Using Self-Categorization Theory to Uncover the Framing of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Two National Newspapers

Research into the framing of the Olympic Games indicates that the media often exhibit bias in their coverage. Through discourse, the media attempt to create a situation where consumers are provided with multiple story lines or foci, to build and maintain audiences for the duration of an event. A content analysis was conducted to uncover and compare how two national broadsheet newspapers, one from Australia and one from Canada, pictorially depicted the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. Results of this study found large differences in the use of home-nation content to capture, build, and maintain readers for the duration of the Olympic Games coverage. These findings are beneficial for sports managers and sports-media personnel to understand how two different nations pictorially framed the Olympic Games.