Media Representation of Persons with Disabilities in Sports: A Content Analysis of Sportske novosti, Večernji list and Jutarnji list

U ovom diplomskom radu provedeno je istraživanje koje se odnosi na medijsku reprezentaciju osoba s invaliditetom u sportu na portalima Sportske novosti, Jutarnji list i Večernji list. Svrha rada je ukazati koliko i na koji način se piše o osobama s invaliditetom u sportu s ciljem stvaranja svijesti o položaju parasporta u hrvatskim medijima. Istraživanje ove teme provedeno je metodom analize sadržaja u razdoblju od 1. travnja 2021. do 1. travnja 2022. U ovom razdoblju obuhvaćena su četiri velika natjecanja (Olimpijske, Paraolimpijske, Zimske olimpijske, Zimske paraolimpijske igre) te period prije, između i nakon njihova odigravanja. Sveukupno je prikupljeno 163 članka na kojima su korištene kvantitativna i kvalitativna metoda analize sadržaja. Kombinacija ovih dviju metoda korištena je kako bi dala odgovore na pitanja koliko često i na koji način se izvještava o sportu osoba s invaliditetom. Rezultati su pokazali da se čak 55% vremena u godini uopće ne piše o parasportu, a i kada se piše, članci su pretežito vezani za Paraolimpijske i Zimske paraolimpijske igre. Web stranica www.sportske.jutarnji.hr češće piše o sportašima s invaliditetom od stranica www.jutarnji.hr i www.vecernji.hr. Ton izvještavanja o parasportašima na navedenim portalima je izrazito pozitivan, a prikupljeni podaci ukazuju da portali često preuzimaju gotove vijesti iz istog izvora, te ulažu malo truda u stvaranje vlastitih članaka. Analiza članaka ukazuje na korištenje neprimjerenih riječi kao što je pojam 'invalid', asociranje na zdravstveni status u naslovima članaka, korištenje fotografija u kojima je u prvom planu pomagalo, pretjeranu pozitivnost, a stereotipni narativ koji dominira na portalima www.jutarnji.hr, www.vecernji.hr i www.sportske.jutarnji.hr jest stereotip da su osobe s invaliditetom kao sportaši 'superljudi' što za posljedicu ima da se rezultati parasportaša preuveličavaju i prikazuju pozitivno neovisno o stvarnom uspjehu.In this master thesis, research was conducted on the representation of people with disabilities in media on sports portals Sportske novosti, Jutarnji list and Večernji list. The purpose of this paper is to show how much and in which manner are people with disabilities portrayed in sports in order to create awareness of disability sport in Croatian media. The research on this topic was conducted by method of content analysis in the period from April 1st, 2021. till April 1st, 2022. This period includes four major competitions (The Olympics, The Paralympics, Winter Olympics, and Winter Paralympic Games) and also the period before, in between and after each competition. A total of 163 articles were collected and used for quantitative and qualitative methods of content analysis. The combination of these two methods was used to answer questions how often and in which manner are people with disabilities being reported on. The results have shown that 55% of the year, web portals do not report about disability sport and even if they do, the articles are mostly related to the Paralympic and Winter Paralympic Games. The website www.sportske.jutarnji.hr reports about athletes with disabilities more often than the websites www.jutarnji.hr and www.vecernji.hr. The tone of reporting on para-athletes is extremely positive, and the collected data indicates that the portals use premade news from the same source and invest little effort in creating their own articles. The article analysis indicates the use of inappropriate words such as the term 'disabled', mentioning para-athletes health status in the titles of the articles, the use of photos in which para-athletes aid is in the spotlight, excessive positivity, and the stereotypical narrative that dominates the portals www.jutarnji.hr, www .vecernji.hr and www.sportske.jutarnji.hr is the stereotype that people with disabilities as athletes are 'super people', which results in para-athletes accomplishments being exaggerated and presented positively, regardless of their actual success