A Paralympic legacy? British newspaper representations of the Paralympic movement during the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Paralympic Games

Abstract

Positioned within the assertion that the media’s products can reflect public perceptions on account of newsworthiness and a desire to generate economic capital, this study set out to evaluate the British media’s representations of the Paralympic Movement during the 2018 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. To achieve this, a quantitative and qualitative content analysis was conducted on articles relating to the Paralympic Movement published online by the four UK national newspapers of The Independent, the Mirror, The Telegraph and the Daily Mail. The resultant key findings included that 1) many of the commonly referenced portrayals of Paralympians are still present within Paralympic reporting, 2) the Paralympic Movement/Games was positioned both as significant within world sport/politics and inferior to its Olympic counterparts, 3) the frequency of coverage was inequitable, and 4) evidence existed for new media shifts such as the sexualisation of Paralympians. Situating these within contexts specific to the UK and that of the medium under investigation, the overall determination was that while improvements have occurred within Paralympic coverage further evidence is required to speak of a Paralympic media legacy resulting from the 2012 London Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.