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“Time to Award Medals?: Agenda Diversity in Media Coverage of the Olympics”
A talk by Dr. Dunja Antunovic, PhD (University of Minnesota)
For decades, scholars have lamented the underrepresentation of women’s sport in media coverage. Even though routine media coverage on “legacy” platforms remains consistently low, international sporting events, such as the Olympics, bring significant visibility to women’s sport. Rights-holding broadcasters play a central role in this ecosystem, both in airing live games and providing additional content on digital platforms. The digitalization of sport coverage -- situated within the larger context of mediatization -- resulted in disruptions in journalistic routines, but did not necessarily lead to the diversification of content. This talk examines the implications of social media platforms in relation to agenda diversity during the Olympic Games. It will overview recent datapoints on representations of sport, gender, and national identity from multiple contexts (e.g., United States, Australia, Slovenia, Croatia, and Hungary) to illustrate that nationalism continues to be a driving force in coverage, albeit with local particularities. Antunovic problematizes notions of “gender equality” in media representations that obscure gendered nationalism and perpetuate “us versus them” divisions. Further, she illustrates the ways in which “nationalized anchoring” dictates social media agenda. She also highlights exceptions, or cases, where media organizations take an internationalized approach to mega-event coverage. This talk concludes with a theoretical and methodological discussion on the future of Olympic media research.
About the Speaker
Dunja Antunovic (PhD, Penn State) is assistant professor of sport sociology, an affiliated scholar with the Tucker Center for Research on Girls & Women in Sport at the School of Kinesiology, and an affiliate faculty with the Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Minnesota. Antunovic’s research is at the intersection of sociology of sport, sport communication, and feminist media studies with a focus on three broader areas: 1) visibility of women’s sport in the media; 2) cross-national research on media coverage of sport mega events, 3) theoretical and methodological directions. Antunovic has published over 40 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters and she is co-author with Dr. Cheryl Cooky (Purdue University) of the book Serving Equality: Feminism, Media, and Women’s Sports (Peter Lang). Antunovic received the SSJ (Sociology of Sport Journal) Early Career Researcher Award in 2022 and is the recipient of multiple teaching awards. Antunovic has taught communication theory and methods, international and global communication, sports promotion and publicity, and cultural diversity courses. She currently teaches in the areas of sport history, sport philosophy, and sport sociology. Antunovic competed in tennis internationally and in Division I athletics in the United States.