Women’s Sports Coverage in Israel: Perception Versus Reality

Abstract

With a focus on the question of public interest, the study investigated editing considerations of women’s sports coverage in written daily newspapers in Israel. To examine sports readers’ views regarding the coverage of women in sports sections, and to compare them with the views of sports editorial boards, a representative survey was conducted among male and female readers of sports columns and among male and female sports writers responsible for coverage. The research findings indicate a lack of connection between the various ends of the media process. Although sports editors of the 3 biggest dailies in Israel claim that there is little interest in women’s sports among sports column readers, the study found that public interest in women’s sports is far from insignificant. In fact, newspaper consumers who read the sports column would like to see more extensive coverage of women’s sports.