Research On The Media Image Of Female Athletes

In the media society,the media image of female athletes is very effective to the promotion of women’s status,the change of female sports consciousness and the popularization of sports in social life.Through the investigation of the reports on female athletes in People’s Daily,the most influential mainstream media in China,specific media strategies are put forward according to the actual situation,which can not only help present a more vivid media image of female athletes,but also can help mainstream media play a leading role.At the same time,female sports,as a window to explore gender awareness,can reflect the changes of social concepts,and is an important mirror image of the times.Based on the reports about female athletes in the People’s Daily since the founding of the People’s Republic of China,this study combined quantitative and qualitative research methods to analyze the female athletes’ image constructed by media,as well as the various factors behind the image changes,and to provide media strategies for the problems existing in the media coverage of female athletes.The analysis shows that the media image of Chinese female athletes has roughly experienced four periods.The first period is from 1949 to 1978,when the media constructed the "iron girls" image for female athletes,and the builders of socialist cause,the practitioners and promoters of the Party’s thoughts,but the female athletes with ambiguous gender characteristics.In the second period,from 1979 to 1991,the media constructed female athletes as heroines who won glory for the country.They were the pursuers of gold MEDALS,the leaders of patriotism.Women were also the "others" in a patriarchal society.The third period was from 1992 to 2008,when the media constructed the image of outstanding and tenacious athletes,and presented the multiple roles under the competition,but there are still stereotypes about women.In the forth period,from 2009 to now,the media constructed the image of athletes true to life,sports enjoyers who are bearish about winning or losing,and confident and cheerful dream pursuers through reporting.Meanwhile,People’s Daily created a vivid and diverse image of female athletes with updated communication methods in social media.After analysis and discussion,this paper holds that the factors influencing the mainstream media to shape the media image of Chinese female athletes are:the proposal and deepening of reform and opening-up,the need of mainstream media to rebuild influence,the wide spread of sports humanistic spirit,the rise of female consciousness in the whole society.In the media image construction of female athletes in China,there are still some problems,such as personality masking under the reporting model,reporting imbalance in multiple dimensions,and stereotyping in gender presentation,which requires the media to show humanistic care,play the role of agenda setting,and improve gender awareness.