University of Northern Colorado Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC Dissertations Student Research 8-1-2011 Media portrayals of athletes in televised sports: a content analysis of ice hockey broadcasts during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games Heather A. Muir Follow this and additional works at: http://digscholarship.unco.edu/dissertations Recommended Citation Muir, Heather A., "Media portrayals of athletes in televised sports: a content analysis of ice hockey broadcasts during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games" (2011). Dissertations. Paper 217. This Text is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Research at Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholarship & Creative Works @ Digital UNC. For more information, please contact [email protected]. © 2011 HEATHER A. MUIR ALL RIGHTS RESERVED AUGUST 2011 UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN COLORADO Greeley, Colorado The Graduate School MEDIA PORTRAYALS OF ATHLETES IN TELEVISED SPORTS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS OF ICE HOCKEY BROADCASTS DURING THE 2010 WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES A Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Heather A. Muir College of Natural and Health Sciences School of Sport and Exercise Science Sport Administration August, 2011 This Dissertation by: Heather A. Muir Entitled: Media Portrayals of Athletes in Televised Sports: A Content Analysis of Ice Hockey Broadcasts during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games has been approved as meeting the requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in College of Natural and Health Sciences in School of Sport and Exercise Science, Program of Sport Administration Accepted by the Doctoral Committee _______________________________________________________ Dianna P. Gray, Ph.D., Chair _______________________________________________________ David K. Stotlar, Ed.D., Committee Member _______________________________________________________ Megan Babkes Stellino, Ed.D., Committee Member _______________________________________________________ Angela C. Henderson, Ph.D., Faculty Representative Date of Dissertation Defense _________________________________________ Accepted by the Graduate School _________________________________________________________ Robbyn R. Wacker, Ph. D. Assistant Vice President for Research Dean of the Graduate School & International Admissions ABSTRACT Muir, Heather A. Media Portrayals of Athletes in Televised Sports: A Content Analysis of Ice Hockey Broadcasts during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Published Doctor of Philosophy dissertation, University of Northern Colorado, 2011. The Winter Olympic Games are probably the best time for casual sports fans to watch women‟s ice hockey at its finest, and the commentary of sports broadcasters can greatly shape viewers‟ impressions of the sporting event. This study explored ways in which the NBC broadcasts of the 2010 Winter Olympic ice hockey tournament differed based on the sex of the ice hockey players including differences in production value, the use of gendered language, and the commentators‟ portrayals of female and male ice hockey players. The primary method for ascertaining differences was content analysis using a mixed-methods approach to analyze the descriptions of athletes. Chi-Square analysis was used to compare category frequencies between female and male athletes. Results showed similar levels of production value other than the use of the telestrator in which all uses were during the men‟s games. Gendered language was also present. For example, the women‟s competition was gender marked frequently as “women‟s hockey,” there were many references to female players with male-gendered terms such as “defensemen,” and commentators named female players by just their first names. Finally, the coding of the informative, descriptive, and evaluative commentary showed that female athletes were portrayed as athletes first with the top-ranked description being their fine technical skills. However, commentators also focused on the female players‟ iii emotions and personalities indicating that these aspects also contribute to their success and thus perpetuating that gendered stereotype in sports. Keywords: media portrayals of athletes, women‟s ice hockey, gender stereotypes, gendered language, content analysis, mixed-methods iv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to acknowledge the guidance, feedback, and support from my doctoral committee, especially my advisor, Dianna Gray. I have always known that I wanted to be a teacher, and I have learned much from you that I will take with me as I begin my new adventures as a professor. Thank you for your patience and understanding throughout this long process. Thank you to David Stotlar and Megan Babkes Stellino for passing on your knowledge both inside and outside of the classroom. Susan Hutchinson provided feedback and support in the early part of the process, and I appreciate your willingness to serve on my doctoral committee initially. Finally, I am most grateful that Angela Henderson agreed to join my committee for the final phase. Each of my committee members brought a unique expertise to my dissertation for which I will always be thankful. In addition to my formal committee members, there are a few other faculty members who were instrumental in zoning in on a dissertation topic. James Gould and Diane Gaede were kind enough to let me bounce around some ideas with them. In addition to my formal class work and research, I gained valuable experience working in the Dean‟s Office of the College of Natural and Health Sciences. I appreciate the financial support through my assistantship as well as the opportunity to learn about the administrative side of academia. Thank you to the staff for their ongoing support throughout my educational experience. v Next, I‟d like to acknowledge my fellow students who have walked the halls of Gunter Hall with me. First and foremost, I‟d like to acknowledge Crystal Southall who first suggested that I pursue a content analysis of the Olympic hockey tournament. Next, I‟d like to express my appreciation for my co-coders involved in both my pilot study and main study: Lamar Reams, Jake Patterson, Callie Byrne, Tariq Ahmad, Meaghan Edison, and Winston Pappas. Finally, I will be eternally grateful for the unending support, friendship, and dog sitting from Sheri Treadwell. Buster and I will miss you greatly! I have met some amazing mentors and friends through my involvement in the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport and the North American Society for Sport Management. Brenda Riemer and Leigh Ann Danzey Bussell have been tremendous mentors, supporters, and friends as I have journeyed through the dissertation process. Next, I never thought I‟d meet an academic who was as big of a hockey fan as me until I met Naila Jinnah at a NASSS conference. Our common interests in hockey, social media, and sports will lead to a long-lasting academic and personal relationship. Finally, I must acknowledge my dear friend Olan Scott. I was fortunate to hear him speak at a NASSS conference and learn about his dissertation study on the television coverage of the NBA Finals. Although we covered different televised sports and focused on different aspects of the coverage, our methodologies were quite similar. Olan provided valuable tips on transcribing television commentary that saved me much time. I owe him so much for helping me through my methodology. Once again, I have found a fellow researcher with whom I hope to have a long-lasting academic and personal relationship. Last, but not least, I must acknowledge the love and support from my parents as I pursued what they hoped would be my last academic degree. It was my parents who first vi put a golf club in my hand, took me to the bowling alley, and supported me when I wanted to be the first girl on the youth baseball league in my hometown. I knew no boundaries growing up. The love of sports came through my father, and the love of learning came through my mother who began her collegiate pursuits about the same time I did. She worked her way through the ranks and finally earned her doctoral degree ten years ago. Thanks for showing the way, Dr. Mom! vii TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 Need for the Study Statement of the Purpose Research Questions and Hypotheses Significance of the Study Delimitations Limitations Definition of Terms II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE ............................................................ 12 History of Women in Sport Timeline of U.S. Women in Sports Historical Eras of Women‟s Sports U.S. Women‟s Sport Participation Rates Women‟s Participation in the Modern Olympics Women‟s Ice Hockey in the United States Gender and Sport Feminism and Sport Media Gender Stereotypes in Sport Gender-Appropriate Sports Gendered Language in Sport Mass Media and Sport Growth of Televised Sports Television Coverage of the Olympics Analyzing Televised Sports Television Portrayals of Female Athletes Quality of Media Coverage Description of Athletes viii CHAPTER PAGE III. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................ 55 Content Analysis Definition and Usage Quantitative and Qualitative Methods Steps in Content Analysis Research Design Data Collection Sampling Frame Sampling Scheme Data Analysis Research Question #1 Research Question #2 Research Question #3 Validity and Reliability Pilot