Currently, the conversation surrounding women’s sports is expanding. Females and their roles in athletics are more often considered “news” by media outlets. However, there is still much to be done to ensure that the gatekeepers of sports media — editors — are not both subconsciously and wilfully choosing to leave female athletes out of their coverage.
Pamela Laucella, a researcher at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, conducted a study with colleagues to survey sports editors about their opinions, positions, and actions regarding how they cover, and if they cover, women’s sports. The group’s previous research found that it is the norm for most sports editors to stand by the idea that they are not expected to cover female sports because the general public does not care about them. In a survey of more than 100 sports editors, only half had taken the time to ask the audience about their interest in women’s sports.
With a sample of 193 of the top US daily mainstream newspapers, Laucella and her team surveyed the sports editors, or an editor if the sports editor never replied, either over the phone or through email. The study found that most sports editors were males who didn’t disagree with Title IX’s importance but did disagree with the assertion that the media doesn’t cover enough women’s sports and who did not feel ethically obligated to hire women or to cover female sports.
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Laucella, Pamela C., et al. “Diversifying the Sports Department and Covering Women’s Sports: A Survey of Sports Editors.” Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, vol. 94, no. 3, Sept. 2017, pp. 772–92.