Audience Perceptions of Female Sports Reporters: A Social-Identity Approach

Abstract

Attempts at investigating female sports reporters’ credibility and persuasiveness from the audience’s perspective are limited and outdated. This study, grounded in social identity theory, fills the gap in media literature. A quasi-experiment tested respondents’ perceptions of male and female sports reporters’ credibility and persuasiveness as a function of salient gender identity and reporter and athlete sex. Respondents’ sports fandom, frequency of sports-media usage, and general perceptions of news-media credibility also were examined. Results of a MANOVA indicated no significant differences in respondents’ perceptions of a male and female reporter, even when controlling for respondent gender; however, sports fandom and general perceptions of news-media credibility did have a significant impact on perceptions.