pie chart of coverage by sport

Chart of the Day: Women get only 2-3 percent of TV sports news coverage

According to the latest update in a 25-year-long study, TV sports news and highlights shows, like ESPN’s SportsCenter, devote under 5 percent of their coverage to women’s sports. That’s actually less than it was back in 1989. 

pie chart of coverage by sportI have a piece up at Pacific Standard today about some of the other findings from the research. The key takeaway, I think, is that this media silence—combined with the lack of enthusiasm displayed in the rare instances when women’s sports are covered—is actively thwarting the development of knowledgeable and committed fan bases for women’s athletics. The public seems to agree—in another new survey, most said the media deserved the blame for the lack of attention paid to women’s sports.

St. Paul, MN

Maya Dusenbery is executive director in charge of editorial at Feministing. She is the author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm: The Truth About How Bad Medicine and Lazy Science Leave Women Dismissed, Misdiagnosed, and Sick (HarperOne, March 2018). She has been a fellow at Mother Jones magazine and a columnist at Pacific Standard magazine. Her work has appeared in publications like Cosmopolitan.com, TheAtlantic.com, Bitch Magazine, as well as the anthology The Feminist Utopia Project. Before become a full-time journalist, she worked at the National Institute for Reproductive Health. A Minnesota native, she received her B.A. from Carleton College in 2008. After living in Brooklyn, Oakland, and Atlanta, she is currently based in the Twin Cities.

Maya Dusenbery is an executive director of Feministing and author of the forthcoming book Doing Harm on sexism in medicine.

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