Diversifying the Sports Department and Covering Women’s Sports: A Survey of Sports Editors

Abstract

This study surveyed sports editors about gender-related issues in hiring and coverage. Although many editors estimate reader interest to be low and do not believe coverage of women’s sports should be improved, results also suggest that sports editors’ values and beliefs have shifted over the past decade in ways that could lead to more opportunities for women journalists and to eventual improvements in coverage of female athletes and women’s sports. The research also suggests when sports editors commit to hiring women, they find women who can move up within organizations and become leaders.

Keywords

sports editors gender hiring coverage gatekeeping Title IX

In an article for Sports Illustrated, Senior Editor Richard Deitsch (2015) asked a panel of female sports journalists to assess the barriers that women face in the sports media industry. Francesca Weems, a sports anchor and reporter, commented on the lack of women in play-by-play, and added the following insight:

I also do not come into contact with many female sports directors, news directors or general managers. So outside of the more visible roles, women do not make up many of the key management positions. I think as more women begin to take on more leadership roles in the sports media industry we will begin to see changes at all levels of operation.

This testament reflects larger national trends in the sports journalism industry and beyond, from both historical and contemporary perspectives.

The women’s liberation movement in the early 1970s helped launch significant changes in women’s positions in American society. The fight for gender equity resulted in a number of anti-discrimination laws, access to previously male-dominated professions, and increased opportunities for career advancement. Yet even with such progress, media representation of female athletes and employment opportunities for female sports journalists still do not fully reflect the sizable growth in participation rates (Cooky & Lavoi, 2012; Creedon, 1996; Messner & Solomon, 2007). Sports journalism departments routinely promote and reinforce a bias in favor of men and male sports (Hardin & Shain, 2005). The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) recorded the fourth consecutive “F” for gender hiring practices at APSE (Associated Press Sports Editors) newspapers and websites in its 2014 Associated Press Sports Editors Racial and Gender Report Card (Lapchick et al., 2015).

Inequalities are visible in media representations of female athletes as well. Since the 1972 enactment of Title IX, a law that prohibits discrimination based on sex at educational institutions, women’s participation in sports has grown more than 900% (Women’s Sports Foundation, 2012), but change in coverage of women’s sports is lagging by comparison. Sports media often promote patriarchal ideologies that permeate our culture and reinforce perceptions of identity, which reflect and mold the status quo (Billings & Hundley, 2010; Hardin, 2005; Messner, 2002; Messner & Cooky, 2010). Sports editors have historically argued that they do not promote, but merely reflect a simple truth around women’s sports: That audiences are not interested. Thus, they are not obligated to cover those sports nor provide opportunities for women, who are often viewed as outsiders in sports-related media industries.

The current social climate around issues of gender and sports in the United States is arguably changing, however. Title IX passed the 40-year mark in 2012, and the Association for Women in Sports Media (AWSM), an advocacy group for women in sports media careers, celebrated its 25th anniversary that same year. Women in the 2012 Olympics competed for the first time in traditionally “masculine” sports such as boxing, and in the United States, won more medals overall than their male counterparts (K. Whiteside, 2012). And in professional sports, mixed martial artist (MMA) and former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey was once called “the world’s most dominant athlete” before losing the title to Holly Holm in 2015 (Wertheim, 2015).

Within this complex cultural context, this study seeks to gauge the attitudes, values, and practices among key gatekeepers in U.S. sports media, newspaper editors, by exploring their assessment of the interest in women’s sports and their attitudes toward the role of women in the sports–media complex.

Literature Review

Content Influence, Sports Editors, and Gatekeeping

Sports editors, as gatekeepers, winnow infinite media messages down to a relatively few for public consumption and interpretation (Shoemaker & Vos, 2009). Gatekeepers, in evaluating audiences, can adhere to “groupthink,” where they promote uniformity and confine diverse perspectives, viewing themselves as “arbitrators of what readers want” (Cramer, 1996; Hardin, 2005, p. 65). Even with increased inclusion of women in sports, sports editors’ perceptions have not progressed in ways that equal participation. Sports reporters, editors, and directors primarily are White men and tend to assign news value to topics through the lens of that identity because they assume those topics represent wider interests (Cramer, 1996; Lapchick, 2013; Theberge & Cronk, 1986). In other words, sports media industry leaders may argue that their news judgments are based on objective reality, when in fact they are deeply rooted in particular social conditions (Kepplinger, Brosius, & Staab, 1991; Patterson & Donsbach, 1996). According to Hardin (2005), sports editors’ claims that they make decisions according to readers’ interests are based more on “myth than in reality” (p. 72). Of the more than 100 surveyed nationally, only around half researched who their readers were, and even fewer researched what their readers wanted. In addition, one quarter to one third of these sports editors viewed women as naturally less athletic and less interested in sports than men and assumed that women’s sports were less valuable (Hardin, 2005).

Although inconclusive, research has also shown that men and women may cover news in different ways (Hardin, Simpson, Whiteside, & Garris, 2007). A study found that female and male reporters, photographers, and editors were all responsible for the underrepresentation of girls in interscholastic athletics (Pedersen, Whisenant, & Schneider, 2003). In other studies, however, papers with female editors indeed had more coverage of women’s sports, and female editors were more likely to give space to female athletes (Hardin, 2005; Shain, 1997). Increasing the number of female staffers alone might not result in more coverage of women’s sports, yet it might result in less stereotypical coverage. One study discovered that female reporters were more likely to describe female athletes as athletically competent and suggested that female writers might be “willing to challenge—in small but significant ways—hegemonic masculinity in relation to sport” (Kian & Hardin, 2009, p. 197). Research also indicates that female reporters use a wider variety of sources (e.g., more women) in coverage. This could also open doors for different, less stereotypical coverage (Hardin et al., 2007).

These studies reveal the complexity of gatekeeping, where sports editors make selection decisions based on routines, institutional norms, organizational requirements, perceived reader interests, and personal attitudes about women’s sports (Knoppers & Elling, 2004; Theberge & Cronk, 1986).

Title IX, the Media, and Female Athletes

The progress of female athletes in the United States has been measured against the enactment of Title IX. In 1972, the U.S. Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments Act, a law that prohibited sex discrimination in programs at government-funded institutions (U.S. Department of Labor, 2007). Institutional decisions around Title IX’s implementation have resulted in mixed reactions to the law, which has been called “the most visible gender controversy” in decades (Suggs, 2005, p. 2). Although praised for creating opportunities for women, Title IX has also been blamed for cuts in men’s non-revenue sports. The National Women’s Law Center labeled the relationship between Title IX and men’s sports “a false conflict,” yet the myth that Title IX hurt men’s sports has become prevalent in popular discourse (Fagan & Cyphers, 2012; Messner & Solomon, 2007; National Women’s Law Center, 2012; Strauss, 2012).

Media play a significant role in constructing how Title IX and its implications are communicated. Studies have shown that the media can spread misinformation and inaccuracies, including the idea that Title IX has created a zero-sum game where men’s sports are the victims (Barnett & Hardin, 2010; Kaiser, 2010; Messner & Solomon, 2007; Staurowsky, 1998; van Sterkenburg & Knoppers, 2004). A content analysis of newspapers found that the use of war metaphors around the law created a “battleground” where women (winners) compete against the men (losers) for opportunities. Stories about Title IX often “made the erroneous reference to losses in men’s sports and left such assertions unanswered by accurate data about growth in men’s sports” (Hardin et al., 2007, p. 229). The battle mentality impedes a useful resolution and pits sides against each other (Staurowsky, 1998). Media are central to Americans’ understanding of past events and individuals, especially when it comes to commemorative journalism and anniversary stories, in particular (Kitch, 2002).

espnW’s “Power of IX” page celebrated Title IX’s 40th anniversary with a positive tone, but stories oversimplified the legislation’s history and provided an incomplete narrative about the history of women’s sports (E. Whiteside & Roessner, 2013). According to Kitch (2002), “stories told in anniversary journalism are presented as historical truth, they are actually narrative visions, pictures that are prescriptive as well as descriptive, mythology as much as reporting” (p. 61). As Roessner and E. Whiteside (2015) found in their study of commemorative sports journalism during Title IX’s 40th birthday, ESPN and Sports Illustrated used a “celebratory women-centric model” (p. 2) that promoted deeper understanding of the legislation, yet relied on myth narratives that distorted and oversimplified social and cultural truths. Sportswriters credited individuals responsible for Title IX’s passage and praised athletes and activists who overcame past injustices and fought for equal opportunity. While these stories empowered women, they also celebrated men like former U.S. Senator Evan Bayh for creating and protecting Title IX and reified values associated with the “competitive (masculine) model of sport” (Roessner & Whiteside, 2015, p. 11). Parts of these heroic stories, therefore, reinforced a “masculine sporting mode” (Roessner & Whiteside, 2015, p. 11).

Earlier studies on media practitioners’ attitudes about Title IX found that many journalists saw Title IX as detrimental to men’s sports. For instance, nearly 50% of sports editors said they believed Title IX had “hurt men’s sports” (Hardin, 2005, p. 64). The same survey found resistance to increasing coverage of women’s sports. Studies exploring differences in attitudes among male and female sports journalists over the past decade have found that generally, women see the law more positively than men (Hardin, 2005; Hardin & Whiteside, 2009). Female journalists more often viewed Title IX as “enabling,” whereas male journalists more often viewed it in “prohibitive terms” (Hardin et al., 2007, p. 227). However, the low number of women in sports departments may stop them from having much influence on how the law is framed and the quantity and quality of women’s sports media coverage.

Even though women’s participation in interscholastic sports is the highest ever and women compete in professional leagues in increasing numbers, media coverage has not corresponded with such change. As studies have found, women are still disproportionately underrepresented in sports media coverage, especially when measured against participation trends (Acosta & Carpenter, 2012; Burch, Eagleman, & Pedersen, 2012; Cooky & Lavoi, 2012; Cooky, Messner, & Hextrum, 2013; Cooper, Eagleman, & Laucella, 2009; Everbach, 2008). According to Fink (2015), “female athletes and women’s sport are still woefully underrepresented in all types of media” (p. 331). Women are 40% of all sport participants, but receive only 4% of all sports media coverage (Tucker Center Research for Girls & Women in Sport, 2013). The Project for Excellence in Journalism and Princeton Survey Research Associates studied 2,100 stories from the front pages of 16 newspaper sports sections. They found that individual women athletes were the main characters of articles only 5% of the time compared with 35% for men. Women’s teams were the focus only 3% of the time compared with 36% for men’s teams (Pew Research Center for Journalism and Media, 2005). Thus, female athletes’ representations, even decades after Title IX, do little to advance the cultural acceptance of women who play sports (Duncan, 2006; Pratt, Grappendorf, Grundvig, & LeBlanc, 2008). In addition to studying media portrayals, researchers have also investigated influences surrounding the media industry and hiring, and specifically the sports media.

Sports Media Industry

A diverse workplace exhibits inclusion and equal opportunity in hiring, treatment, opportunities, and advancement at all levels. Discussions in academia and industry have focused on gender discrimination and inequities in U.S. newsrooms. According to Carolyn Kitch (2015), “flatlining statistics and recent developments,” like the May 2014 firing of the New York Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson, indicate the need for widespread progress and change (p. 35).

The U.S. news media industry tends to be comprised mostly of White men; however, there have been small improvements (American Society of News Editors [ASNE], n.d.-a, n.d.-b). In the 2014 ASNE Newsroom Census, the number of minority journalists employed in daily newsrooms increased by 200 despite the overall newsroom decrease of 3.2%. Of newsrooms surveyed, 63% had at least one woman as a top-three editor, whereas only 15% had a person of color in a top position (ASNE, 2014).

This was the first year questions about minority hiring at top levels were even posed. While this census shows slight progress, the data need to stay “front and center,” according to former ASNE President David Boardman, dean of the School of Media and Communication at Temple University. “We remain committed to doing all we can to help our newsrooms, and our news reports, better reflect the diverse nature of the communities we cover” (ASNE 2014 census). By 2025, ASNE seeks to have the percentage of minorities in newsrooms reflect the percentage of minorities in the United States (expected to reach 42.39%; ASNE 2014 census).

“Recruitment and retention of women and people of color are important,” said Karen Magnuson, who is editor and vice president of news at the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. “You can’t grow the numbers without being effective on both fronts” (ASNE, 2014). From 1999 to 2014, women have steadily comprised about 36% to 37% of journalists in newspaper newsrooms, a figure that has not improved in over three decades (ASNE, n.d.-a, n.d.-b).

Sports media organizations have also grappled with diversity hiring/advancement, and are particularly “failing women” (Morrison, 2014). Even after Title IX opened doors for women in sports, there is still a dearth of women in sports departments (Hardin & Shain, 2005). According to the 2014 APSE Racial and Gender Report Card, including information from 100 websites and newspapers, the percentage of female sports editors rose from 9.6% in 2012 to 9.9% in 2014 (Lapchick et al., 2015). In other increases, the percentage of female columnists and reporters increased from 9.7% to 12.4% and 11.7% to 12.7%, respectively, and the percentage of columnists who were women and people of color rose from 25.3% to 27.8%. Still, there was a large decrease in the percentage of assistant sports editors from 17.2% to 9.8% in the 2012 and 2014 reports. According to Lapchick, the improvements made can largely be attributed to ESPN’s expansion. At outlets with circulations of 175,000 or more, without ESPN, the numbers would drop drastically. For example, ESPN employed seven of the 11 women who were sports editors. If they were removed, the percentage would fall from 8% to 3.1%. ESPN employed 32 of the 37 women who were columnists. If they were removed, the percentage would plummet from 13.5% to 2.1% (Lapchick et al., 2015).

Because the lack of diversity in sports newsrooms appears to correspond with the lack of coverage of women’s sports, some have suggested that more women in the sports media industry would result in better coverage of women’s sports (Creedon, 1998). Even though “greater numbers of women invaded the temples of male supremacy” and challenged some sexist norms in the newsroom, the add-women-and-stir approach did not completely remove institutional barriers and, as the literature suggests, certainly did not result in a drastic change in the coverage of women’s sports (Ricchiardi, 2005).

Women in sports newsrooms vary in terms of their sense of responsibility to advocate for coverage of women’s sports. A 2005 survey of women who worked in newspaper sports departments found that more than half of the respondents believed adding women to the mix would not do much to increase the coverage of women’s sports (Hardin & Shain, 2005). A number of reasons explain that. One is that journalists’ professional identity and commitment to “objectivity” might deter women from advocating for the feminist agenda (van Zoonen, 1994). Another is that coverage of high-profile men’s sports continues to claim a more respectable status. Thus, if women want to advance in their careers, the “low-rung beat assignment” of women’s sports is not desirable—although they are often placed there (Hardin & Shain, 2005, p. 815).

While women in the sports media industry report satisfaction with their careers, they continue to face obstacles that prevent them from advancing and even result in them leaving their careers (Hardin & Shain, 2005; Smucker, Whisenant, & Pedersen, 2003). For instance, women sports journalists experience unique challenges in the male-dominated sphere where their knowledge is under constant scrutiny and they endure sexual harassment (Grubb & Billiot, 2010; Miloch, Pedersen, Smucker, & Whisenant, 2005; Pedersen, Lim, Osborne, & Whisenant, 2009). Women also lack opportunities for promotion in sports newsrooms, and thus wind up leaving organizations and ultimately move up little in rank (Pedersen, 2003; Smucker et al., 2003). Furthermore, women feel isolated and frustrated by sports journalism’s “glass ceiling” and the family and relationship sacrifices they make with little incentive and “payoff” in advancement opportunities (Hardin & Shain, 2005, p. 31). This glass ceiling potentially creates disappointment, frustration, and a higher turnover among talented and bright women (Goodman, Fields, & Blum, 2003). The “revolving door” is reinforced through the notion that women are outsiders who must “fit in” a naturally masculine and patriarchal arena (Hardin, Shain, & Shultz-Poniatowski, 2008, p. 68, p. 77). The sport-specific studies reinforce what Everbach and Flournoy (2007) found in all newsrooms—that many women leave journalism because they were made to feel subordinate to men in a male-dominated newsroom and organization where they saw fewer opportunities, lower salaries, less flexible schedules, and fewer mentors than their male counterparts.

Gender as an influence on decision making

In professions where women try to break into the male-dominated sphere, such as sports journalism, they are positioned as “tokens,” or in other words “representatives of their category rather than independent individuals” (Kanter, 1977, p. 6). In a sociological analysis of organizational roles, processes, and behaviors, Kanter (1977) argued that “numbers—proportional representation—are important not only because they symbolize the presence or absence of discrimination but also because they have real consequences for performance” (p. 6). Her observation that “women populate organizations, but they practically never run them” may be outdated in other contexts, but it remains applicable to sports journalism departments where, as noted, the percentage of women in leadership is low, and women continue to be minorities within the organizational structure.

Kanter’s explanation about why minority groups might find great resistance to moving into a more visible role is useful here. Kanter (1977) argued that persons in positions of power tend to gravitate toward those who are socially similar to them. Thus, through hiring practices, “men reproduce themselves in their own image” (Kanter, 1977, p. 48). This practice is frequently referred to as “homologous reproduction” and has been used to explain the lack of female coaches and female sports information directors in intercollegiate athletics (Sagas, Cunningham, & Teed, 2006; Walker & Bopp, 2011; Whisenant & Mullane, 2007).

However, there has been—through the periodic APSE demographic survey and the activity of organizations such as the Association for Women in Sports Media—continuing pressure on sports editors to move out of the practice of homologous reproduction and gender homogeneity. As the review of literature has pointed out, such a move might help address the unfair, inaccurate, and paltry coverage of women who compete at high levels in sport, as decision makers might increasingly bring different values to the gatekeeping process. This study explores the relationship among the gendered dynamics of sports departments, editors’ attitudes toward hiring, and editors’ attitudes toward the coverage of women’s sports.

Research Questions

Based upon previous literature and in light of recent changes in the cultural landscape around gender and sport, this study will investigate the following research questions:

RQ1: How interested do editors believe their readers are in coverage of women’s sports?

RQ2: What are editors’ values and beliefs around Title IX and coverage of women’s sports?

RQ3: Do editors believe they have an obligation to cover women’s sports or to hire female sports staffers?

RQ4: What is the relationship between editors’ values around hiring and promotion and the presence of women in their departments?

Method

The sample for this project was the top 200 U.S. daily mainstream newspapers in terms of circulation size. Exact circulation sizes for each newspaper were found in the 2011 Bacon’s Newspaper Directory. The researchers later treated circulation size as a categorical variable based upon Hardin (2005) with the four categories being less than 50,000, 50,001-100,000, 100,001-250,000, and more than 250,000. In addition, five newspapers derived their content from larger newspapers within the same corporations. Two newspapers did not have U.S. sports departments. After removing those seven newspapers, a final sample of 193 newspapers remained.

All newspapers were called. Sports editors, assistant managing editors (AMEs) of sports, assistant sports editors, and deputy sports were sought to participate in the confidential survey. Ninety-six sports editors agreed to take the survey on the phone. All sports departments were called at least four times. Only four newspapers declined to participate; other non-responses were a result of failure to secure an editor on the phone. The overall response rate for the phone survey, including sports departments where an editor could not be reached, was 50%.

Editors who could not be reached after four phone calls were also sent emails describing the survey and requesting their participation. Thirty-two editors took the survey via email, and the response rate for the online survey was 36%.¹ The response rate for the online survey was 36%.² Altogether, 128 editors of 193 in the sample participated, for an acceptable but not ideal 67% response rate. Because the survey was administered during the Summer Olympics, editors might not have felt they had the time to complete a short survey.

Survey and Analysis

Sports editors answered questions regarding how they viewed their readers’ sports interests; and the editors’ opinions on hiring women, covering women’s sports, Title IX, ethical issues in sports journalism, and homophobia in sports. Many questions were adapted from those presented in published surveys of sports editors for possible comparison. Relationships were gauged between Likert-type items exploring attitudes of editors and sports department practices and those of independent variables such as newspaper circulation, editors’ age and experience, and their gender using scales based upon Hardin (2005). Occasional attitudinal questions elicited a “no answer” response from some editors; non-responses were excluded for individual questions in statistical analysis. Only results significant at the p = .05 level are reported.

Findings

Newspapers represented in this study include some of the largest circulation dailies in the United States and smaller papers with circulations of less than 50,000. Twenty-three newspapers had circulations under 50,000, 51 newspapers had circulations between 50,000 and 100,000, 41 newspapers had circulations between 100,001 and 250,000, and 14 newspapers had circulations above 250,000.

All editors who participated in the survey worked in a supervisory capacity in their departments; most (n = 99; 77%) held the title of sports editor, and others held titles such as AME for sports, executive sports editor, or deputy/assistant sports editor. Most editors who provided their age said they were between 41 and 50 (n = 25; 19.5%) or between 51 and 60 (n = 36; 28.1%) years old. About 41% (n = 52) said they had been in their current position for less than 5 years; one quarter (n = 33) had been in the role between 5 and 10 years.

Of the 128 respondents, six were women (4.69%). One third of respondents (n = 43; 34%) reported that their sports departments had no women employed. Slightly more (n = 47; 36.7%) reported that their sports departments employed one woman, leaving about 30% with more than one woman in the department. Editors reported an average number of employees in their departments at 13. Most sports editors (n = 106; 82.8%) reported that no women worked in a supervisory capacity in their departments.

Assessment of Interest in Women’s Sports

Editors were asked to assess the percentage of their readership (web and print) they estimated to be women. They were also asked to estimate readers’ interest in women’s sports and the percentage of their newshole they devoted to women’s sports coverage. Editors (n = 107) who provided an estimate for the percentage of women readers most often set it at somewhere between 21% and 30% (n = 37; 28.9%) or between 31% and 40% (n = 37; 28.9%). Others (n = 14; 12.9%) estimated it as less than one fifth of their readers or up to 60% of their readership (n = 19; 14.8%).

Based on a 4-point scale from 0 = not at all interested to 3 = very interested, editors estimated limited interest in women’s sports by readers (M = 1.39, SD = .59). Overall, most respondents (n = 76; 60.3%) estimated that readers were “slightly interested” in coverage of women’s sports. Slightly more than one third (n = 43; 34.1%) characterized readers as “interested.” A small number—2% to 3%—were at either end of the spectrum, estimating readers as “very interested” or “not at all interested.”

Their estimates of coverage (the percentage of the newshole they dedicated) of women’s sports, however, seemed generous against their estimates of reader interest. Slightly more than one fifth of respondents (n = 29) estimated coverage of women’s sports at between 10% and 20% of their newshole. Fully one third (n = 43), however, said women’s sports garnered upward of 30% of coverage, and one quarter estimated that upward of 40% of their newshole went to women’s sports. Just 15 (11.9%) estimated that less than one tenth of their daily coverage, on average, was devoted to women’s sports.

Not surprisingly, there was a small, but significant correlation between estimates of interest and estimates of coverage, r = .42, p < .001. Editors who believed their readers were more interested in women’s sports reported a higher level of coverage of women’s sports. Furthermore, circulation size was significant in the ways editors responded to questions about coverage and reader interest. ANOVA results showed that newspapers with different circulation sizes had various coverage of women’s sports, F(3, 122) = 14.28, p < .001. Newspapers with smaller circulation size, M(<50,000) = 2.45 and M(50,001-100,000) = 2.27, reported more coverage of women’s sports than those with bigger circulation size, M(100,001-250,000) = 1.44 and M(>250,000) = 0.86. When viewed continuously, circulation size negatively correlated with responses about interest (r = −.19, p < .05) and coverage estimates (r = −.35, p < .001). Editors at newspapers with larger circulation sizes reported less coverage of women’s sports, and editors of these newspapers believed that their readers were less interested in women’s sports.

Attitudes and Values Related to Coverage

Editors were asked about their attitudes and beliefs related to Title IX and about whether they believed women’s sports should, in general, get more coverage. Most editors (n = 101; 79.5%) said they disagreed or strongly disagreed with the assertion that Title IX had hurt men’s sports; roughly the same number disagreed or strongly disagreed with the suggestion that Title IX should be altered (n = 103; 80.4%). Based on a 4-point scale ranging from 0 = strongly disagree to 3 = strongly agree (with the “not sure” editors excluded), respondents generally disagreed with the statement that Title IX has hurt men’s sports, M = 1.11, SD = .53, and disagreed with the statement that Title IX needs to be changed, M = 1.06, SD = .53.

Relying on the same 0-to-3 scale, editors were almost evenly divided, however, when they considered whether women should generally get more media coverage (M = 1.47, SD = .56). A slight majority of editors (n = 66; 52.8%) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the following statement: “The media, in general, doesn’t provide enough coverage of women’s sports.” However, no statistically significant correlation was found between the amount of coverage editors devote to women’s/girls’ sports and editors’ views on whether media offer enough coverage of women’s/girls’ sports. There was also no statistically significant correlation between the amount of coverage editors devote to women’s/girls’ sports and editors’ perceptions on whether Title IX has hurt boy’s/men’s sports.

Again, editors responded differently based on circulation size. ANOVA results showed that editors working for newspapers with different circulation sizes differed on their responses to the statements, “Title IX has hurt men’s sports,” F(3, 122) = 2.73, p < .05, and “Title IX needs to be changed,” F(3, 120) = 3.10, p < .05. Editors working for newspapers with the smallest circulation size, M(<50,000) = 1.30, agreed more with the idea that Title IX has hurt men’s sports than editors who worked for newspapers with the biggest circulation size, M(>250,000) = 0.85. Similarly, editors working for newspapers with the circulation size that was between 50,001 and 100,000 (M = 1.20) agreed more with the assertion that Title IX needs to be changed than editors who worked for newspapers with the biggest circulation size, M(>250,000) = 0.73.

Editors’ Obligation to Hire and Cover Women

Editors were asked on a 4-point scale from 0 = strongly disagree to 3 = strongly agree whether they believed they had an ethical obligation to provide coverage of women’s sports or to hire women to diversify their staffs. On both questions, about three quarters of editors agreed with the idea that they were ethically obligated to cover women’s sports (M = 2.02, SD = .79) and to hire women (M = 1.94, SD = .68). Slightly more than one fifth of respondents (n = 28; 21.8%) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the assertion that they have an ethical obligation to cover women’s sports. Almost the same number (n = 27; 21.1%) disagreed or strongly disagreed with the assertion that hiring women is an ethical obligation.

Several factors were found to interact in significant ways with participants’ responses. One such factor was the presence of women in a sports department. Editors working in a department with at least two female staffers reported a higher level of ethical obligation (M = 2.32) to hire female staffers than those who had one or no women in their department (M = 1.84), t(126) = −3.42, p = .001.

Another was circulation (r = .26, p < .01); editors at larger papers responded with higher levels of ethical obligation than those at smaller circulation papers, F(3, 121) = 6.39, p < .001. Editors working for the newspapers with biggest circulation size, M(>250,000) = 2.54, reported a higher level of ethical obligation than all other editors, M(<50,000) = 1.64, M(50,001-100,000) = 1.82, and M(100,001-250,000) = 2.05. For instance, at the largest circulation papers, 92.9% (n = 13) editors agreed that they had an ethical obligation to hire women; in the smallest circulation category, 60.9% (n = 14) agreed.

Relationship Between Hiring and Promotion

About 66% of respondents reported that at least one woman worked in their sports department, leaving fully one third (n = 43; 33.6%) without any women. Fewer than one fifth of the entire sample (n = 22; 17.2%) reported that a woman worked in some supervisory capacity. Cross-tabulation found a significant relationship (χ² = 25.688, df = 1, p < .01) between the presence of female supervisors in a sports department and the number of women working there (none or just one as compared with two or more). Of the departments that had at least two women working in some capacity, slightly more than three quarters (n = 16; 76.2%) reported that one of those women worked in a supervisory capacity.

Cross-tabulation also indicates that circulation size increases (χ² = 15.215, df = 3, p < .01) the likelihood that a woman is working in a supervisory capacity in a sports department, especially in light of the fact that large circulation papers far more often report employing more than one woman (χ² = 35.703, df = 3, p < .01). In the smallest circulation category (50,000 or under), only two sports editors (8.7%) reported a woman working as a supervisor. In the largest category (more than 250,000), the percentage was much higher (42.9%; n = 6).

Discussion and Conclusion

The results of this study suggest that, in comparison with the results of previous research, the attitudes, values, and beliefs of sports editors have shifted over the past decade in ways that could lead to more opportunities for women as journalists. They also suggest when sports editors commit to hiring women, they find women who can move up and become leaders. One example is APSE president, Mary Byrne, who has worked in sports for 25 years. She started her career as a copy editor at the Oceanside Blaze-Citizen. She also worked as a deputy sports editor at the Associated Press and as Olympic editor and managing editor of USA Today Sports. In 2015, she left newspapers to join ESPN as senior deputy editor overseeing the National Football League (NFL), National Hockey League (NHL), and Motorsports (Adler, 2015).

Despite the progress made on many fronts, the number of sports departments without a single female employee is troubling. Men still dominate supervisory and reporting positions in sports organizations (Miloch et al., 2005). While research indicates that women in sports journalism advocate and express views that potentially challenge the status quo (Hardin, 2005; Hardin & Whiteside, 2009; Kian & Hardin, 2009), some still assimilate into dominant organizational practices and minimize differences to survive and succeed (Hardin & Shain, 2005; Hardin et al., 2008). Thus, expanding the number of women and ethnic minorities past token status will likely allow for these marginalized groups to assert more independence and candor. In addition, hiring a staff that represents the diversity in society and then providing coverage that seeks to be representative of the culture—without imposing personal values or reinforcing stereotypes—is an ethical obligation of journalists (SPJ Code of Ethics, n.d.). Meanwhile, sports editors may have an unrealistic understanding of how much coverage they are actually providing around women’s sports. In short, they seem to believe they are covering women’s sports more than they actually are.

Interpreting the Findings

First, these findings must be read within their limitations; most notably, the number of editors who participated—although significant in light of their gatekeeping impact in online and print—was not high enough to reach statistical significance on a number of possible findings around our research questions. For instance, the miniscule number of female sports editors (6) in the sample made it impossible to consider important questions about the differences that may exist in the ways male and female sports editors may understand issues around coverage and hiring.

The cyclical, seasonal nature of the sports calendar is also a factor in any survey that asks editors to think about content, as they likely think about what they are dealing with in the moment to answer larger questions, which could skew their responses. This survey was administered in the late spring and summer 2012, just before the Olympics. Research indicates that female athletes, especially when they are winning, get more—and more favorable—media coverage than is the norm (Bruce & Chapman, 2006). Women who represented the United States in the Olympic Games provided high-profile fodder for sports pages that otherwise would not have been there, and the additional coverage may have inflated editors’ perceptions of their coverage year-round.

Certainly, many editors’ assessments of the way their newsholes address women’s sports were likely overstated when considering past research. For instance, a quarter of editors estimated that coverage of women’s sports averaged 40% of the total content. Previous studies did not find coverage of women’s sports to be near that much (e.g., Bishop, 2003; Everbach, 2008; Pratt et al., 2008). As discussed above, the Olympics could certainly have influenced the way the editors saw their coverage.

The presence of women on a sports department staff seems to be another way, as demonstrated by this research, that editors can attain a more realistic view of their coverage. As Kanter (1977) pointed out, numbers (of women) have real “consequences for performance”—and just two or three in a large sports department will have proportional consequences (p. 6). While it may seem counterintuitive that sports editors with two or more women report lower levels of women’s sports coverage than do those without a female presence in the newsroom, an explanation for this finding could be that female staffers help raise awareness among sports editors about their general lack of coverage of women’s sports. Such awareness could be seen as a first step toward improving coverage. It is probably appropriate not to expect more than consciousness raising when there are too few women in an environment to rise above “token” status; the power dynamics simply do not allow for more.

A previous survey of newspaper sports editors (Hardin, 2005) also asked editors to assess their readers’ interests. This survey found that about 60% of editors believed there is little appetite for women’s sports coverage; the 2005 study reported that 44% of editors believed interest was low. If six of every 10 editors have, indeed, noted that there is generally low interest in their coverage of women’s sports, what are the differences between these markets (beyond circulation, which we found to impact estimates) or news operations and those where interest is gauged to be higher? One, though, cannot dismiss the impact circulation size likely has on content. Recall that small circulation newspaper editors reported their readers as having a higher interest in women’s sports compared with readers of larger circulation newspapers. Larger circulation newspapers are more likely to be found in large cities with multiple professional, that is, men’s sports teams. In a difficult economic climate for journalism, many smaller, regional news outlets have marshaled their resources to focus on hyperlocal news (Kurpius, Metzgar, & Rowley, 2010). Publications with a hyperlocal focus tend to downplay news in bigger cities and can focus on content geared more toward their local readerships (Kurpius et al., 2010). Newspapers might direct more resources to community and high school athletics, which are more receptive to women’s sports than to major U.S. professional sports (E. Whiteside & Rightler-McDaniels, 2013). The trend toward hyperlocal sports could be a significant influence why sports editors at smaller circulation newspapers believe their readers have a higher interest in female sports.

In addition, the small positive correlation between editors’ estimates of reader interest in women’s sports and editors’ estimates of their own coverage of women’s sports could reflect an element related to gatekeeping. Both Knoppers and Elling (2004) and Hardin (2005) reported that sports journalism gatekeepers believed their decisions were based upon audience desires. The finding from this study supports previous literature that editors’ perceptions of audience desires are connected to editors’ estimations of coverage, that is, editors who believe their audiences like women’s sports also believe their publications more heavily cover women’s sports. However, it must be noted that perceptions of coverage and actual coverage are often not in alignment.

Progressive Understanding of Title IX

Because of the attention surrounding the 40th anniversary of Title IX in 2012, this survey included questions, also adapted from Hardin’s (2005) survey, on editors’ outlook on the legislation. Again, this survey seems to indicate that there has been progress in the ways editors understand the law. For instance, more than half of editors surveyed in 2005 indicated that they believed Title IX “hurt” men’s sports. Far fewer indicated that they believed this was the case in 2012. Furthermore, the editors who believe Title IX hurt men’s sports are at smaller circulation papers. We cannot be certain about why circulation is significantly related to attitudes about Title IX. A recent study found that sports editors at papers with a local focus attributed greater importance to Title IX in shaping coverage and that these editors also expressed greater commitment to girls’ and women’s sports, yet these editors also often perpetuated myths that Title IX hurt men’s sports (Antunovic, 2015). We speculate that larger circulation papers have more seasoned journalists who have learned more about the law during their careers. Another obvious difference between small- and large-market papers is their emphasis on scholastic sports as mentioned earlier, but it is difficult to imagine how a stronger focus on high school sports coverage might lead an editor to have an erroneous understanding and negative opinion of the legislation. Either way, perceptions of Title IX did not seem to interact with editors’ opinions about whether coverage of women’s sports is generally adequate. Editors were more sharply divided on this question than on any other question in this research, indicating deep ambivalence about whether levels of coverage are appropriate.

The Obligations of Gatekeepers

Again, this survey can be compared with results from Hardin’s (2005) research to assess whether editors’ attitudes have changed in relationship to the coverage and hiring of women as related to their ethical obligations as journalists. Although attitudes about the obligation to cover women’s sports have not changed much at all from 2005, a higher percentage of sports editors—20 percentage points higher, in fact—now say they see hiring women as an ethical obligation.

That is good news; this finding indicates that editors increasingly understand the value of rejecting homologous reproduction for a more a diverse workplace to provide fair, accurate coverage of sports. The fact that the presence of women in sports departments is linked to an ethical commitment by respondents may also provide evidence that editors see good results once they hire women, and these results reinforce their commitment. Or, of course, it could work the other way: The commitment existed before the women were hired, and this finding confirms that when editors are ethically committed to diversifying, many act on it.

Either way, the finding that the presence of women in sports departments is linked with an ethical obligation by sports editors to diversity and to the advancement of women to supervisory roles. This underscores the fact that when editors make an ethical commitment to hire women, they can and do. It also underscores the fact that when women are given the chance, they can, indeed, succeed and lead in the sports department. They need the chance.

Future Research

This survey suggests a number of directions for subsequent research. One approach to link content with the worldview and practices of sports editors is a case study method that would use content analysis along with surveys and interviews with gatekeepers to assess their attitudes against actual amount and quality of women’s sports coverage. In addition, it would be efficacious to explore these issues in print, broadcast, and online media, too, because there are gender imbalances across platforms (Morrison, 2014). Especially illuminating, and in dire need of updating and expanding, are studies that compare sports media organizations with male and female leadership. Shain’s (1997) study is one example of research that should be replicated.

Gatekeepers do not only exist within media companies. Colleges and universities deserve further scrutiny, too. While in the 2012-2013 academic year, women earned 65.3% of bachelor’s degrees in “journalism and mass communication” programs (Becker, Vlad, & Simpson, 2014, p. 362), the professional news media industry is almost two-thirds male (ASNE, n.d.-b). Also in a study of college student newspapers, Schmidt (2013) reported that women overall comprised 41.5% of authors, but wrote only 21.7% of articles in the sports section. As sports communication programs continue to grow, expanding from 14 in 2007 to 34 in the 2010-2011 academic year (Penn State, 2012), researchers must examine whether academia is providing proper support to help female students thrive in the sport industry. Undergraduates preparing to enter the field have already noted facing sexual objectification and sexism in this work environment (Staurowsky & DiManno, 2002). Universities and educators can play a strong role as advocates for students—male and female—by teaching them about opportunities and barriers, and by conducting research on the progress (or lack thereof) in the sports media workplace.

Finally, and perhaps most illuminating would be research focusing on the relationship between the life cycle of (sports) media organizations, drawing from organizational life cycle theory and progressive coverage and hiring. With an eye toward possibilities on the horizon for the entire industry, this research would be fruitful for both industry and academia.

Footnotes

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Notes

Author Biographies

Pamela C. Laucella, PhD, is academic director of the Sports Capital Journalism Program and an associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Public Relations at Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Her research investigates socio-cultural issues in sports media, and specifically the intersections of race and gender. She also studies sports organizations’ hiring processes and reporters’ ethical and professional responsibilities in a multimedia world. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in sports communication and journalism at IU-Bloomington and IUPUI.

Marie Hardin, PhD, is dean and professor of journalism in the College of Communications at Penn State. Her research concentrates on diversity, ethics, and professional practices in mediated sports with a special focus on issues of gender. She has taught courses focusing on the intersection of sports, media, and society at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

Steve Bien-Aimé (BA, Penn State University) is a doctoral candidate in Penn State’s College of Communications. His research interests include race and gender portrayals in news and sports media. Before entering graduate school, he worked as a copy editor at both The News Journal in Delaware and The Baltimore Sun, and served in a variety of functions at "> FOXSports.com in Los Angeles, departing as deputy NFL editor.

Dunja Antunovic, PhD, is an assistant professor in Bradley University’s Department of Communication and the Charley Steiner School of Sports Communication. Her research focuses on the relationship between gender, sports, and media. She earned a PhD from the College of Communications at Penn State University.

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