly16‐20,KFCWORLDCUPOFSOFTBALL,OklahomaCity,OKJuly12‐26,WOMEN’SJUNIORWORLDCHAMPIONSHIPS,USAVolleyball,MexicoJuly18‐19,NATIONALQUALIFIER,USAGymnastics,Plainfield,INJuly18‐25,ASICS/VAUGHNNATIONALCHAMPIONSHIPS‐JUNIORGRECOROMAN,FREESTYLE,WOMEN,U.S.A.WRESTLING,Fargo,NDJuly25,COVERGIRLCLASSIC,USAGymnastics,DesMoines,IANovember5‐8,WORLDCUPSHORTTRACK,Montreal,CanadaNovember11‐13,TRAMPOLINEANDTUMBLINGWORLDCHAMPIONSHIPS,St.Petersburg,RussiaNovember12‐15,SKATEAMERICA,FigureSkating,LakePlacid,NewYork

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November13,WOMEN’SPROFESSIONALRODEOASSOCIATIONWORLDFINALS,Tulsa,OKNovember15,AUTOMOBILECLUBOFSOUTHERNCALIFORNIANHRAFINALS,Pomona,CANovember17‐21,UPHA/AMERICANROYALNATIONALCHAMPIONSHIP,U.S.EQUESTRIANFEDERATION,KansasCity,MOJuly19‐22,AVA/USAENATIONALVAULTING,CHAMPIONSHIPS,U.S.EQUESTRIANFEDERATION,Lexington,VAJuly20‐25,U.S.NATIONALDIVINGCHAMPIONSHIPS,MissionViejo,CAJuly21‐23,USPCNATIONALCHAMPIONSHIPS,U.S.EQUESTRIANFEDERATION,Lexington,VAJuly23‐26,WOMEN'SPLATINUMNORTHAMERICANROLLERHOCKEYCHAMPIONSHIPS,Cincinnati,OH

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VIII.BACKGROUNDANDPURPOSEOFTHESTUDY

The 2010 GENDER IN TELEVISED SPORTS report is sponsored by the University ofSouthern California’s Center for Feminist Research, with the support of the PurdueUniversityWomen’sStudiesProgramandDepartmentofHealthandKinesiology.This is thefifth inaseriesofstudiesofgender intelevisedsportsnewsandhighlightsshows.Thefirstfourstudieswerefundedandpublishedin1990,1994,2000,and2005by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles, now the LA84 Foundation.ResearchreportsontheseearlierstudiescanbefoundontheLA84Foundation’swebsite:http://www.la84foundation.org/11pub/over_frmst.htmThe longitudinal data in this study stretch across two decades. In 1989, MichaelMessner and Margaret Carlisle Duncan of the University of Wisconsin‐Milwaukeecollectedthefirstdataforthestudybyanalyzingsixweeksoftelevisedsportsnewsonthree Los Angeles Area network affiliates. The 1989 study also included analyses ofcoverageofprofessionaltennisandcollegebasketball. Inlateriterationsofthestudy,the investigators focused exclusively on televised sports news. ESPN’s SportsCenterhighlightsshowwasaddedtothestudyin1999.Past iterations of the GENDER IN TELEVISED SPORTS report have been useful instimulatingpublicdialogueaboutthesourcesandconsequencesoftheunder‐reportingofwomen’ssportsontelevisednewsandhighlightsshows.Wearedismayedwiththecentralfindingofthe2010Report:Thecoverageofwomen’ssportsnearlyevaporatedin2009,droppingtoitslowestlevelofanyyearwestudiedoverthepasttwodecades.However, we see some improvements in the quality of coverage of women’s sports,especially in the decline over the past ten years of blatantly sexist and disrespectfultreatmentofwomenonnewsandhighlightsshows.Itisourhopethatthisresearchwillcontribute to public discussion that will help to fuel a growth in respect for—andeventuallyequitablecoverageof—womenathletes.MichaelA.Messner,UniversityofSouthernCalifornia CherylCooky,PurdueUniversity June,2010

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IX.ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We extend appreciative thanks to Wayne Wilson of the LA84 Foundation, and toMargaretCarlisleDuncanoftheUniversityofWisconsin‐Madisonfortheircentralrolesinthepreviousiterationsofthislongitudinalstudy.We are immensely grateful for the generous and expert help that Orasio BecerracontributedinorganizingthedataforthisReport.Thanks to Lisa Bitel and the USC Center for Feminist Research for supporting andsponsoring thisstudy. Manythanks tocolleagues in thedepartmentofkinesiologyatCaliforniaStateUniversity,Fullerton;thewomen’sstudiesprogramanddepartmentofhealth and kinesiology at Purdue University; and the gender studies program anddepartment of sociology and at the University of Southern California. JenniferSchumacher of California State University Fullerton provided valuable assistance inrecordingthenewsandhighlightsshows. ThankstotheUSCUndergraduateResearchAssociates Program for providing funds in support of our intrepid research assistantRobin Hextrum. Finally, thanks to USC’s Laura Fujikawa and Tana March for theirtechnicalassistance.

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X.ABOUTTHECO‐INVESTIGATORSMichael A.Messner is professor of sociology and gender studies at theUniversity ofSouthern California, and immediate past‐president of the Pacific SociologicalAssociation. He is author of numerous scholarly articles and books on gender andsports, including It’s all for the kids: Gender, families and youth sports (University ofCaliforniaPress,2009).Messnerwasco‐investigator,withMargaretCarlisleDuncan,fortheGenderinTelevisedSportsreportsin1990,1994,2000,and2005.http://college.usc.edu/soci/people/faculty_display.cfm?person_ID=1003528CherylCooky is assistantprofessorofwomen’s studies, andhealthandkinesiologyatPurdue University. Her research, which has focused on girls' participationandexperiencesinsportandphysicalactivity,andongenderedmediarepresentationsof sport andathletes, has appeared in theSociologyof Sport Journal andSociologicalPerspectives. Cooky was a research assistant on the 2000Gender in Televised Sportsreport.http://cla.purdue.edu/hk/directory/Faculty/cooky.html

“gender in televised sports” study

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