Women and Girls in Sports News and Media

NeWMAGS aimed to tackle gender stereotyping in the media coverage of sport and to address gender inequalities in the levels and quality of sport media coverage across Europe. The activities delivered were:Research Began with a literature review, which informed the research direction and was the base for creating a framework to assess any differences in language used when reporting on women’s sport. It was also used to create relevant questions in the qualitative interview study with sport media professionals. Nielsen Sport then conducted primary research in all five partner countries, to provide an up-to-date measurement of women’s sport coverage in terms of both quantity and quality. Quantitative research was commissioned from Nielsen Sport to explore the visibility of women’s sport in the media, by measuring the volume of coverage across different media types in the five partner countries. This was conducted over two x 1-month monitoring periods, staged at peak & off-peak times for major women’s sporting events in each of the countries and included broadcast, online and print (UK only) media. Collection of data established levels of media coverage of men’s, women’s and mixed sport in the countries of each of the Project Partners. Qualitative research - Three of the five European partners, UK, Sweden and Romania, were involved in the qualitative aspect of the Nielsen research, which reviewed coverage in depth, to understand, compare and contrast its style and content. This identified good and bad examples in each country and, by taking a deeper dive, provided detailed gendered analysis of the content of media coverage related to sport. We recorded the length, position, focus and tone of coverage, and the gender of the journalist and quoted sources. Additionally, we captured examples of gender stereotyping, sexualisation and objectification of athletes, with a focus on both language and imagery. Collation of report and toolkit development.Following the research, all the countries hosted in-depth ‘information sessions’ with journalists and broadcasters to discuss the implications of the research, understand why certain things are happening and ways in which the media and sports organisations can be supported to increase and improve coverage. Over 60 representatives from leading media outlets across 5 countries engaged with the information sessions, which enabled us to bring together representatives from all the leading media outlets to discuss the findings of the research. Research headline findings were presented at each information session for consultation, then, using the feedback and insight gathered at these sessions the toolkit and the guidance for the sector were shaped. A number of the toolkit solutions were validated by this group. By developing the toolkit and recommendations in this way, we were able to bring in perspectives from outside sport, and develop workable solutions.The report produced, featured the detailed findings from each country together with comparisons and overarching headlines drawing conclusions from the evidence, which enabled us to engage stakeholders and demonstrate findings in a clear and accessible manner. Dissemination of the research The Empower conference was delivered where we presented the final report and toolkit to an audience of 260 stakeholders from across Europe. It enabled partners to share outputs and communicate findings in a cost-effective way, raising awareness of the issues in a pubic setting and presented the perfect platform for peer learning and the sharing of expertise and knowledge .The report findings were further disseminated through traditional media outlets, across social media and on the project website. This will continue beyond the life of the project as the report, facebook page and website will continue to be accessible.