Packaging the Games for Viewer Consumption: Gender, Ethnicity, and Nationality in NBC's Coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics

Abstract

Analysis of 70 prime-time hours of host and reporter commentary in NBC's 2004 Athens Summer Olympic telecast located the degree and forms of gender, ethnic, and national biases hidden within the prime-time network telecasts. Gendered results indicate that male athletes were more likely to be depicted as courageous, lucky, and introverted, and received the majority of the clock-time and athlete mentions. Ethnic analyses revealed that more than two-thirds of the athlete mentions were white athletes, and that fourteen of the twenty most frequently mentioned athletes were white. Nationalistic differences were particularly significant, with eight noted differences in the types of descriptors employed about American and non-American athletes. Additionally, 85% of the most-mentioned athletes were Americans, and more American athletes than athletes from all other countries were mentioned.

Keywords:

• Ethnicity
• Gender
• Nationality
• Olympics
• Sport

Notes

∗χ² = 6.26, df = 1, p = .02.

^†χ² = 5.05, df = 1, p = .03.

∗χ² = 8.27, df = 1, p = .01.

^†χ² = 6.28, df = 1, p = .02.

^‡χ² = 5.42, df = 1, p = .02.

^§χ² = 5.40, df = 1, p = .03.

^‖χ² = 6.57, df = 1, p = .02.

^¶χ² = 4.56, df = 1, p = .03.

^#χ² = 7.93, df = 1, p = .01.

∗χ² = 6.02, df = 1, p = .02.

^†χ² = 4.18, df = 1, p = .04.

∗χ² = 121.1, df = 1, p = .001.

^†χ² = 6.48, df = 1, p = .02.

^‡χ² = 5.58, df = 1, p = .02.

^§χ² = 7.21, df = 1, p = .01.

^‖χ² = 6.96, df = 1, p = .01.

∗χ² = 14.59, df = 1, p = .001.

^†χ² = 54.06, df = 1, p = .001.

^‡χ² = 15.61, df = 1, p = .001.

^§χ² = 12.44, df = 1, p = .001.

^‖χ² = 17.16, df = 1, p = .001.

^¶χ² = 14.30, df = 1, p = .001.

^#χ² = 5.19, df = 1, p = .001.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Andrew C. Billings

Andrew C. Billings (PhD, Indiana University, 1999) is at Clemson University

James R. Angelini

James R. Angelini is a doctoral student at Indiana University.