Sports journalism ethics and the portrayal of race and disability. The coverage of the London 2012 Olympics in the British, American and Spanish quality press

Abstract

According to their normative public service role in democratic societies, the various media should carry out responsible treatment of all areas of the news arena, including sports. Nevertheless, this field has been characterised by many ethical drawbacks, including the biased representation of non-white and disabled athletes. This paper examines whether six quality newspapers (The Guardian/The Observer, The Daily Telegraph/The Sunday Telegraph, The New York Times, The Washington Post, El País and La Vanguardia) complied with the deontological principle of justice in their portrayal of race and disability during the London 2012 Olympics. The results show that the media challenged the traditional white ethnocentric perspective and raised the public’s awareness of racism in sport and society. Despite this, evidence suggests that certain covert stereotypes continue to be present in the sports media.

KEYWORDS: Sports journalism, ethics, justice, race, disability, London 2012.