7 Game, Set, Framed: How Headlines Treat Male and Female Athletes

By: Victoria Romagnoli, Madison Williams, Autumn Knaap, Mercedes Agahzadeh

Introduction

Sports journalism provides a broad perspective on both athletes and organizations. Covering everything from routine plays to personal developments of athletes, presenting audiences with various viewpoints that continuously intersect with issues of gender disparity and inequality. Despite their popularity, athletes are constantly under the microscope with ongoing interactions between the media and audiences shaping opinions throughout the public sphere. To delve deeper into gender-related discourse in sports, this study will focus on Tennis coverage in journals, aiming to understand how gender-based narratives manifest and differ across different contexts. The primary research will ask, “How does media coverage of professional female tennis players differ from that of male tennis players?” A secondary question will explore, “Does media coverage favour male tennis players over female players?” Based on initial assumptions, it is hypothesized that coverage will favor male athletes, adopt a more critical tone toward female athletes, and often prioritize personal affiliations over professional achievements.

Review of Literature

Media representation remains a subject of ongoing debate, especially concerning disparities in visibility and the framing of individuals. This is particularly evident in the portrayal of athletes, where issues of race, gender, and identity often shape how they are represented in the media. This can be seen by the way they are covered by the media, where certain groups are celebrated, scrutinized, or marginalized in ways more than just on their performance. Research has shown that different groups of individuals–including different genders, races, disabilities, and more, are not always equally represented in the media or even receive the same air or screen time in broadcasts (Clemens & Bogina, 2023). Framing theory highlights how news content shapes audience perceptions by influencing how stories are presented (Clemens & Bogina, 2023). The media uses frames to emphasize certain details or evoke specific interpretations (Williams & Cianfrone, 2024). This framework is key to understanding how the coverage of male and female athletes shapes public attitudes toward each gender.

Generally, women’s sports receive less coverage in the media compared to men’s (Kemble, 2020). When women’s sports receive attention, there tends to be more stereotyping and objectification of these athletes, reinforcing ideologies instead of being a cause to celebrate representation (Kemble, 2020). Despite the ability of any gender to participate in any sport, sports are still commonly separated into men’s and women’s categories with sports like dance, ballet, and figure skating as women’s sports, while football, rugby, and hockey are considered men’s sports because they are more physical (Yip, 2021).

In terms of tennis, it is considered more gender-neutral and a more gender-appropriate sport for women, however, women are still under-represented and are still compared to men competing in terms of athleticism, sexualization, and capabilities (Yip, 2021). Our research is fueled by the common perception of tennis as a gender-neutral sport, prompting us to investigate the presence of gender disparities and traditional biases in Australian Open media coverage.

Although Kemble (2020) discovered there is a partial shift in traditional patriarchal biases (such as objectification and emotional stereotyping), female athletes are still often framed in terms of their personal lives, appearance, and emotions whereas male athletes are framed with skill, athleticism, and their achievements in mind (Yip, 2021; Clemons & Bogina, 2024). Clemons & Bogina (2024) found that marathon commentary focused more on women’s emotions than achievements, which were reserved for male athletes. Similarly, Yip (2021) noted that at Wimbledon 2018, commentary on women’s matches was more centred on personal lives, while male athletes’ achievements were framed as historic, reinforcing traditional gender norms.

While much research focuses on full articles or visuals, headlines also shape audience perceptions by emphasizing certain angles. Williams & Cianfrone (2024) found that headlines often use episodic framing, focusing on individuals and events, over thematic framing, which provides full context, suggesting that headline language significantly influences how issues are understood.

Overall, research shows that gender bias is still common in sports media, with male athletes often celebrated for their achievements while female athletes are framed through emotion or personal stories. This review points to a gap in how headlines shape gendered narratives over time, setting up our deeper look at the Australian Open.

Methodology

Our research was conducted from December 30th, 2024, to February 3rd, 2025; during this time frame, we gathered 50 headlines using the stratified sampling method, 25 of which referred to males and 25 to females. The headlines were from popular sports media coverage news sources such as ESPN, SportsNet, and AUS Open. In this selection process, we focused on gathering a comprehensive view of the headlines shared before, after, and during the tournament that mentioned the representation of female and male athletes. The selection procedure had no room for bias because we evenly divided the population into male and female groups using the sampling method.

Findings

The first set of data we collected was to account for tone. 61% of female headlines were neutral, while the male coverage was divided between 42% neutral, 34% positive, and 24% negative. Female athletes did have 27% of headlines appear positive and only 9% negative. Male athletes did receive 7% more positive coverage than female athletes, while also having 15% more negative coverage. Looking at this, 58% of male coverage was either negative or positive, 16% more than their neutral coverage. In contrast, the female coverage was more likely to be interpreted as neutral, as their positive and negative coverage was only 36% of their total coverage, which was 25% less than their neutral coverage. The coverage for success and struggles showed that male athletes were more likely to have their success mentioned at 57% than female athletes at 48%. However, male athletes’ headlines focused on their struggles at 29% compared to female athletes, which was only at 16%. This showed how Male athletes had 9% more coverage based on their successes and 13% more coverage on their struggles than female athletes. Finally, the Gendered Language in coverage for female headlines was 16%, compared to 14% for male headlines, showing a very small difference.

Discussion

The results revealed distinct variations between coverage of male and female tennis players. Much of the female coverage was perceived as neutral while the male coverage had more range between neutral, positive and negative tones. The disparity in tone could suggest that media outlets may prioritize male athletes’ narratives because they are perceived as more compelling or commercially viable. The lower engagement with female athletes in headlines could reinforce a cycle in which women’s sports receive less attention and investment. With males receiving more coverage that focused on their success, along with their struggles indicates media narratives around male athletes are more emotionally charged. This could mean that male athletes are framed as either heroes or underperformers, generating stronger reactions from audiences. Since female athletes received less negative coverage compared to male athletes, it indicates that they face less criticism in media narratives. However, this lower level of scrutiny may not necessarily be positive; it could reflect a perception that their performances or actions are less consequential in the broader sports discourse. Interestingly, the findings suggested that gendered framing is not as dominant in media coverage as initially hypothesised.

Conclusion

Overall, the data revealed that our initial hypothesis was mostly incorrect. While media coverage did favour men, derogatory tones toward female athletes were rarely present and the praise for male accomplishments was only slightly greater than that given to female athletes. Furthermore, the praise for male accomplishments was only slightly higher than the recognition given to female athletes. This study highlights the complex nature of gender representation in sports media, suggesting that while disparities exist, they are not as pronounced as initially expected. Moreover, providing alternate scopes on the ideas presented in sport-based journals and expanding the analysis toward the sport industry altogether. Future research could build on these findings to explore gender representation across a broader range of tournaments and regions, offering a more comprehensive understanding of how male and female athletes are portrayed in media.

Limitations

This study did have some limitations that should be considered. Firstly, we were unable to locate all 50 headlines, with three fewer headlines covering female athletes compared to male athletes. This disparity in coverage led to female athletes receiving less attention prior to the event, which may have affected the overall analysis of media representation. Additionally, our focus on a single tournament in one region limited the generalisability of our findings. By concentrating on just one event, we cannot assume that the trends observed in this specific context apply universally to all tennis tournaments or to different regions. The media landscape may vary substantially across countries or tournaments, which could influence how male and female athletes are portrayed. Furthermore, the study’s reliance on a small sample of headlines may not fully capture the diversity of media coverage across different platforms over a larger time frame. Expanding the scope of future research to include a broader range of tournaments, regions and media sources would provide a more comprehensive understanding of how gender representation varies across niches and explore more patterns across gender-based narratives in media altogether.

References

Clemons, M., & Bogina, A. C. (2024). An Analysis of Agenda Setting and Framing of American Marathon Television Coverage. International Journal of Sport Communication, 17(2), 182–191. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2023-0194

Kemble, M. (2020). As Good as the Men? A Corpus Analysis of Evaluation in News Articles about Professional Female Athletes Competing in “Masculine” Sports. Critical Approaches to Discourse Analysis Across Disciplines, 12(1), 87–111. Communication & Mass Media Complete.

Williams, T. A., & Cianfrone, B. A. (2024). Media Framing of Athletic Department Major Infractions: A 5-Year Review of Historically Black Colleges and Universities. International Journal of Sport Communication, 17(2), 135–149. https://doi.org/10.1123/ijsc.2023-0266

Yip, A. (2021). Pinning down the gap: Gender and the online representation of professional tennis players. Corpora, 16(3), 349–378. https://doi.org/10.3366/cor.2021.0227