Media Representation of Women's Sport in Croatia

Iako se kroz desetljeća promijenila početna percepcija da je sport namijenjen isključivo muškarcima, muški sport i dalje tradicionalno dobiva više medijske pozornosti. Dosadašnja istraživanja ukazuju na trend manjka izvještavanja o ženskom sportu u medijima, manju zastupljenost sportskih prijenosa na televiziji i asimetričnost u pokrivanju istog sporta za žene i muškarce. Cilj ovog rada bio je stoga dobiti uvid u kojoj je mjeri ženski sport prisutan u hrvatskim medijima. Analizirali smo pritom najrelevantnije medije u Hrvatskoj koji obrađuju sportsku tematiku. Istraživanje je podijeljeno u tri dijela. Prvi dio se odnosi na analizu sportskih blokova u središnjim informativnim emisijama triju nacionalnih televizija (HTV, Nova TV, RTL), dok se u drugom dijelu analiziraju naslovnice tiskanog i web izdanja Sportskih novosti. Uzorak istraživanja uključuje period od tri tjedna kroz veljaču i ožujak 2022., a pomno je odabran kako bi obuhvatio izvještavanje sa Zimskih olimpijskih igara u Pekingu. Razlog tome je što ženski sport često dobiva više pažnje tijekom velikog natjecanja kao što su Olimpijske igre. U trećem dijelu, analizirana je programska shema HTV-a i deset kanala Arena Sporta, kroz ožujak, kao i tijekom Zimskih olimpijskih igara. Rezultati pokazuju manju zastupljenost ženskog sporta na svim analiziranim medijima, a u velikoj mjeri sadržajem prevladava muški sport. Uočena je razlika u popraćenosti ženskog sporta na javnoj i komercijalnim televizijama, no i dalje nedovoljna da bi se moglo govoriti o ravnopravnom izvještavanju na HTV-u.Over the decades, there has been a shift from the initial perception that sport is exclusively intended for men. Despite that, it is the men's sport that continues to traditionally receive more media attention. Previous research indicates the lack of media coverage of women's sport, less live media coverage of women's sport and asymmetry in covering the same sport for women and men. The purpose of this paper was to gain insight into the extent to which women's sport is covered in the Croatian media. We analyzed the most relevant sports media outlets in Croatia. The research is divided into three parts.The first one analyzes the content of sports news in prime time daily news programmes on three national television broadcasters (HTV, Nova TV, RTL), while the second part analyzes the front pages of the sports newspaper and news web portal 'Sportske novosti'. The sample of the analysis includes a three-week period through February and March 2022, and it has been carefully selected so it includes coverage of the Beijing Winter Olympics. The reason for that is because women's sport traditionally gets more attention during major competitions, such as the Olympics. In the third part of the research, we analyzed the programme of HTV and ten television channels on Arena Sport (through March and during the Winter Olympics). Generally, the results show a lower representation of women's sports in all analyzed media, as male sports dominate throughout the media coverage. There has been noticed a difference in the coverage of women's sports on public service media and commercial television. Despite that, the media coverage of women's sport on HTV is still not balanced enough to be marked as equal