British press coverage of international sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia: content analysis study in light of country concept model

Abstract

This paper examines the British press coverage of international sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia. The study provides an analytic perspective by employing the model of the country concept and the covered by the British press of the international sports events in Saudi Arabia. This study fills the gap in the literature on the British press coverage of sports events hosted by Saudi Arabia in light of the country concept model. For this research, the study employed content analysis to collect data from the two British newspapers, The Sun and the Daily Mail coverage. The paper has several contributions to knowledge. Firstly, it brings an understanding of the role of the country concept model in explaining the reputation and image of a country. Using Fullerton’s model, the paper has found that by employing a soft power package that includes hosting international sports events, Saudi Arabia’s country image has changed. Secondly, the research found that the most coverage of events in Saudi Arabia was still negative. However, this negative coverage has decreased over the past few years, while neutral and positive coverage has increased. Finally, the research has contributed to the literature by finding out that the coverage of Saudi Arabia was characterised by a large number of negative articles, as opposed to more neutral or positive reporting. This finding confirms the country concept model, which states that some elements, like foreign and social media, cannot be controlled.