Media Coverage of Summer Paralympic Games (1992-2008): A Case Study of the Czech Republic

Abstract

Our paper aims at analyzing the Czech media coverage of Summer Paralympic Games (1992-2008) based on the qualitative analysis and the estimation of type and length of articles in four Czech major newspapers. We employ the comparative content analysis of the articles from the daily newspapers two weeks prior and one month after the respective event using the article total space ranging from very short to very long. Our results demonstrate that the news coverage Summer Paralympic Games and athletes with disabilities in the Czech media sharply declined in case of the 2008 Beijing Summer Paralympic Games. These findings might be attributed to the orientation of Czech sport media on “mainstream” (and therefore more profitable) sport events (e.g. football and ice hockey), as well as some endogenous issues in the Czech Paralympic movement.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2p578