Thesis (M.S.)--Ohio University, August, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis attempts to explore the discursive construction of Olympic ideology in the 2008 Torch Relay news coverage by the British and the Chinese media. It applies a corpus-based Discourse-Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Analysis (DHA-CDA) to analyse how and why the complexity, contradiction and conflicts in linguistic interpretations of Olympism are demonstrated by the media discourse between East and West. This study first focuses on the underpinning ideology and the study of the media, considering the historical development of Olympic ideology (Olympism) along with the respective mainstream ideologies in Britain (Liberalism) and China (Harmony), as well as the philosophical foundations and prominence of CDA. It then draws on the elaborated analytical approach-corpus-based CDA-in detail to analyse four specially constructed corpora drawn from the China Daily, BBC News and The Guardian. Thereafter corpus techniques including frequency and concordance analysis are applied and results obtained that reveal comparative differences and diachronic shifts across the corpora. Having first described the data, they are then interpreted in their linguistic contexts, and subsequently explained in the broader historical and socio-political contexts surrounding the dynamic life of the Olympic Torch Relay. This study demonstrates that there are contrasting expressions of Olympic ideology in the media discourse of the two countries. At a deeper level, this social practice is revealed to be dominated by the mainstream ideologies of the hosting and participating nations, which have been entrenched throughout their respective histories. The involvement of Britain and China in Olympic history and the relevant socio-political events surrounding the 2008 Torch Relay are explored in order to inform our analysis. The conclusion to this thesis reinforces its significant contribution to the study of Olympism. The Olympic philosophy of integrating diversified ideologies was certainly not manifest in the confrontation between the eastern and western media in 2008. Liberalism and harmony had never confronted each other face to face on the world stage before or attempted to find a common ground on which to coexist as revealed in this study. Based on this, respect for and tolerance of diverse ideology, history and culture will hopefully promote the solidarity and prosperity represented by Olympism in the new era.

The aim of this study was to examine how sports journalists used religious metaphors when covering football during the time span of the study, and how the athletes were portrayed as a result of the usage. The aim was also to study if the usage differed between the two newspapers chosen for the study, one of which is a morning paper (Dagens Nyheters sport section) and one which is an evening paper (Sportbladet). To answer our questions we used a quantitative and a qualitative method, the later of the two was based on a metaphor analysis. The quantitative method consisted of a content analysis where different variables were examined. The time span of the study is articles from one year. The results show that the religious metaphors were used in many ways. Some religious metaphors, such as ones including the word miracle, were more prominent than others. What is notable is that the more prominent metaphors also tended to be conventional, that is, used in a way that they are no longer looked upon as metaphorical. Many of the texts in the study were chronicles and reportages, genres where the language is more creative. This could explain why the religious metaphors were more frequent in these genres. A majority of the religious metaphors referred to individual athletes and were most of the times a part of positively angled texts. However, just as the athletes can be celebrated one day they can as easily be named scapegoats the next. As a result of the usage of religious metaphors athletes were portrayed as humans with extraordinary powers. The metaphors were used to intensify their performances. The two newspapers shared many similarities, but also showed some differences. The evening paper tended to have the religious metaphors in the headline and the introduction much more often than the morning paper. The morning paper also tended to use the religious metaphors in critical texts more often than the evening paper did.

Thesis (M.J.)--University of North Texas, Dec., 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of British Columbia, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-133).

Thesis (M.S.)--Towson University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70). Also available online (PDF file) by a subscription to the set or by purchasing the individual file.

Thesis (M.S.)--Towson University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 68-70).

M.Comm. / This study is strengthened by several studies that have suggested that the print media is biased towards male sports coverage at the expense of women’s sport. The study aimed to analyse and critically reflect upon the constructions of gender through sports reporting in selected regional (Gauteng) newspapers. Methods utilized to determine such constructions, included: i) a quantitative survey in terms of frequency of articles (text) and the scope of photographic images and, ii) a qualitative or content analysis in terms of text and photographic images in three regional newspapers (Die Beeld, The Star and The Sowetan) and interviews representing a spectrum of Gauteng’s readership. Data was collected over a 6-month period (1 April 2004 – 1 September 2004) to include all major sport events such as the Athens Olympic Games, the Athens Para-Olympic Games, Wimbledon, the European Soccer Championships, the Rothmans July Handicap, the Women’s African Soccer Cup and the Tri-Nations Rugby Series. A total of two thousand three hundred and fifty four (n=2354) images and five thousand three hundred (n=5300) articles were collected for analysis. The research design allowed for input, throughput and output analysis. To determine the rationale of the input and throughput phases, interviews were conducted with three (n=3) male journalists from the three regional newspapers. Quantitative analysis revealed that sport reporting was greatly biased towards men’s sport coverage (86.5%) compared to women’s sport coverage (13.5%). Qualitative comparisons revealed that male journalists generally devalued the athletic achievements of female athletes by using cultural stereotypes, trivialization and sexual innuendos. In comparison, the journalists often expressed their reverence for male athletes’ athleticism, reproducing and legitimizing hegemonic masculinity. The systematic documentation and critical analysis of gender construction in the media may inform journalists and sport editors of biased sport reporting and the reinforcement of sexual stereotypes. Activist groups may utilise this research to place this type of media construction on their advocacy agenda. / Prof. C. Burnett

This paper aims to investigate how the content of sports editorial newspapers has changed during the Covid-19 pandemic and the government’s decision to cancel all events concerning more people than 500 in Sweden on the 11th of March. The theory used in this paper is agenda setting and new values of written articles. This paper will also investigate how sports editorial newspapers experiences working under new conditions. The procedure of this investigation involved analysing the local newspaper “Upsala Nya Tidning” (UNT) and the public service format “Sveriges Television” (SVT) covering nationwide sports news. The newspaper UNT and the public service format SVT was analyzed by a thematical analysis of their covered sports news. one week before and two weeks after the government’s decision. To supplement the thematic analysis, two qualitative interviews with the head of sports (SVT) and the sports manager (UNT) was conducted.  The results showed a significant shift in the covered sports content written by the newspapers and the experience of sports journalists.

The purpose of this study is to examine gender bias in sports media from the perspective of the sports columnist. The research analyzed 1,082 sports columns written by ten columnists (five male, five female) at newspapers across the United States. The columns were scrutinized to determine if the column subject was male or female. Results found that 84.4% of the sports columns were written about male athletes or men's sports compared to only 9% devoted to female athletes and women's sports. The research also found that female sports columnists write about female sports 12.7% of the time, while male sports columns only dedicate 6% of their columns to female athletes or women's sports. Newspapers with a larger circulation were more likely to have sports columns about female sports than were newspapers with smaller readerships. Six of the columnists were then interviewed to get their opinions on gender issues in sports journalism.