The prince and the pauper: Journalistic culture and Paralympic games in the Spanish print press

Abstract

The Paralympic Games are one of the world’s most important multisport events, maybe second only to the Olympic Games. However, research conducted to date shows that the media do not devote as much space to them as would accordingly be expected. This article proposes, through a case study, a new way of approaching this hypothetical discrimination by comparing the attention that the London Paralympic Games received from the Spanish print press with the attention that other sports received (football, basketball, tennis, cycling, motor sports and other minority sports) while those Games were being held. The main finding of our study is that over the period analysed, the Spanish press devoted less space to the Paralympic Games than to any other sport.

Polish Paralympic Sports in the Opinion of Athletes and Coaches in Retrospective Studies

“…Unfortunately, despite the participation of Polish competitors in the top level sporting events (Paralympic Games, world or European championships), finding sponsors is very difficult. A similar problem is observed in other European countries, including Spain [29]. Therefore, social marketing should be used to a greater extent to promote sport, as mentioned by Cottingham et al [14] and Curran and Hirons [9], especially as associations and unions dealing exclusively with disabled athletes are non-profit organisations.…”

“…These measures require media support, which, unfortunately, is also lacking in the area of professional sport for disabled people, both in Poland and in other countries. Often, high-level competitions such as the Paralympic Games, are being pushed into the background of television broadcasts and replaced by commercial broadcasts of less important competitions [29].…”

Disability Narratives in Sports Communication: Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games’ Best Practices and Implications

“…Women, people of color, and people with disability were excluded from this context as not fitting in these traditional and generally accepted views. Although some significant advances have occurred recently, mostly on account of the International Paralympic Movement, the heritage of that marginality, social exclusion, vulnerability, and stigma still exerts a strong influence on the visibility and the representation of disability in the media (Beckett, 2006;Bush et al, 2013;Goffman, 1963;Goodley et al, 2019;Solves et al, 2018;Sutherland, 1997;Tsatsou, 2020). Ellis (2009, p. 25) argues that "the media has an integral role in both reflecting and reinforcing social disablement and imagining people with disability as a vulnerable group.…”

La performance periodística en la cobertura deportiva: un estudio comparado de televisión, radio, prensa impresa y medios online en Chile

“…Además de los aspectos mencionados, el trabajo del periodismo deportivo también ha recibido críticas por el espacio asignado a grupos de la población como las mujeres (Franks & O'Neill, 2016;Hardin & Whiteside, 2009) y las personas con capacidades diferentes (Solves, Sánchez & Ruiz, 2016).…”