Covering the Home Nation at Its Home Games: An Analysis of Australian Nationalistic Broadcast Coverage of the 2018 Commonwealth Games

Abstract

This study explored how nationalism unfolded within the Australian broadcast of the 2018 Commonwealth Games that were held on the Gold Coast, Australia. Applying social-categorization theory, over 31 hours of the total coverage was content analyzed for name mentions, description of success or failure, and personality and physicality of the athletes. Results of this study underscore large differences in the amount of commentary that was provided to Australians and non-Australians during the broadcasts, with Australians being mentioned more than non-Australian athletes. As Australia performed well at the Commonwealth Games, Australians featured highly on both the top most-mentioned athletes list and the overall percentage of name mentions also favored Australians. The Seven Network emphasized Australian athletes to its viewers, as Australian viewers would share many of the group characteristics with athletes who were featured on television. This study contributes to the literature by uncovering how in-group members were portrayed in the Australian sports context while also providing insight into how consumers’ media consumption could potentially affect how the network broadcasts the Commonwealth Games from a nationally partisan perspective.