Striking the Balance: The Portrayal of Male and Female Athletes on NBC’s Primetime Television Broadcast of the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games

Abstract

All 63.5 hours of NBC’s 2018 primetime Winter Olympic broadcast from PyeongChang were analyzed to determine differences between the network’s treatment of male and female athletes. For the first time in any Winter Olympiad studied, women received more athlete mentions than men and women accounted for the majority of the most mentioned athletes. A woman was the most mentioned athlete, the first time this finding has appeared on an NBC Winter Olympic broadcast. When individual sports were examined, however, men received more mentions in nine of the 15 winter sports, and a male was the most mentioned athlete in 10 winter sports. Analysis of NBC announcer dialogues revealed significant differences in only three areas, differing from past findings in previously studied Olympiads. Longitudinal context is articulated.