Examining gender equity in newspaper coverage of west-central Ohio high school basketball games

We investigated the sports coverage of over 300 boys' and girls' high school basketball games between 2000 and 2010 by two west-central Ohio newspapers. Unlike previous investigations on media reports of high school sports, we restricted our sample to actual games and did not include feature articles about individual athletes, coaches, or booster clubs; and we determined article length by counting the number of words used in each article. We found that boys' games received two to three times the length of coverage of girls' games. Media coverage of girls' games was less likely to include a photograph and tended to begin lower on the sports page. We discuss the potential implications of ignoring girls' high school athletics within community media. Date of Publication: August 2016
INTRODUCTION With the passage of Title IX legislation in 1972 --requiring equal access to equipment, practice facilities and coaches of the same quality at the K-12 level, and scholarship money [...]