Towards a Level Playing Field - Australian Sports Commission

While the continuous nature of television imagery
makes it less sound to place much emphasis on the
emotional displays of athletes presented in overall
reporting (as opposed to the studio backdrop, where
images are more carefully and deliberately selected),
a higher proportion of coverage pictured female athletes
as ‘happy’ or ‘focused’ (53% and 49%, respectively,
compared to 48% and 40% for male athletes), while
male athletes were more often shown as ‘serious’
(32%, compared to 24% for female athletes).
In the analysis of footage overall, displays of
‘aggression’ were not as specifi c to male sport as
might have been expected (with about 7% of coverage
of each gender including such a display).
Figure 7: Examples of imagery accompanying television
news reports
Serena Williams looking aggressive (ABC News,
ABC1 Melbourne, 5 July 2009)
Boxer Victor Darchinyan in a domestic context
(Ten News, Channel Ten Melbourne, 5 November 2008)
An upset Adelaide United player (ABC News, ABC1
Sydney, 6 November 2008)
Action shot of surfer Stephanie Gilmore (Sports Tonight late
edition, Channel Ten national, 6 March 2009)
A serious Greg Bird walks to court (National Nine News,
Channel Nine Sydney, 6 July 2009)
SECTION TWO 35
Australian rugby league players celebrate their win at the
World Cup (Seven News, Channel 7 Sydney, 3 November 2008)
Intimate shot of golfer Anna Rawson (Ten News, Channel Ten
Melbourne, 5 February 2009)