An Ugly Side to the Beautiful Game? An Analysis of Broadcast Commentary of FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup Final Matches

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorFink, Blayne Kathrynen
dc.contributor.committeechairIvory, James Deeen
dc.contributor.committeememberIvory, Adrienne Holzen
dc.contributor.committeememberWaggenspack, Beth M.en
dc.contributor.departmentCommunicationen
dc.date.accessioned2019-06-27T08:00:22Zen
dc.date.available2019-06-27T08:00:22Zen
dc.date.issued2019-06-26en
dc.description.abstractPrevious research into sporting events and broadcast commentary have been consistent in showing that there are clear differences in prevalence of commentary topics when a commentator is describing a male athlete and a female athlete. Among these differences are sexualized and ambivalent language towards female athletes, gender marking, and language that suggests male athlete superiority to that of female athletes. Although sporting events such as the Summer and Winter Olympics and NCAA Men's and Women's Basketball Championship games have repeatedly been sites for exploration, the world's largest single-event sporting competition, the World Cup, remains relatively untouched. Keeping this in mind, using a systematic content analysis, this thesis analyzed the broadcast commentary provided by play-by-play and color commentators in FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup final matches to discern whether or not the sex of the athlete competing resulted in a difference in the descriptive evaluations employed by commentators. Findings of this study revealed that there were few differences in the prevalence of descriptive evaluations based on the gender of the athletes competing. Implications of the results and recommendations for future research into broadcast commentary and World Cup final matches are addressed.en
dc.description.abstractgeneralPrevious research into the role of broadcast commentary in sporting events has shown that not only are there differences in what sports commentators say about male and female athletes, but also in how often specific types of commentary occur. Through the examination of pinnacle athletic competitions, findings have revealed a higher frequency of sexualized and contradictory language towards female athletes, an increase in gender marking, and language that suggests the superiority of male athletes to that of female athletes, among other things. Despite the wide range of athletic competitions that have garnered research attention, one event that has remained relatively ignored is the FIFA World Cup. Because of this, by examining the broadcast commentary provided during FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women’s World Cup final matches, this study looked to discover if the sex of the athlete competing impacted how often certain evaluation types occurred during game action. Findings showed that there were few differences in the prevalence of these evaluations based on the sex of the athlete competing. In addition to discussing the findings of this study, recommendations for future research are also addressed.en
dc.description.degreeMaster of Artsen
dc.format.mediumETDen
dc.identifier.othervt_gsexam:21117en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/90665en
dc.publisherVirginia Techen
dc.rightsIn Copyrighten
dc.rights.urihttp://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/en
dc.subjectgender rolesen
dc.subjectFIFA World Cupen
dc.subjectbroadcast commentaryen
dc.subjectdescriptive phrasesen
dc.titleAn Ugly Side to the Beautiful Game? An Analysis of Broadcast Commentary of FIFA World Cup and FIFA Women's World Cup Final Matchesen
dc.typeThesisen
thesis.degree.disciplineCommunicationen
thesis.degree.grantorVirginia Polytechnic Institute and State Universityen
thesis.degree.levelmastersen
thesis.degree.nameMaster of Artsen

Files

Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
Fink_BK_T_2019.pdf
Size:
501.54 KB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Download

Collections

Masters Theses