“The Olympic
games are among the most significant sporting events in contemporary
world. Olympic broadcasts and news
media accordingly are followed by large audiences, which places sport
momentarily at the centre of the worlds attention” (Markula, P., 2009). Journalism is an integral part of the
Olympics, delivering content to households all over the world. This annotated bibliography will explore
the present news stories surrounding the 2012 Olympics, paying particular focus
on media’s representation of women during the games. It will be examined through the viewpoints of ABC News
Radio, the Daily Mail online, The Australian Women’s Weekly and Dr Pirkko Markula. The contrasting mediums of radio, print
and online will seek to give a broad array of opinions on the issue in order to
build credibility and critically engage.
Markula, P. (Eds). (2009).
Olympic Women and the Media:
International Perspectives. Hampshire,
UK: Palgrace Macmillan
Pirkko
Markula is Professor of socio-cultural Studies of Sport and Physical Activity
at the University of Alberta. Her
research interests are vast and include ethnography and poststructuralist
feminist analysis of dance. She
has gained her credibility and reputation from co-authoring several highly
revered books and journals with her main focus on women in sport. This book specifically focuses on
Olympic women and how they are represented and covered by the media. This book is a collection of articles
written by female 13 female academics from around the world. The articles range from broad
discussions of sport media representation of women, to specific case studies of
female Olympians being underrepresented in the media during their performance
in comparison with their male counterparts. There is also detailed analysis of specific female Olympians
being represented as sex objects rather than professional athletes. On the contrary, some case studies
explore certain country’s female athletes being represented equally. Markula links the pieces together to
create a balanced book with concise arguments surrounding the issue of female
representation by the media at the Olympics. The book is well referenced and includes evidence of
coverage using newspaper excerpts and specific television broadcast
information. The significant use
of citations throughout the book adds credibility to the research being
presented by the editor and the contributors.
Brown, R. (Presenter).
(2012, July 27).
Australia’s first female Olympic flag bearer in 20 years [Podcast radio
program]. Sydney: ABC The World
Today. Retrieved October 20, 2012,
from http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2012/s3554849.htm
This radio conversation
was found on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) website. The ABC is one of Australia’s few
public media entities. It provides
television, radio, online and mobile services. Although funded and owned by the government, the ABC remains
editorially independent. London
based ABC journalist Rachael Brown conducted the interview. She speaks to Nick Green, the
Australian Olympic team boss who had just named Lauren Jackson as the team
captain and the first female flag bearer in 20 years. The article focuses on the positive as to why Lauren Jackson
was chosen as the flag bearer.
Whilst the title of the interview insinuates the main focus will be
about the first female in 20 years to carry the flag, the actual crux of the
story is focused on whether Britain will beat Australia in the medal
tally. The ABC withholds a high
level of credibility and its content is seen to be of a high standard. However, this article doesn’t go into
enough depth about the flag bearer for the 2012 Olympic games. Rachael Brown chooses to keep the
interview to a light conversation and avoids the real substance to the story.
Burke, E. (2012, July 19).
Olympics outrage: Female athletes fly economy, men fly business. The Australian Women’s Weekly. Retrieved from http://aww.ninemsn.com.au/news/newsstories/8501753/olympics-outrage-female-athletes-fly-economy-men-fly-business
This article
from a popular magazine, the Australian Women’s Weekly, is a heated piece about
female athletes being treated unfairly compared with male athletes. As expected in a women’s magazine,
Burke writes passionately about the inequalities that the Australian female athletes
faced during the 2012 Olympics.
She focuses on the fact that Australian female basketball team flew
economy to London, while the men were flew business class. The article is short but fairly well
balanced. It includes a rebuttal
from basketball Australia denying any sexism and claiming that the player’s
average heights determine their seating arrangements. Burke also makes mention to other countries who flew their
female athletes in a lower class than the men. This article has been shortened and appropriated for online
consumption. The Women’s Weekly is
published by ACP Magazines which is a division of PBL Media and while seen as a
credible source, the articles are more lifestyle and entertainment based as
opposed to hard news. However,
seeing as this issue focuses on women and so does the magazine, it makes a
fitting platform for this particular content delivery.
‘The Olympics has destroyed womanhood’: Columnist provokes storm
of criticism after attack on ‘chestless, manlike’ competitors. (2012, August 8). The Mail Online. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2185510/Newspaper-columnist-provokes-worldwide-outrage-saying-Olympic-Games-destroying-female-figure.html
This piece
written by a Mail Online reporter is in reaction to another article that caused
uproar and controversy all over the world. The original opinion piece written by a Turkish columnist
was describing how the Olympics have destroyed womanhood. He wrote that the games was distorting
women’s bodies and that extra points should be given to female athletes based
on how feminine they looked. In response,
this online article describes the reaction from the rest of the world. On their
website, the Mail Online do not publish the names of the journalists which
lessens the credibility of the work.
The Mail Online journalist picks apart the original column and also
includes images of the specific female athletes being scrutinized. It also includes a comments
section at the end of the story for people to voice their own opinion of the
story. The Mail Online is owned by
Daily Mail and General Trust and is one of the largest media conglomerates in
Europe. Its popularity is a
reflection of its credibility.
This article directly relates back to Markula’s research that shows the
inequality and misrepresentation of women by the media during the Olympic
games.
