DET JÄMSTÄLLDA OLYMPISKA SPELET – JÄMSTÄLLT I MEDIERNA? Kvinnliga atleters utrymme i svensk press under OS 2024

Abstract

Executive summary The purpose of this essay is to examine the media coverage given to female athletes during the 2024 Olympics in Paris. Throughout history women have been discriminated against in this world of sports, the first modern Olympics in the end of the 19th century didn’t allow women to compete at all (Williams, 2014). But since then, more and more women have been allowed to partake, though there has never been an equal number of male and female athletes in the Olympics until 2024 (International Olympic committee, 2024). This makes the Olympics 2024 in Paris an extraordinary case to study the media coverage – if female and male athletes also got the same amount of coverage. Previous studies have shown that female athletes get less coverage by the media than their male counterparts. But those studies haven’t had cases or a context where the participation between the gender is equal. Two research questions were formulated to easier understanding of the subject:

How many articles were published about female athletes in DN and Aftonbladet during the 2024 Olympics? How much space and coverage did female athletes get during the 2024 Olympics, and what kind? By using agenda-setting theory and framing theory combined with a genus perspective, this essay aims to analyze how the media has power to influence the audience and uphold and reproduce social structures. Using quantitative content analysis this essay examines the printed news of two of Sweden’s biggest news outlets, Dagens Nyheter and Aftonbladet. All articles in the paper’s sport section that was related to the Olympics 2024 were included in the study. In total 483 articles were analyzed by their text and pictures. The results show that 170 articles (35 percent) were about female athletes, 278 articles (58 percent) about male athletes and 35 articles (7 percent) was neutral or mixed. Findings also show that female athletes were given somewhat less space and coverage in terms of text and photos compared to their male counterparts. Female athletes were more often depicted as happy in photos and males more often focused or active. Men also got more space to talk about their sport or the Olympics compared to women. The findings indicate that female athletes received less coverage than their male counterparts, even though the 2024 Olympics had an equal number of participants from both genders. This shows that there are underlying structures and norms in how the media covers sports. These structures are not solely the fault of the media, but rather reflect broader societal norms. If the media do not pay attention to women’s sports the same way they do to men’s sport the audience may not find it as serious, which only leads and contributes to traditional power structures in the media, sports and society.