Individual players and unprioritized women : A quantitative study of Sportbladets coverage of football- and ice hockey players

This study examines what differences can be found in Sportbladet’s coverage of football and ice hockey as well as what could cause those. The study examines the four following questions: How is the coverage between teams and individual players distributed? How is the coverage between men and women distributed? How is the coverage of different subjects distributed in each sport and between genders and how are the players/teams framed? To answer these questions the study takes off in earlier studies of subject distribution, public relations and framing of athletes as well as framing-, gender-, news values and sports journalism theories. By using a quantitative contents analysis, 951 articles from the periods march 31st to november 2nd and september 15th to may 2nd, have been analyzed and compared to each other. The results show that there are differences in Sportbladet’s coverage of football and ice hockey, but also between men and women within both sports. The results show that both football- and ice hockey players are framed as individual players instead of teams, female players are under-represented in sports media as well as the distribution of subjects are largely alike within both the sports and between genders. Some differences are found in the coverage of scandals and before and after games. The study also shows that people related to sports are framed in a positive or neutral way.