By Sizhe Ruan
HKU Journalism and Media

Summary

Journalism, as a major medium for conveying information to the public, reflects social values and even shapes them. For decades, researchers tend not only to study the content of news, but also the way news is conveyed. Previous studies have examined gender issues in news. Studies from different countries have reported the invisibility and stereotyping of women in sports news coverage. This article expands on prior research to explore the potential bias and the nuances of characterization in reporting women athletes in mainland China’s news through a case study of two well-known Chinese news organizations, People’s Daily and CCTV News. This study uncovered the marginalization and sexualization of female athletes in Chinese sports journalism. The news writing tends to focus on portraying the emotions and appearance of female athletes, and audience responses are also influenced by news writing, centering around the private lives and attractiveness of female athletes.

Literature Review

The manifestation of gender exclusion in society in every field has long been a topic of interest for researchers, including the field of journalism. A number of studies have shown that the image of women in the news media is abnormalized and distorted (Guo, 2015; Kassova, 2020 Sept; Kassova, 2020 Nov; Zhang, 2021). Women appear more commonly in lower profile news and are less frequently quoted as experts (Kassova, 2020 Nov; Price et al, 2021). Also, the news has a patterned preference in constructing images of female journalists, a greater tendency to portray young, good-looking, positive, and victimized images (Guo, 2015). For example, a trend in Chinese news media is the mainstream media trying to attract ratings in cyberspace by training influencer-like female journalists. The selected female journalists share common characteristics: they are young and pretty, and they cover light-hearted lifestyle news (Zhang, 2021).

The portrayal of women in the news caters to a masculinist perspective. A study indicates the potential impact of improper gender-based reporting on the public perception of gender issues (Meuller, 2024). Many researchers attributed the misrepresentation of women’s voice and image in news content to uneven gender representation in newsrooms. Even though the majority of the students who graduated from journalism were women, the majority of journalists in the newsroom were men; the under-presentation is more severe in “governance and decision-making roles and at senior level globally (Kassova, 2020 Nov).” Meanwhile, in almost all regions of the world, male journalists choose female sources 5-7% less than female journalists in newspaper and broadcast news; in online news, the gap increases to 9% (Macharia, 2021). However, an unavoidable situation is the lack of sensitivity to masculinity among male newsmakers (Kassova, 2020 Nov). 

The same pattern was found in the niche of sports journalism. Female athletes are marginalized in the news. The news tends to disproportionately report on female athletes, entertain the privacy of female athletes, eroticize their bodies, and symbolize their gender (Mannion, 2016; Jia, 2020). This “othering” way of constructing the image subconsciously shapes the public’s perception of female athletes. The public impressions of female athletes are more likely to be associated with physical appearance and attractiveness, such as “fit” and “fierce,” whereas the impressions on male athletes are more skill-related, such as “strong (Mannion, 2016).” Like the news industry in general, the sports news newsroom is dominated by men. The echo chamber effect was found that male newsmakers’ interactions with their colleagues reinforce their agreement with the masculine rules and values inherent in the sports newsroom (Claringbould et. al, 2004). In other words, male journalists in sports newsrooms lack a sense of non-equality in reporting, and this environment prevents the inclusion of representatives from other genders and social groups.

Based on the previous research indicating the gender bias in journalism and sports journalism, this study will examine how women athletes are covered in the news in China. 

Methods

This paper will examine the news posts published on Weibo by two of China’s most influential media organizations, CCTV News and People’s Daily. The study will also look into the public reactions from the interaction sections on Weibo. 

According to the most recent Report on the Development of Journalism in China in 2022, the digitalization of news has been a trend in the journalism industry for the communication purpose (ACJA, 2022). News organizations turned to social media for interacting with their audience and for “social and economic efficiency (ACJA, 2022).” Research said Weibo guarantees the timeliness of news, “among the many online media, timeliness is an important asset for Weibo to stand out from the competition (Feng et. al, 2015).” News is selectively posted to Weibo by news organizations and spreads with the traffic of the platform. The 2023 Weibo Young User Development Report said the platform had 605 million monthly active users as of Q3 2023, with over 130 million users aged 16-22 years old (Weibo, March 2024). According to the Trends of Hot Social Topics Report in 2023, Chinese audiences show a tendency to discuss hot events in Weibo, even though the event was originally uncovered on other platforms (Research Center of Journalism and Social Development, Renmin University of China & Weibo, 2024). Since keeping up with social news and expressing opinions on Weibo has become a trend among Chinese users, Weibo facilitates the study with both news contents and people’s reactions. Thus, this study will be conducted on Weibo. 

Weibo Hot Search Report 2023 said the trending hashtags on social affairs in 2023 were mainly from the news reported by news organizations. Every hashtag on Weibo is hosted by a specific account, usually the account which originally created the hashtag. The media organizations hosting most hashtags on social affairs were People’s Daily and CCTV News (Weibo, Feb 2024). Meanwhile, All-China Journalists Association (ACJA) updated its membership directory in December 2023, in which the People’s Daily and CCTV News were listed in the top 3 of China Central news organizations (ACJA, 2023). Thus, CCTV news and People’s Daily will be studied as cases for learning about the traits of news reporting in China.

“Asian Games” was the 10th top search keyword on Weibo in 2023 (Weibo, Feb 2024). To figure out the image of female athletes in news, this study will analyze the news posts on the 19th Asian Games Hangzhou from September to October 2023. The proportion of news of female athletes will be calculated (only news that contains either male or female athlete[s] will be counted and analyzed, news containing both male and female athletes or neither will not be counted). Also, a nuanced analysis on the news angle and language usage on female athletes will be conducted, discussing the patterns of portraying female athletes in Chinese news.

Results & Analysis

A hundred and thirty-seven posts published by People’s Daily were examined. During the period of the Asian Games (Sept 23 – Oct 8, 2023), People’s Daily published 55 posts about male athletes and 82 posts about female athletes (excluding news on both or neither male nor female athletes) on Weibo. Likewise, CCTV News published 63 reports of male athletes and 108 reports of female athletes, 171 in total. 

Within all the reports that meet the criterion of mentioning either male athletes or female athletes, most of them generally cover the state of games. Since the frequency of those covering news largely relies on the frequency of winning games, which means the frequency difference between these posts of male or female athletes does not necessarily reflect the subjectivity of newsmakers, this research counts the number of posts that are not covering the game schedules or results, in other words, the news that are “softer.” Soft news in this research, contrasting to hard news that are timely and consequential, such as the latest prize results of sports games, is defined as news that are lighter in tone and lifestyle related, most of which are about stories of individual athletes instead of a whole team. For example, among the posts entitled “Chinese skateboarding girls take home the gold and silver,” “Ye Shiwen got women’s 200m breaststroke champion,” “Two Chinese tennis players meet in women’s singles final,” and “Chusovikina’s comparing hearts again,” all four posts are counted as “posts about female athletes” because they covered and only covered female athletes, whereas only the last one will be counted as part of  the soft news category as it is not covering the state of games but the personal life facet of female athletes.

There are 9 soft news on male athletes and 15 on female athletes by People’s Daily, 10 of male athletes and 27 of female athletes by CCTV News. The analysis will be based on the content of the Weibo posts only, and not a further look into the original reports of the posts.

There are three potential patterns found in both news organizations’ posts and their engagement sections:

1) The writing of the news tends to focus more on female athletes’ emotions. 

“Emotion-related coverage” in the following analysis refers to reports written about outgoing and direct expression of emotions, such as crying, laughing, being shy, and directly expressing love.

Most of the soft news on male athletes reported by People’s Daily are about the athletes’ reflections and actions behind the games, such as “(Oct 3, 2023) Fan Zhendong says he fights for the first place every time instead of simply keeping the first place,” “(Oct 3, 2023) Xie Zhenye is the flag bearer,” and “(Oct 6, 2023) Chen Jiapeng went home and put the gold medal around his mom’s neck first.” Instead of portraying their emotions, the news posts are likely to illustrate the male athletes’ sayings and actions in an objective way. However, many of the female soft news portray female athletes’ emotional behaviors. For example, “(Oct 4, 2023) Qoiying Gyi is crying,” “(Sept 25, 2023) Chusovitina made a finger heart,” and “(Sept 24, 2023) Zhang Yufei made a finger heart again.” These posts revolve around female athletes’ emotional reactions to the games and audiences. The titles alone have no direct relation with the games or their achievements.

In CCTV News, the news posts show a similar tendency. The news of male athletes tends to talk about the athletes’ states directly and explicitly, for instance, “(Sept 30, 2023) Qin Haiyang knew before the race that he could take the 100th gold,” “(Oct 3, 2023) Weightlifting champion Li Fabin shares his grand slam journey,” “(Oct 3, 2023) Wang Shun talks about how to get out of the doldrums.” On the other hand, the posts tend to describe female athletes’ emotional expressions in detail, such as “(Oct 1, 2023) Sun Yingsha is calm when being interviewed,” “(Oct 4, 2023) The reason why Quan Hongchan hid behind Chen Yanshi in the interview,” and “(Sept 29, 2023) Zhang Yufei and Rikako Ikee embraced each other in tears after the match.” 

Thus, in the coverage of the Asian Games, both news organizations specifically portray the emotional expressions of female athletes, emphasizing their outwardly visible emotions. Even if the post is covering a specific event, such as an interview, both organizations like to put the emotional expressions of female athletes in the news headlines, spotlighting the women’s emotions instead of their performance in these events. Nevertheless, neither of the organizations portrays much about male athletes’ emotions. In addition, when describing females’ emotions, People’s Daily pays extra attention to emotional expressions that are popular in young culture, such as “finger hearts,” reflecting a preference for young female characters.

2) The writing of the news tends to focus more on female athletes’ appearance. 

In CCTV news posts, the appearance qualities of female athletes are repeatedly used as news headlines. For example, “(Sept 30, 2023) Ge Manqi won the championship with her Nezha hairstyle,” “(Sept 27, 2023) So cute! Zhang Yufei wearing a mascot hairpin to receive her award,” and “(Sept 23, 2023) Wu Yanni smiles so sweetly.” People’s Daily also has posts entitled “(Sept 26, 2023) Track cycling girls with Nezha on their helmets” and “(Oct 8, 2023) The artistic swimming girls are beautiful and fierce.” However, this writing style is not applied in posts about male athletes.

These depictions of the female athletes’ appearance are apt to portray them as friendly, cute, young, and positive. This finding is consistent with and supportive of previous research on the portrayal of women in Chinese news.

3) The public reaction to the news posts tends to pay more attention to female athletes’ private lives and attractiveness. 

The public tends to be impressed by the personal stories of female athletes and their struggles in their home lives most. For instance, whenever the news is about a female athlete Oksana Chusovitina, as under the posts “(People’s Daily, Sept 25, 2023) Chusovitina made a finger heart” and “48-year-old Chusovitina competes alone in the Asian Games (CCTV News, Sept 23, 2023),” one of the most common reactions was labeling her as “a great mom” since the hottest topic surrounding Chusovitina was her re-participation in sports games for her sick son. In public discourse, Chusovitina’s image as a mother has overshadowed her status as an athlete. Similarly in the comments of the post “(CCTV News, Sept 23, 2023) Wu Yanni smiles so sweetly,” people are more interested in discussing her hyping scandals and whether she has had any plastic surgery. 

In another example, among the liked-most comments under a post about a Vietnamese women’s table tennis team asking Chinese women’s table tennis player Sun Yingsha for an autograph, the most used adjective for Sun was “cute (People’s Daily, Sept 24).” Some comments even said “Why isn’t she my girlfriend?” The public discussion surrounding female athletes veers away from their professional abilities and centers on non-sports related matters, such as their personal relationships and sexual attractiveness.

Also, the audience’s attention is likely to be drawn to the outward appearance of female athletes when the news writing deliberately points out their appearance and outfits. For example, the word used for Zhang Yufei in the liked-most comment under the news “(People’s Daily, Sept 24, 2023) Zhang Yufei made a finger heart again” is “cute,” and the comments to the “(People’s Daily, Sept 26, 2023) Track cycling girls with Nezha on their helmets” are mostly regarding their helmet decorations, not how they performed in the track cycling game. 

This finding is consistent with Mannion’s findings that concerns about female athletes’ private lives as well as their physical appearance appear to be particularly prominent in public opinions. Female athletes, even with their accomplishments, are not emphasized as much as their male counterparts in terms of their professional skills and abilities. 

There is a consistency in the focus of public opinion and news writing. In other words, for the news posts noted in 1) and 2) above, the public reactions reflect the tendency to go along with the news writing concerns and the public discussion is around the female athletes’ private stories, emotions, and appearance. Moreover, in some cases, such as Chusovitina and Wu Yanni, due to the common tactic of news writing to include their personal stories within their coverage, the audience’ reactions seem to be shaped to customarily connect the personal stories of these female athletes with them. That is, for these female athletes with sensational personal stories or scandals surrounding them, the public tends to repeatedly refer to these stories unrelated to their careers and accomplishments in the comments, no matter what the news post is about. 

Discussion & Conclusion

This research examines the Weibo posts of People’s Daily and CCTV News, two influential national level mainstream media in China, during the period of the Asian Games. By analyzing the news of female and male athletes, the findings are aligned with the previous studies stating that female athletes are likely to be mis-portrayed in the news in China. The proportion of soft news for male and female athletes in the two media is 1:2. News media tend to pay more attention to female athletes’ personal traits  and relationships over their career-related performances. 

Female athletes are marginalized in both news writing and public opinions. There are two patterns in the news headlines shared by both media: 1) the emotional expressions of female athletes are likely to be emphasized; 2) the appearances of female athletes are frequently pointed out in the headlines. In turn, the construction of the audience’s impressions of female athletes also has the same trend as news writing. A pattern found in the audience engagement is that people are more impressed by female athletes’ private lives and attractiveness in appearances. The perspectives of the stories tend to divert the public attention from the female athletes’ professional skills to their private stories, forming and reinforcing a stereotypical image of them as young, cute, and emotional, etc. It has a problematic potential to sexualize and entertain the women athletes’ image in the public discourse while undermining their accomplishments in their career.

This study analyzes the nuances in the portrayal of male and female athletes through the coverage of two Chinese major media and the reactions of their audience, giving an insight on the manifestation of gender exclusion in Chinese sports journalism. However, the study has its limitation in that it only examines news during one event, the Asian Games, and excludes the news that covered both male and female athletes. Future research could focus on the change in the image of female athletes in news reports over time, and the dynamical connection between the coverage and the public opinion of female athletes. 

Advisor: Yolanda Ma
Photo by Distel82

 

Works Cited