He Said, She Said: An Exploration of Male and Female Print Sports Journalist Tweets, Sports Coverage, and Language Style

Abstract

The professional role and responsibilities for sports journalists have evolved to now include using social media. In this study, we explore how male and female print sports journalists use Twitter to communicate with their followers about sports. Relying on previous research showing disparities in sports coverage and gender as well as assertive and affiliative language theory, we employ a content analysis of tweets from 57 sports journalists ( N = 4,897). We find that male and female sports journalists tweet at statistically the same rate, but male sports journalists are more likely to tweet about sports than female sports journalists, less likely to tweet about women sports and athletes, and more likely to use assertive language in their tweets. Findings are discussed with suggestions for future research.