Women's sports media, Australian media policy and the ABC: an examination of discourses of sport and the relevance of national identity, 1981 to 2018

Abstract

This research investigates Australian women’s sports and public service media (PSM) policy discourses from 1981 to 2018. Ideology theory and a political economy of communications (PEC) provide a framework for examining media policy discourses using a mixed methods approach, including discourse analysis, qualitative interviews with key actors in ABC and Australian sports policy and document analysis.

Findings include an analysis of sport’s national identity framework, in which the construction of Australian women’s sport was marginal to male sport or largely erased for much of its history. Key moments in women’s sports media policy include a 1985 report that articulated the struggle for recognition and representation of women in sports media. A 2006 report was also significant, after which sports media policy discourses asserted a market rhetoric.

Examination of a second media policy strand investigates women’s sports discourses in ABC policy. 1981 is a key policy moment with early signals of a shift from PSM as a central component of media policy. The research shows how a 2018 PSM policy report discourses of efficiency, commodification and market articulate the ABC’s policy role. Women’s sports media and PSM policy are examined through an analysis of the ABC’s women’s sports media policy role, particularly its historical commitment to women’s cricket.

This research reveals that national identity formation remains a significant part of sports media and PSM policy discourses, now framed within neoliberal discourses of commodification and marketisation that have transformed articulation of women’s sports media policy consistent with an increased marketisation of sports media. Sports media is no longer a component of PSM policy as market-driven changes and a redefinition of the ABC’s media role transform understanding of long-held definitions of public service media principles.