| There are natural differences between men and women in terms of physiology and physical strength.How should male and female athletes participate in sports equally is an ongoing topic.The social changes that have taken place since the 21st century have had a significant impact on the world of sport,and at the same time,the media images of male and female athletes are constantly being reconstructed in sports coverage.The media image is not simply a representation of the objective world in the media.Media images are produced through frames,which are the basis for the construction of media images.The studies on media images have tended to focus on specific groups or on a single-gender in the past.The Olympic Games is the biggest event in the sporting world,with a wide range of participating countries,a large number of competitors,and a large and concentrated coverage of the event.This paper focuses on the media images of male and female athletes in the coverage of the Olympic Games since the 21st century.Through content analysis and textual analysis,this paper tries to explore:how the media images of male and female athletes have been presented in the 21 years from 2000 to 2021?In comparison,what are the characteristics of the media in presenting the media images of male and female athletes?What are the factors that influence the construction and presentation of their media images?These questions are the logical starting point for this study and are in a progressive manner.This article begins with the analysis from the perspective of frame theory,choosing China Youth Daily as the sample for the study.Through category construction,data statistics,and content analysis,it was found that:in terms of the number of reports,China Youth Daily’s reports on female athletes predominantly outnumbered those on male athletes;in terms of the stance and bias of the reports,the image of women presented by China Youth Daily was mostly positive rather than negative and derogatory;in terms of the topics of the reports,those related to the winning and losing of the games or the outcome of the match was the highest.This article also analyzes the texts of typical cases,and summarizes the most representative characteristics and types of media images of both genders constructed by China Youth Daily,and finds that the main media images constructed by China Youth Daily in its coverage of female athletes are;the sad image of tearful athletes losing medal,the image of national heroes who win gold medal,and the image of young but outstanding athletes.The main media images portrayed by China Youth Daily in its coverage of male athletes are:the image of being emotional and uncontrollable;and the image of being calm and generous in the face of defeat.By comparing and analyzing the above images,this paper finds that:China Youth Daily’s construction of media images of female athletes is often based on a neutral and impartial attitude;but for male athletes is often relatively one-sided;and the media construction of female athletes has a "gaze" on femininity and related characteristics.At the same time,this paper finds that the media image of female athletes has changed more obviously over time,and these changes are both derived from and reflective of social changes.This paper suggests that China Youth Daily,as a newspaper with a large readership in China,should combine its strengths and make more breakthroughs in shaping the media images of both male and female athletes:avoid one-sideness and extremes in shaping the media images of male athletes,and avoid focusing on and magnifying the femininity and characteristics of female athletes,so as to create healthier and more comprehensive media images of male and female athletes.It is believed that in the future,as social development progresses,the media images of male and female athletes will become more diversified and return to humanistic care for individuals. |
