Analysis of sports articles in online newspapers from Spain and the United States: Is there promotion of physical activity and sport?

Jillian Elizabeth Frideres

José Manuel Palao Andrés

*Corresponding author: Jillian Elizabeth Frideres fridje@yahoo.com

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Cite this article

Elizabeth Frideres, J., & Palao Andrés, J. M. (2006). Analysis of sports articles in online newspapers from Spain and the United States: Is there promotion of physical activity and sport?. Apunts. Educación Física y Deportes, 85, 7-14.

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Abstract

Mass media contributes to creating and promoting concepts about sport in society. The purpose of this study was to find out which type of articles sport news are promoting in online newspapers in two western societies, Spain and the United States. All articles with athletic content (n = 1977) from the online newspapers usatoday.com and elmundo.es were analyzed during two-week spans in October 2003 and February 2004 (1242 total articles from usatoday.com and 735 from elmundo.es). The variables registered were type of news, appropriateness, competition level, gender, and sport. The results show that for every 10 articles, there are between five and seven related to sport practice; that one of every 10 articles is about inappropriate actions (sanctions, doping, aggression…); that there are 15 men-only articles for every 1 women-only article in the two aforementioned online newspapers; and that these articles do not represent a wide variety of sports (four sports monopolized 66-73% of the sport news).

Keywords: Mass Media, Online Newspapers, Promotion, Sport, Youth.

ISSN: 1577-4015

Published: July 1, 2006