DigitalCommons@Linfield

An Examination of Gender and Race in Newspaper Coverage of Olympian Gabby Douglas

Jereld R. Nicholson Library

This study investigates the representation of Gabby Douglas in the newspaper media, focusing on the time frame after Douglas won the individual and all-around women’s gymnastic gold medals in the summer 2012 Olympics. The hypothesis proposed that the representation of gendered and racial biases would be evident in the newspaper coverage of Douglas. This led to the argument that the way the media marketed Douglas could affect a reader’s perception of her, as well as an overall perception of gender and race. The method employed to analyze the proposed questions was cluster criticism focusing on the intensity and frequency of seven key terms that appeared in the selected newspaper articles. The articles that were chosen were from The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Virginian Pilot, and The Washington Post. The results of the study indicated that the newspaper media did indeed use gender and racial descriptions to describe Douglas.