Relaying Rio Through an Australian Gaze: Australian Nationalistic Broadcast Focus in the 2016 Summer Olympic Games

Abstract

This study explored how potential national biases unfolded within the Australian broadcast of the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics. Applying social identity theory and self-categorization theory, this study content analyzed a total of 45 prime time broadcast hours of Australia’s Seven Network’s coverage of the Rio Games. Although the majority of top 20 most-mentioned athletes were Australian, non-Australian athletes were mentioned more frequently regarding total name mentions. Moreover, Australian athletes and non-Australian athletes were described in significantly different manners when ascribing reasons for athletic success and failure. This study contributed to the literature by uncovering how in-group members were portrayed in the Australian sports context while also providing insight into how consumers’ media consumption could potentially affect how the network broadcast the Olympics from a nationally partisan perspective.