Women's sport and the media

posted by Inspiring Sports Women
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 10:24am EDT

Running, Fighting, Jumping and on the Water. A sports blog with interviews and up-dates on inspirational women athletes by a freelance journalist.

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"As newsroom staffs shrink and eyeballs measure interest, women’s sports coverage is losing ground it once seemed to be gaining."

So, there you have it. We're not just imagining mainstream news outlets don't have room for women's sports, The Nieman Foundation at Harvard and Marie Hardin from Penn State think so too. She's written a thought-provoking article on the reasons why newspapers are cutting back on women's sports.

And she draws attention to Women Talk Sports (I'm a proud part of this) as a viable online alternative to the print medium when it comes to building athletes' profiles. Unfortunately she does also say their traffic is still less than say SBNation but it is also newer and building so over the next few years those numbers could change.

Personally I find it irritating that national women's teams can compete, represent their country and not even get two lines on a news bulletin or a few paragraphs in the paper the next day. A few weeks ago the Irish men and the women's rugby teams played on the same weekend; one team was barely mentioned. Of course, every sport can't be covered all of the time. There is huge pressure on news, often so many things happening abroad and at home that you can imagine editors tearing their hair out trying to fit everything in.

But maybe this is what the online editions of papers should be for - all the news, plus the extra events which costs prevent them from running in print?

You can read the full report on the Nieman Reports site at A shrinking sports beat:women's teams athletes

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There are 4 comments on this post. Join the discussion!

No Apologies says:

It's a shame really that women's sport is not given enough coverage especially when you realise that more often than not the women's teams often out perform the male counterparts on the world stage. China used their women's team as an example to their national men's football team on how to go about being a winning side. That is why we're filming a documentary on two of the Matildas going to the World Cup this year call 'No Apologies'. We think it's a story that is worth telling! Oh - and we filmed a doco on the men's world cup last year ('Standing at the Touchlines') so we're not biased.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 10:44am EDT

Cheryl Ragsdale says:

What I find most valuable about spending time online is the opportunity to focus on one topic with like-minded people. WomenTalkSports is the right place at the right time for women's sports. I don't watch TV news or read newspapers anymore. When I want to know something, I hunt specifically for that piece of news or information online. Female athletes just need to keep making their sporting events interesting, entertaining and newsworthy and people will watch.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 11:34am EDT

NiamhG says:

@ No Apologies - I suppose that's why sites like this are so useful, eventually someone will listen! I just looked at your own site, what a great idea for a doco, seems like sport is just a part of that quilt! Definitely a story worth telling, and should appeal far beyond the soccer-fans too. Look forward to seeing that one - another chip at the wall of indifference :)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 5:07pm EDT

NiamhG says:

@ Cheryl - "interesting, entertaining and newsworthy" that's true, although I know when you are involved in sports it seems like a never-ending struggle. There has been a huge improvement (in Ireland anyhow) and I also think as more women become sports journalists they may have more interest in further increasing coverage. PS - as a journalist, that's sad you don't read papers anymore! I think we have to keep putting "left-field" stories out there and eventually people listen!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 5:10pm EDT

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Women's sport and the media

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