Virginia Tech
An Ugly Side to the Beautiful Game? An Analysis of Broadcast Commentary of FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup Final Matches
Abstract
dc:description.abstractPrevious research into sporting events and broadcast commentary have been consistent in showing that there are clear differences in prevalence of commentary topics when a commentator is describing a male athlete and a female athlete. Among these differences are sexualized and ambivalent language towards female athletes, gender marking, and language that suggests male athlete superiority to that of female athletes. Although sporting events such as the Summer and Winter Olympics and NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championship games have repeatedly been sites for exploration, the world's largest single-event sporting competition, the World Cup, remains relatively untouched. Keeping this in mind, using a systematic content analysis, this thesis analyzed the broadcast commentary provided by play-by-play and color commentators in FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup final matches to discern whether or not the sex of the athlete competing resulted in a difference in the descriptive evaluations employed by commentators. Findings of this study revealed that there were few differences in the prevalence of descriptive evaluations based on the gender of the athletes competing. Implications of the results and recommendations for future research into broadcast commentary and World Cup final matches are addressed.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Master of Arts
- Level thesis:degree_level
- masters
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Communication
- Department dc:contributor.department
- Communication
- Grantor dc:publisher
- Virginia Tech
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2019
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Fink, Blayne Kathryn
- Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
-
- Ivory, James Dee
- Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
-
- Ivory, Adrienne Holz
- Waggenspack, Beth M.
Subjects
dc:subject × 4Rights
dc:rights- Statement dc:rights
-
- In Copyright
- Licence dc:rights.uri
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- Dc Identifier Other
- vt_gsexam:21117
- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/90665