Examines Japanese Newspaper Coverage during the 2004 Olympic Games from the Perspective of Gender

Abstract

This study joins the “Sportwomen in the 2004 Olympic Games: A Global Research Analysis of Media Coverage”, and examines Japanese newspaper coverage during the 2004 Olympic Games from the perspective of gender. The sample in this study is taken from the Yomiuri. Content analysis was conducted to compare all the articles and photographs of female and male athletes on all pages. In addition to the Yomiuri, the Olympics photographs that appeared in the Asahi and the Mainichi newspapers are analyzed in the same way as the Yomiuri. In non-Olympics, the coverage of female athletes occupied less than 6% and there were a very small number of female sporting events. If the analysis of the coverage was conducted at another time, female athlete would receive more coverage than in this study. There will though continue to be great differences of coverage between males and females. On the other hand, in coverage of Olympics, female athletes received relatively equal newspaper coverage compared to male athletes. This is because the number of female athletes and female sporting events increased to the same level as male’s, and female athletes got almost as many medals as male athletes. However, seeing the Olympic photographic coverage of the athletes in the newspaper separately according to nationality, Japanese athletes’ coverage is found to reflect their results in the games for both gender, whereas in foreign athletes’ case, gender stereotype of sports can be perceived both qualitatively and quantitatively. The representation of gender in the newspaper is not likely to disappear easily. These representations of sport by the media have become an obstacle to the realization of gender equality and equity.