Women, Sports, and Journalism

While the involvement of women in journalism and athletics has grown significantly in recent decades, comparatively few women are involved in professional sports reporting. Yet, less is known regarding whether this trend is unique among professional journalists, or whether it begins earlier while journalists are still learning their profession and writing for their university student newspapers. To investigate this topic, this study involved a survey of university student newspaper staff members ( n = 267) and a content analysis of six top student newspapers across the United States. Results of this study suggest that female sports reporters are uncommon in campus newsrooms and that women participate in sports reporting much less frequently than they participate in other related activities including journalism in general, playing sports, or watching sports. Further, results show that university student journalists are unaware of the inequality of coverage of men’s and women’s sports that exists in campus media.