Women`s and men`s intercollegiate basketball media coverage on ESPN.com: a mixed methods analysis of a complete season.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to benchmark quantitative and qualitative media coverage of women`s and men`s collegiate basketball on the Internet, while simultaneously supporting or rejecting the theory of hegemonic masculinity in the contemporary media channel. Ultimately, the researcher studied whether patterns of under-representation and marginalization of female athletes observed in traditional media exist in new media, specifically the Internet. Feature photographs and headline articles on the women`s and men`s college basketball home pages within ESPN.com were collected during the 2006-07 NCAA intercollegiate basketball season. A triangulation mixed methods design was used, as quantitative content analysis was used to quantify the number of new feature photographs and headline articles and analyze the foci of the feature photographs (e.g., coach, player, etc.) and how this person(s) is portrayed (i.e., in/out of uniform, on/off the court, in action/posed, etc.) and qualitative content analysis was employed to describe prevalent themes in the feature photographs and headline articles. In conclusion, the findings neither completely challenge nor reinforce hegemony. The equal photograph impressions regardless of the sex of the athlete, more overall article impressions on the women`s basketball home page, women`s and men`s basketball players equally likely to be presented in uniform and on the court, women`s basketball players more likely to be shown in action, and more women`s basketball photographs portraying True Athleticism compared favorably to men`s basketball and challenges male hegemony in sport. However, male hegemony in sport was reinforced by the findings that men`s basketball received more new feature photographs and headline articles, more game reporting articles, and more articlesfocused on such topics as "Coach is King," "Athlete Health," and "Rule Breakers" compared to women`s basketball. In addition, articles on women's basketball disproportionately focused on tangential topics represented by the article themes, Syndicated Lists and Professional Leagues, were over-represented in women`s basketball articles.