







































Communication, Society and Media 
ISSN 2576-5388 (Print) ISSN 2576-5396 (Online) 

Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 
www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm 

64 

Original Paper 

Gender and Sports Publications in School Newspaper Columns: 

The Greek Example 
Lina P. Valsamidou1* & Argyris Kyridis2 

1 Communication and Journalism, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus 
2 Department of Pre-School Education, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece 
* Lina P. Valsamidou, Communication and Journalism, Open University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus 

 

Received: April 14, 2018         Accepted: May 7, 2018        Online Published: May 29, 2018 

doi:10.22158/csm.v1n1p64                    URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.22158/csm.v1n1p64 

 

Abstract 

Sport is a basic element of social culture and a way of social expression, while it also constitutes a 

form of social education. Sport, however, also exhibits the most evident gendered characteristics of 

sports journalism since it constitutes a “male/male-dominated” field. What is the presence of boys and 

girls in the role of the sports editor/journalist? What sports issues are chosen by boys and girls and 

published in school newspaper columns? To what extent is the presence of the “male-dominated” 

sports domain and the sports news perpetuated/continued in schools’ newspapers? We analyze the 

publication content by gender in school newspapers, so as to determine in a qualitative and 

quantitative manner the basic parameters that define gendered sports discourse and its social 

components. 

Keywords 

gender, sports, school newspapers, school journalism 

 

1. Introduction 

“Ronaldo’s transfer is in the final stage. Real’s star says he is thrilled to be playing for 

Panathinaikos…” School newspaper: The 19 little stars, 148th Primary School of Athens. 

“The Greek athletes were the protagonists and the heroes of the Paralympic Games… Greece handed 

over the baton to Beijing for the 2008 Games.” School newspaper: Air bird songs, 4th Primary School 

and 4th Kindergarten of Feres-Aerino. 

In a time when everything changes, the Media play an ever more important role in our lives compared 

to the past, whereas at the same time they play a leading role in forming the new Weltanschauung 

(Tsardakis, 1990, p. 149). The messages that the Media transmit are received by a large number of 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
65 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

people and form attitudes, behaviours and subjectivities (Hatzisavvidis, 2000, p. 11). The Media 

solidify the prevalent views, they set priorities, they magnify issues and facts, they sometimes alter 

views and eventually they determine choices (Paletz & Entman, 1981, p. 189), but they simultaneously 

transmit/reflect the ideology, the values and the standards of the current status quo, and according to  

Baudrillard they do not contribute to ideology, but they form ideology (Pleios, 2001, p. 398). Along 

with state entities such as the government and school they come to complete the prevalent image of 

society as it is imposed from above. They constitute a set of representations formed by images, myths, 

analyses, views and ideas that corresponds to the prevalent political, economical, social and historical 

system (Doulkeri, n.d., p. 21). 

Although it is an issue that is frequently ignored, the Media play a significant role in providing a great 

number of the resources we use in order to consider gender and gender-related issues: what it means to 

be a woman or a man, gender roles in the public and private sphere, sexuality, and what is considered 

as natural, normal, acceptable, desirable and related to these aspects of our lives. By providing the 

resources and the space, the Media can play a significant role in shaping our thoughts regarding gender 

and gender issues (The Gender & Media Handbook, 2005, pp. 6-7). Most of the texts that appear in the 

Media seem to accept the traditional sexist stereotypes and portray stereotypical images that do not 

reflect the changes in men’s and women’s lives, and at the same time they also enhance the usual 

gender stereotypes by repeating them in several occasions (The Gender & Media Handbook, 2005, p. 

28). The Media provide us with an ample repertoire of ideas, ways of thinking, images, values and they 

also influence the identities that we develop in terms of nationality, culture, class and gender, thus 

playing a fundamental role in bringing about social change (The Gender & Media Handbook, 2005, p. 

44). Van Zoonen (1994, p. 41) argues that the Media are described as technologies of gender, 

accommodating, modifying, reconstructing and producing disciplining and contradictory cultural 

outlooks of sexual differentiation. The ideal site where we can observe the operation of these 

technologies is “media” texts (Fiske, 1987, p. 14), such as films, TV programmes, newspapers, etc.   

Print communication, according to Eco, maintains the highest prestige among other forms of 

communication, because it allows extensive attention, repeated reading and evaluative processing. It 

has greater possibilities in the expression and transmission of abstract and complex notions. It favours 

abstraction, logical sequencing, critical processing and rational thinking (Eco, in Alvanoudi et al., 

1992). A school newspaper is a means of mass communication for children. It appears that children 

derive pleasure from expressing themselves through a school newspaper, as this way helps them be 

create and communicate, and it also opens a window out of the everyday routine that sometimes 

characterizes school life (Christodoulou-Gliaou, 2007).  

In school newspaper children write about their classmates, parents, neighbours, about children from 

other schools and their texts become an opportunity for discussion and communication. For the needs of 

the newspaper, children become reporters, observers, or even at the same time acting persons in the 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
66 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

events of school and social life. In this way they participate in a social “dialogue” choosing to write what 

in their opinion would be interesting to communicate to their classmates, their teachers and parents. 

Through the newspaper, children make an effective use of a communicative discourse that aims at 

convincing, moving, entertaining or all of the above according to the occasion. Students write various 

texts for the school newspaper that they publish in order to air their considerations, their apprehensions 

and troubles. All of the above mentioned occasions are real instances that form a part of social and school 

life by extension (Adaloglou, 1994, pp. 24-25). 

According to Graff (2003), students’ participation in publishing activities is an excellent opportunity to 

assess their entire academic progress but not only that. Bowen and Tantillo (2002) claim that scholastic 

journalism helps students develop their critical thinking, their ability to communicate and to be better, 

active citizens, whereas according to Poslaniek (1990, pp. 139-140) the school newspaper belongs to 

what he calls “empowering animations” (“animations responsabilisantes”); it is a “product” that is 

proposed to a heterogeneous and demanding audience, through which the citizenship, not the pupilness is 

under evaluation. In addition, Kolodzy (2006, p. 248) calls the children journalists “kid (citizen) 

reporters” and notes the practice of certain Media, such as BBC for children, to entice children of all ages 

to participatory journalism.  

Undeniably, children do not live in a social vacuum before they enter school; they are rather immersed 

in a gendered social environment that provides them with the gender baggage of attitudes, prejudices, 

stereotypes and practices regarding masculinity and femininity that has been formed by institutions 

ranging from family and peer groups to the local community culture, mass culture and subculture, and 

the Media. These attitudes/prejudices/practices meet with the meanings, the standards and the symbolic 

practices, the values, intentions and goals that form the dominant gender culture of schools; as a 

consequence, students construct and re-construct their new gender “identities” by means of negotiation 

and conversation, as they place themselves in a variety of discourses (Politis, 2006, p. 182). 

Consequently, gender identity (Davidson, 2006, p. 94) is a product of interaction (Denzin, 1992, p. 29) 

that is created and re-created through the interaction of various dominant discourses and different 

ideologies (Althousser, 1971). 

The Media depict life in our society and set the public agenda by providing us with information 

regarding all other societal institutions, including the military, education and sport. On one hand, sport 

in the twentieth century has been a favourable field for men to create and reinforce an ideology of male 

supremacy. By excluding women and connecting athleticism to masculinity, sport provides 

opportunities for men to assert their dominance at a time when male hegemony is constantly challenged 

in everyday life (Duncan & Messner, in Wenner, 1998). On the other hand, where sport is concerned 

and in an attempt to define news, the routinized version of this definition is that news becomes 

“whatever the editor says it is” (Creedon, in Wenner, 2002, p. 103). Sport as news/report/article is 

considered to be the par excellence “male/male-dominated fort”, since by Greek standards the presence 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
67 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

of female sports reporters is minimal. In a research entitled “The position of the Greek female journalist 

today” that was conducted and developed by the European Network of Greek Female Journalists and 

the Institute of Audiovisual Media of the Press Ministry (IAM), women’s participation in sports 

coverage is shown to be almost nonexistent (Halvatzakis, 1998).  

As Miloch et al., have pointed out (2005, p. 219), although women have made significant contributions 

to business and industry breaking glass ceilings, they have not yet completely broken through the gender 

barrier that exists in the sport arena (Humms et al., 1996; Neupauer, 1998; Schell & Rodriquez, 2000). 

Miloch et al. (2005, pp. 219-220) stress the fact that female journalists covering sports may appear to be 

a recent phenomenon, but women actually began working the sports beat in the 1920s, where, as the 

Associated Press estimated, only about 25 women were employed as full-time sportswriters at American 

daily newspapers (Creedon, 1994). In addition, they also note (Miloch et al., 2005) that past research 

suggests the majority of female sports journalists have faced some form of discrimination from male 

colleagues within their respective departments and organizations, and, among all, they are expected to 

know less and adhere to higher standards of performance while tolerating low salaries, less desirable 

assignments, and sexist comments in the workplace (Miller & Miller, 1995, p. 888).  

Hardin and Whiteside (2009, p. 628) also have pointed out that the most recent study reflects an 

enduring industry trend: women in sports departments work in token status, where they constitute a 

fraction of sports editors (6%) and reporters (10%). In this frame, Hardin et al. (2008, p. 68 in Hardin & 

Whiteside, 2009, p. 628), likens sports journalism to a  “revolving door” for women—as some enter, 

many leave, stagnating movement toward equity. According to the GMMP (Global Media Monitoring 

Project), a global survey (Gender Equality in Journalism, 2009, p. 3) from 1995 to 2005, 57% of all 

television news presenters were women, yet only 29% of news items were written by female reporters. 

Meanwhile, only 32% of “hard” news was written or covered by women and more often they found 

reporting on “soft” subjects such as social issues, family, or arts and “living” (up to 40% women). 

While statistics show that more and more women are training and entering the field, although the 

number of women executives, producers, chief editors and publishers remains too low.” In 2002 the 

Canadian Newspaper Association report stated that only 8% of the editors-in-chief and 12% of 

publishers were women” (Gender Equality in Journalism, 2009, p. 4). Thus, as Kian (2007, p. 6) 

suggests the lack of women in the sport media profession and particularly in positions of power (i.e., 

editors, producers, managers), supports the notion the sport media is a masculine hegemonic institution 

(Hardin, 2005; Pedersen, Whisenant, & Schneider, 2003; Trujillo, 1991). 

Sport fascinates a great number of people—adults and juveniles—and constitutes a popular 

spectacle/reading/topic of discussion. The word sport in Greek (“αθλητισμός”) etymologically comes 

from the word “άθλος” (“athlos”) which means struggle, fight, intensive effort. Sport constitutes a basic 

element of social culture and is a way of social expression as well as a form of promoting human physical 

and mental beauty. Apart from that, the endogenous elements of sports are in a position to foster the 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
68 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

mental and physical cultivation of societies whereas at the same time sport constitutes a form of social 

education. Sport has a special place in the pages of political newspapers, it forms a goal and content of 

specialized newspapers—the sports ones—while it also finds its place in the columns of school 

newspapers.  

 

2. Purpose  

The purpose of our study is to examine how gender affects the promotion of sport and sports issues, 

through the par excellence school Media, the school newspaper. We attempt to record the quantitative 

and qualitative characteristics of the featured sporting events that are described by the reporters in the 

columns of school newspapers. 

Specifically, we record and discuss sports publications based on the editor’s name, thus trying to reach 

conclusions about the presence of gender in sports school journalism, the gendered preferences as to the 

content of the articles they choose to publish, but mainly the kind of events that according to each gender 

constitutes sports news which requires to be published. We examine the content of sports issues that 

young reporters choose to bring under the spotlight of publicity, thus determining the basic parameters 

that define gendered school sports discourse and its social components. 

More specifically, our research attempts to respond to the following questions:  

1). What kind of sports articles do young male/female editors prefer? 

2). What is the content of these articles according to the gender of the editors? 

3). What is the number of boys and girls that write about sports issues in school newspapers? 

4). Is there a quantitative differentiation between sports articles by boys and girls? 

2.1 Sample 

The sample of our study is composed of sports publications that we encountered in newspaper columns 

of primary schools which were published between 2003 and 2007. In a total of 187 issues coming from 

39 newspaper titles from all over Greece, we located 92 issues (a percentage of 49.19%) that contained 

225 sports publications, out of which 167 are signed and show the editor’s gender (a percentage of 

74.2%). 

The collection of primary school newspapers has been a difficult procedure. The publication of a 

newspaper depends on important factors such as the encouraging teacher, sponsorships and mainly the 

children-reporters/editors. The circulation of a school newspaper is affected by the aforementioned 

factors as the teacher may be get a transfer/leave of absence, sponsorships may end, the young 

reporters/editors may change class—most move on to high school—resulting in a permanent or 

temporary discontinuation of the newspaper publication or a publication at rarer intervals than those of 

the original planning. There are school newspapers with consistency and continuity in time, but they are 

extremely few. For this reason the collection of the issues was adapted to these facts and the additional 

fact that we often encountered during the material gathering, that not all issues of the newspaper are kept 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
69 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

in a school archive, but only a few as a sample. Thus the collection of the issues to be examined regarding 

quantity per year is as follows: 2003 (since September): 6 issues; 2004: 45 issues; 2005: 75 issues; 2006: 

59 issues and 2007 (until May): 3 issues.  

In the process of collecting the sample and sending the newspaper issues to the researcher, one question 

was asked by means of telephone or e-mail to the school principals or the teachers that were 

responsible for the publication of the newspaper: how the newspaper articles were selected and how 

they were assigned to the children. All the persons that were responsible answered that the selection of 

the topics was performed by the group of children that were responsible for publishing the newspaper 

and the assignment of the articles was also performed by the children according to their preferences. 

The children were usually assigned with the topics they had proposed to the editorial team themselves.  

 

3. Method 

The method that was followed in the process of our sample was content analysis (Krippendorff, 1980; 

Berelson, 1952; Weber, 1990; De Sola Pool, 1959; Palmquist, 1990). The publication was utilized as an 

analysis unit. Berelson (1952) notes that content analysis is a “research technique for the objective, 

systematic and quantitative description of the manifest content of communication”, of written or oral 

speech, with interpretation as the final goal. De Sola Pool (1959) offered a different dimension to 

content analysis noting that it is ideal for the study of meanings and semantic relationships contained in 

written or oral speech. Several years later, Palmquist (1990) utilized content analysis in written texts of 

students and teachers. 

The first step was to record and classify the publications of our sample. All 167 sports publications 

were classified according to the editor’s name in three basic axes: Regular columns, Various 

publications and Features.  

These publications were subsequently placed in the following categories based on their content and title: 

Informative columns: 

A. Olympic and Paralympic Games 

B. Sports 

C. Male and female athletes-idols 

D. Social issues 

E. Championships 

The remaining 6 publications were placed in the category: 

Entertainment columns: 

Quizzes 

Crosswords/word search puzzles/acrostic puzzles 

Literature (poetry) 

Letters/missives 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
70 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

4. Results 

In a total of 225 publications, the name of the young male/female editor is shown in 167 of them. We 

encounter 262 young male and female editors in total, out of which 137 are boys (a percentage of 52.2%) 

and 125 are girls (a percentage of 47.7%) (Table 1). 

 

Table 1. Editors’ Gender in the School Publications 

GENDER AND 

PUBLICATIONS TOTAL BY GENDER SUM TOTAL 

BOYS  

REPORTERS/EDITORS 137 (52,2%) 

262 

GIRLS  

REPORTERS/EDITORS 125 (47,7%) 

 

 

The following Figure 1 shows the representation of gender in the publications of the newspapers in our 

sample: 

 

Figure 1. Representation of Gender 

 

Seventy four publications are written by young male reporters (Table 2) which include: 15 publications 

in “Regular columns” out of which 4 have to do with the school championship, 44 in “Various 

publications” out of which 5 concern the school championship and 15 in “Features”, out of which one is 

about the school championship. We notice that male reporters’ articles outnumber females in “Various 

publications”, but are equal in “Regular sports columns” and in “Features”. We also deduce that they 

only write 10 articles concerning the school championship in a total of 74 articles. 

 

 

TOTAL OF PUBLICATIONS 

WHERE GENDER IS SHOWN 

 

ISOLATED 

PUBLICATIONS: 

74 FROM BOYS 

   

COMMON 

PUBLICATIONS 

OF BOTH 

 

 

 

PUBLICATIONS IN 

ENTERTAINMENT 

COLUMNS: 

   

   



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
71 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

Table 2. Male Reporters’ Publications 

MAIL 

REPORTE

RS’ 

PUBLICAT

IONS  

REGU

LAR 

COLU

MNS 

REGULA

R 

COLUM

NS (SCH. 

CH.) 

VARIOU

S 

PUBLIC

ATIONS 

VARIOUS 

PUBLICAT

IONS 

(SCH. CH.) 

FEATU

RES 

FEATU

RES 

(SCH. 

CH.) 

TOT

AL 

TOTAL 15 [4] 44 [5] 15 [1] 74 

 

Seventy-five publications are written by young female reporters (Table 3) which include: 11 publications 

in “Regular columns”, out of which 8 have to do with the school championship, 28 in “Various 

publications”, out of which 3 concern the school championship and 36 in “Features”, out of which 3 are 

about the school championship. We notice that female reporters write more “Feature” articles, their 

presence is then observed in “Various publications”, while they exhibit a more limited presence in 

“Regular sports columns”. We also deduce that they only write 14 articles concerning the school 

championship in a total of 75 articles. 

 

Table 3. Female Reporters’ Publications 

FEMALE 

REPORTE

RS’ 

PUBLICAT

IONS 

REGU

LAR 

COLU

MNS 

REGULA

R 

COLUM

NS (SCH. 

CH.) 

VARIO

US 

PUBLI

CATIO

NS 

VARIOUS 

PUBLICAT

IONS 

(SCH. CH.) 

FEATUR

ES 

FEATU

RES 

(SCH. 

CH.) TOTAL  

TOTAL 11 [8] 28 [3] 36 [3] 75 

 

In the remaining 6 publications found in the category of “Entertainment columns” (crosswords, literature, 

acrostic puzzles, etc.) we record 6 boys and 5 girls. In Table 4 we observe that male editors write 2 

quizzes, 2 poems (out of which one is a hymn and it is entitled “Hymn to Olympia”) and 2 

letters/missives to male athletes they admire and regard as a role model, Demis Nicolaides and Colin Mc 

Rae in particular. The female editors write 1 acrostic puzzle, 2 poems and 2 letters/missives to female 

athletes they admire/regard as a role model, Katerina Thanou and Svetlana Khorkina. 

Letters/missives lead us to the conclusion that young reporters prefer to address athletes of the same 

gender as themselves. It also seems that male reporters have as idols/role models athletes from 

spectacular sports (one of which is characterized by extremely high speed and competitiveness) such as 

rallying and football—par excellence men’s sport—whereas girls prefer female athletes from track and 

field as well as gymnastics—more “feminine” sports—a main reason being that gymnastics athletes are 

distinguished for their gracefulness and elegance.  



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
72 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

Table 4. Gender and Publications in Entertaining Columns 

ENTERTAINING 

COLUMNS 

TOTAL OF 

PUBLICATIONS 

MALE 

REPORTERS 

FEMALE 

REPORTERS 

QUIZZES 2 2  

CROSSWORDS 

WORD SEARCH 

PUZZLES  

ACROSTIC 

PUZZLES 

2   

1   

1  1 

LITERATURE 

(POETRY) 4 2 2 

LETTERS/MISSIVES 

TO ATHLETES 4 2 2 

TOTAL 14 6 5 

 

The quantitative analysis of our sample on the basis of gender highlights and points out the gendered 

preferences as to the theme of their publications (Table 5). Male reporters, as shown in Table 9, exhibit a 

particular interest in the “Sports” category with 34 publications in total (a percentage of 45.9%), and their 

references about football clearly outnumber other sports (23 publications), while publications about 

basketball (5), volleyball (3), karate (1), chess (1) and track and field (1) follow at a wide difference.  

The second category with 19 publications in total (a percentage of 25.6%) are “Olympic and Paralympic 

Games” with most references concerning the Olympics, less about the 2004 Athens Paralympic Games 

(7) and only one about the 2004 Athens Olympics.  

The third category are “Championships”, with 9 publications in total (a percentage of 12.1%) in which 

male journalists focus their publications more on the school championship (6 publications) and less on 

Champion’s League (2) or the European Cup (1).  

In the “Social issues” with a total of 8 publications (a percentage of 10.8%), editors prefer to write more 

about football and violence in the football stadiums (4 publications in total), about doping and 

anti-doping (2 publications), followed by publications concerning the importance of sports (1) and health 

through sports (1). 

The category of “Athlete-idols” comes last in the interests of boy reporters since we record only 4 

publications in total (a percentage of 5.4%) referring to Schumacher, the old international footballer 

Theodore Voutyritsas, the local team coach Notis Psychogios and Spyros Louis (an imaginary 

interview). 

 

 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
73 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

Table 5. Male Reporters and Content of Publications 

SPORTS 

FOOTBALL 23 

34 

(45,9%)   

BASKETBALL 5 

VOLLEYBALL 3 

KARATE 1 

CHESS 1 

TRACK AND  FIELD  1 

OLYMPIC AND 

PARALYMPIC 

GAMES 

OLYMPIC GAMES 11 

19 

(25,6%) 

2004 ATHENS PARALYMPIC GAMES 7 

2004 ATHENS OLYMPIC GAMES 1 

CHAMPIONSHIPS 

SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP (ALL SPORTS) 6 

9 

(12,1%) 

CHAMPION’S LEAGUE 2 

EUROPEAN CUP 1 

SOCIAL ISSUES 

NO VIOLENCE IN STADIUMS 2 

8 

(10,8%) 

DOPING AND ANTI-DOPING 2 

FOOTBALL AND VIOLENCE IN STADIUMS IN 

GREECE 1 

VIOLENCE IN STADIUMS 1 

IMPORTANCE OF SPORT 1 

SPORTS AND HEALTH 1 

ATHLETE IDOLS 

NEWS ABOUT SCHUMACHER & FORMULA 1 1 

4 (5,4%) 

NOTIS PSYCHOGIOS, COACH.THEODORE 

VOUTYRITSAS 2 

SPYROS LOUIS, IMAGINARY INTERVIEW 1 

 TOTAL 74 

74 

(100%) 

 

Female reporters, as shown in Table 6, exhibit a special interest in the category of “Olympic and 

Paralympic Games” with 43 publications in total (a percentage of 57.3%), with as many publications 

about the 2004 Athens Paralympics as about the Olympic Games in general. 17 publications are found 

regarding each topic and 9 about the 2004 Athens Olympics in a total of 43 publications. 

“Sports” is the second category in girls’ interests (18 publications in total, a percentage of 24%) with the 

references to basketball having the lead (7 publications), followed by the references to volleyball 3 and 

two about handball, football and track and field. Chess and cycling, horseback riding have one 

publication each.  



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
74 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

Coming third in female reporters’ preferences is the “Athlete idols” category with 9 publications in total 

(a percentage of 12%) with the interviews outnumbering (6 in total) the others. The athletes that are 

featured through the interviews are Kakhi Kakhiashvill and Pyrros Dimas, Vassiliki Seireka, Despoina 

Batzianouli, Anna Horinou, Katerina Chrysochoou, while we also record the imaginary interview with 

George Kolettis. In the remaining publications there is one portrayal of Spyros Louis and one of James 

Brendan Connoly.  

The fourth category with 4 publications in total (a percentage of 5.3%) are “Social issues”, the references 

of which focus on the Olympics in relation with sport, doping, Olympic medalists (1 publication for each 

one), whereas 1 publication focuses on the spectator’s role as an animator of teams and athletes. 

The fifth and final category is “Championships” with 1 publication (a percentage of 1.3%) about the 

school championship. 

 

Table 6. Female Reporters and Content of Publication 

OLYMPIC AND 

PARALYMPIC 

GAMES 

2004 ATHENS PARALYMPIC GAMES 17 

43 

(57.3%) 

OLYMPIC GAMES 17 

2004 ATHENS OLYMPIC GAMES 9 

SPORTS 

BASKETBALL 7 

18 

(24%) 

VOLLEYBALL 3 

HANDBALL 2 

FOOTBALL 2 

TRACK AND FIELD  2 

CHESS 1 

HORSEBACK RIDING - CYCLING 1 

ATHLETE IDOLS 

KAKHI KAKHIASHVILLI AND PYRROS DIMAS 1 

9  

(12%) 

VASSILIKI SEIREKA 1 

DESPOINA BATZIANOULI 1 

ANNA HORINOU 1 

KATERINA CHRYSOCHOOU 1 

GEORGE KOLETTIS (IMAGINARY INTERVIEW) 1 

SPYROS LOUIS 2 

JAMES BRENDAN CONNOLY 1 

SOCIAL ISSUES 

IMPRESSIONS FROM MEETING WITH OLYMPIC 

MEDALISTS 1 

4 

(5.3%) 

OLYMPIC GAMES AND CLASSICAL ATHLETICS 1 

OLYMPIC GAMES AND DOPING 1 

FROM THE POSITION OF THE 1 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
75 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

SPECTATOR-ANIMATOR 

CHAMPIONSHIPS SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP (ABOUT ALL SPORTS) 1 

1 

(1.3%) 

 TOTAL 75 

75 

(100%) 

 

5. Observations 

All in all, the comparison of the publication content by gender results in the realization that boy 

reporters/editors prefer to write more about sports and mainly the so-called “king of sports”, football, and 

less about athlete idols, whereas girl reporters/editors opt for greater events such as the Olympic and 

Paralympic Games and less for Championships, the references of which regard only the school 

championship. Moreover, it appears that boys favor references to spectacular sports (football, basketball, 

volleyball), whereas girls seem to have a predilection for references to great events and their historical 

data. What is more, athlete idols for boys seem to be those of football and formula 1—all 

males—whereas for girls are Olympic and Paralympic medalists—males and females alike. 

The social issues of sports that boy editors are concerned with seem to regard mostly football and 

violence, then doping, whereas girl editors focus on the Olympic Games and medalists. Girls are only 

interested in school Championships, whereas boys also refer to Championships such as the Champion’s 

League and the European Cup. At the same time, we infer that girls have more publications in “Feature 

articles” and less in “Regular columns”, whereas boys have more “Random publications” and are equal 

to those in “Regular columns” and “Feature articles”, a fact that once again exhibits the usual practice of 

male presence in regular sports columns. 

The discrepancies of the school newspaper publications as to the editors’ gender and based on the content 

of the articles appears to follow the classic stereotypical versions that occur in the Greek social fabric. 

For instance, boys are mostly interested in football and Formula 1, whereas girls prefer the Olympic and 

Paralympic Games. Even when it comes to social issues that are related to sport, boys persist with 

football matters (violence in stadiums and less about doping), while girls are more intrigued by the 

Olympics. 

Apart from that, again we confirm that boy reporters of sports issues outnumber girls. However, although 

boys exceed in number, girls’ publications outnumber those of the boys, even by just one, a fact that 

demonstrates the girls’ dynamic presence in school sports journalism. Our research clearly shows that 

female sports reporters seem to find their position in scholastic journalism, getting involved with great 

sports events—such as the Olympic and Paralympic Games—a fact that contradicts the interests and 

presence of adult female reporters.  

It should be noted of course that the publication of a school newspaper is among others a learning 

procedure based on the principles of Problem Solving (Viz. inter alia: Abercrombie, 1979; AUT 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
76 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

University Calendar, 2006; Barrows, 1996; Boyd-Bell, 2005; Boyd-Bell, 2002; Burns, 1997; Burns & 

Hazell, 1999) and as such it should be assessed according to the general and more specific principles of 

education sciences (Valsamidou & Kyridis, 2009). But, furthermore, the school newspaper embellishes 

the extra curricular space, where students as authors/producers/editors write about what interests/ 

sensitizes them, what worries them and what makes them happy. At the same time and through these 

publications students try to obtain a wider social recognition (Poslaniek, 1990, p. 139).  In this 

framework and in the light of education, sports publications by young reporters demonstrate the training 

that these children have received at school as to what they think is important and should be included in 

their school newspaper, and through this to inform the public.  

Having processed the results of our sample, what is evident is the girls’ involvement in sports news, a fact 

that demonstrates the mandatory need to support this trend at school, which is a basic factor of 

treating/creating/reproducing gendered stereotypical behaviors and practices. The educational policy in 

total (but also each school separately) through school activities and educational programmes that have 

school newspaper as a target, has the ability to empower/motivate/inspire such practices that equal 

opportunities for boys and girls and support the pupils’ skills and abilities without gender-based 

exclusions and restrictions. This educational policy can be supported by the emerging necessity of 

education communication and media literacy in the curriculum, either centrally from the Ministry of 

Education and Institute of Educational Policy (IEP) or at the level of each school unit. It is now the time 

to rethink and redefine both the country’s and every school’s unit educational mass media policy under 

gender perspective. 

 

References 

Abercrombie, M. L. A. (1979). Aims and Purpose of Small Group Teaching. Society for Research into 

Higher Education. London.  

Althousser, L. (1971). Ideology and ideological state apparatuses. In Lenin and Philosophy, and Other 

Essays. London: New Left Books.  

Alvanoudi, Ζ., Grosdos, St., Kallimani, E. F., Koletos, G., Dayou, Ef., & Tsakalidou, Α., (1998). Forms 

of communication and children’s creativity. Virtual School, the Sciences of Education Online, 1(2). 

Retrieved February 11, 2018, from https://stavgros.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/5.pdf 

AUT University Calendar. (2006). Auckland: AUT University.  

Adaloglou, K. (1994). Students’ personal creation through expression in the language class. The 

Teachers’ Club, 8, 24-25 (in Greek). 

Barrows, H. S. (1996). Problem-based learning in medicine and beyond: A brief overview. In L. 

Wilkerson, & W. Gijselaers (Eds.), Bringing Problem-Based Learning to Higher Education: 

Theory and Practice, 68, pp. 3-11. New Directions for Teaching and Learning Series. San 

Francisco: Jossey-Bass. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.37219966804 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
77 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

Berelson, Β. (1952). Content Analysis in Communication Research. Glencoe, Illinois: Free Press. 

Boyd-Bell, S. (2002). Improving Learning Outcomes for Journalism Students—A Tutor’s Perspective 

(Unpublished masters research paper). Auckland: School of Education, Auckland University of 

Technology.   

Boyd-Bell, S. (2005). Experiential learning in journalism: A student view. Paper presented at the 

Journalism Education Association (JEA) conference, Gold Coast, Old, November 29-December 3.  

Burns, L. S. (1997). Problem-Based Learning (PBL) and journalism education: Is it new jargon for 

something familiar? Australian Journalism Review, 19(2), 59-72. 

Burns, L. S., & Hazell, T. (1999). Problem-Based Learning, Youth Suicide and Media’s Response. 

Ability. Asia Pacific Media Educator, 6, 56-71.  

Christodoulou-Gliaou, Ν. (2007). Love of reading, children’s publications and children’s creativity. 

Pedagogical Institute Review of Educational Issues, 12. Retrieved February 20, 2018, from 

http://www.pi-schools.gr/publications/epitheorisi/teyxos12/ 

Creedon, P. (1994). Women in Toyland: A look at women in American newspaper sports journalism. In 

P. Creedon (Ed.), Women, Media and Sport: Challenging Gender Values (pp. 67-107). Thousand 

Oaks, CA: Sage. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781483326764.n4 

Creedon, P. J. (2002). Women, sport, and media institutions: Issues in sports journalism and marketing. 

In MediaSport (pp. 102-113). Routledge. 

Davidson, T. (2006). Stigma and the single girl: Performing gender, sex, and the city. Studies in 

Symbolic Interaction, 29, 93-116. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0163-2396(06)29009-4 

Denzin, N. (Ed.) (2006). Studies in Symbolic Interaction, 29. 

Denzin, N. (1992). Symbolic Interactionism and Cultural Studies: The Politics of Interpretation. 

Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. 

De Sola Pool, I. (1959). Trends in Content Analysis. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.  

Doulkeri, T. (n.d.). Mass Media and Gender Equality. Athens: Papazisi (in Greek). 

Duncan, M. C., & Messner, M. A. (1998). The media image of sport and gender. In L. A. Wenner (Ed.), 

MediaSport (pp. 170-185). Boston: Routledge Kegan Paul. 

Eco, U. (1992). Semiotics in Everyday Life. (A. Τsopanoglou, Trans.). Thessaloniki: 

Malliaris-Education (in Greek).  

Fiske, J. (1987). Television Culture. London: Routledge. 

Gender Equality in Journalism. Getting the Balance Right. (2009). International Federation of 

Journalists. 

Graff, P. (2003). Standards in the Journalism Classroom.In State of Scholastic Journalism: Principal’s 

Guide to Scholastic Journalism. University of Iowa: Quill and Scroll Foundation. 

Halvatzakis, K. (1998). Why journalism is attractive to women. In To VIMA Newspaper (p. A93), 

Article code: B12511A931 ID: 126166 (in Greek). 

http://books.google.com/books?q=inpublisher:%22Routledge%22&lr=&hl=el


www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
78 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

Hardin, M. (2005). Stopped at the gate: Women’s sports, “reader interest”, and decision-making by 

editors. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 82(1), 62-77. 

https://doi.org/10.1177/107769900508200105 

Ηardin, M., & Whiteside, E. (2009). Token Responses to Gendered Newsrooms: Factors in the 

career-related decisions of female newspaper sports journalists. Journalism, 10(5), 627-646. 

Retrieved March 1, 2018, from http://jou.sagepub.com/content/10/5/627  

Hardin, M., Shain, S., & Poniatowski, K. (2008). “There’s No Sex Attached to Your Occupation”: The 

revolving door for young women in sports journalism. Women in Sports & Physical Activity 

Journal, 17(1), 68-79. https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.17.1.68 

Hatzisavvidis, S. (2000). Greek Language and Journalistic Discourse. Athens: Gutenberg (in Greek). 

Humms, M. A., O’Bryant, C. P., & Tremble, L. (1996). Strategies for Increasing Minorities and Women 

in Sport Management and Physical Education Teacher Preparation Programs: Common 

Recruitment and Retention Themes. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 5(2), 89-97. 

https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.5.2.89 

Kian, E. (2007). Gender in sports writing by the print media: An explanatory examination of writers’ 

experiences and attitudes. The SMART Journal, 4(1), 5-26. Retrieved January 11, 2018, from 

http://thesmartjournal.com/genderinsw.pdf  

Krippendorff, K. (1980). Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology. USA: Sage 

Publications.  

Kolodzy, J. (2006). Convergence Journalism: Writing and Reporting Across the News Media. ΝΑ: 

Rowman & Littlefield. 

Miller, P., & Miller, R. (1995). The Invisible Woman: Female sports journalists in the workplace. 

Journalism & Mass Communications Quarterly, 72(4), 883-889. 

https://doi.org/10.1177/107769909507200411 

Miloch, K. S., Pedersen, P. M., Smucker, M. K., & Whisenant, W. A. (2005). The current state of 

women print journalists: An analysis of the status and careers of females in newspapers sports 

departments. Public Organization Review, 5(3), 219-232. 

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-005-3499-y 

Neupauer, N. C. (1998). Women in the Male Dominated World of Sports Information Directing: Only 

the Strong Survive. Public Relations Quarterly, 43(1), 27-30. 

Paletz, D. L., & Entman, R. M. (1981). Media, Power, Politics. New York: Free Press. 

Palmquist, M. (1990). The Lexicon of the Classroom: Language and Learning in Writing Classrooms 

(Doctoral Dissertation). Carnegie Mellon University. 

Pedersen, P. M., Whisenant, W. A., & Schneider, R. G. (2003). Using a content analysis to examine the 

gendering of sports newspaper personnel and their coverage. Journal of Sport Management, 17(4), 

376-393. https://doi.org/10.1123/jsm.17.4.376 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
79 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

Pleios, G. (2001). The Discourse of Image, Ideology and Politics. Athens: Papazisi (in Greek). 

Politis, F. (2006). “Male Identities” at School. Heterosexuality, Homophobia and Misogyny. 

Thessaloniki: Epikentro (in Greek). 

Poslaniek, C. (1990). Giving Children the Pleasure of Reading (S. Athini, Trans.). Athens: Kastaniotis 

(in Greek). 

Schell, L. A., & Rodriguez, S. (2000). Our Sporting Sisters: How male hegemony stratifies women in 

sport. Women in Sport & Physical Activity Journal, 9(1), 15-34. 

https://doi.org/10.1123/wspaj.9.1.15 

The Gender & Media Handbook. Promoting Equality, Diversity & Empowerment. (2005). 

Mediterranean Institute of Gender Studies. 

Trujillo, N. (1991). Hegemonic masculinity on the mound: Media representations of Nolan Ryan and 

American sports culture. Critical Studies in Mass Communication, 8(3), 290-303. 

https://doi.org/10.1080/15295039109366799 

Tsardakis, D. (1990). Mass Communication and Reality. Athens: Papazisis (in Greek). 

Valsamidou, L., & Kyridis, A. (2009). “Big athletes, big games” and small journalists. Sports in school 

newspaper columns. Modern Education, 158, 71-87. (in Greek) 

Van, Z. L. (1994). Feminist Media Studies. London: Sage. 

Weber, R. (1990). Basic Content Analysis (2nd ed.). Newbury Park: Sage. 

https://doi.org/10.4135/9781412983488 

 

Appendix  

Greek Primary School newspaper titles 

1) Ponies with… pens, Interscholastic pupil newspaper of the 5th district of Primary Education of the 

LARISSA prefecture 

2) Velo Pupils’ Brushwork, Primary school of Velo, CORINTHIA 

3) Cats with petals, 2nd Primary school of Lixourion, CEPHALLONIA 

4) Communication, 2nd Primary school of Skydra, PELLA 

5) The pen of the Fifth, 5th Primary school of Giannitsa, PELLA 

6) Pupils’ pens, 2nd Primary school of LARISSA 

7) Pupils’ speech, Primary school of Rizo, PELLA 

8) Pupil’s world, Primary school of Neo Petritsi, SERRES 

9) In a few words, 4th Primary school of Naoussa, IMATHIA 

10) Through children’s eyes, 2nd Primary school of Nemea, CORINTHIA 

11) Young reporters, Intercultural Primary school of Neoi Epivates, THESSALONIKI 

12) Children’s voices of Stimaga, Primary school of Stimaga, CORINTHIA 

13) Early school bulletins, Primary school of Afratio, EUBOIA 



www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/csm               Communication, Society and Media                Vol. 1, No. 1, 2018 

 
80 

Published by SCHOLINK INC. 

14) The little bees, Primary school of Megali Panagia, CHALKIDIKI 

15) ...The second graders. 3rd Primary school of Filiatra, MESSHNIA 

16) The little room (KAMARAKI), 2nd Primary school of Rethymno, CRETE 

17) Newspaper, Primary school of  Amfikleia, FTHIOTIDA 

18) The pupils’ world of the 7th, 7th Primary school of CHIOS 

19) Children’s world, Primary school of Limni Aidipsou, EUBOIA 

20) Children’s world, Primary school of Stavroupoli, THESSALONIKI 

21) The world through children’s eyes, 6th Intercultural and fulltime Primary school of Eleftherio 

Kordeliou, THESSALONIKI 

22) School pen, 2nd Primary school of Pefka, THESSALONIKI 

23) Our world, Primary school ot Maniakoi, KASTORIA 

24) Childern’s world, Primary school of Mesopotamia, KASTORIA 

25) The young journalists, Primary school of Vochaiko, CORINTH 

26) Flutters, 1st Experimental Primary school of FLORINA 

27) The children of the Kingfisher, Primary school of Vrachation, CORINTH 

28) The 19 little stars, 148th Primary school of ATHENS 

29) Air bird songs, 4th Primary school and 4th Kindergarten of FERES- AERINO, MAGNHSSIA 

30) The dolphin, 10th Primary school of CORINTH 

31) Pigassos, Primary School of Ancient CORINTH 

32) Sounds and resounds of floral words, 2nd Primary school of Evosmos, THESSALONIKI 

33) Young Journalists, Primary school of New Chile, EVROS 

34) Children’s inquiries, 6th Primary school of Rethymno, CRETE 

35) With children’s eyes, 2nd Primary school of Nemea, CORINTH 

36) Children’s press, Primary school of Anatoliko, THESSALONIKI 

37) Sunbeam, 5th Primary School of Varvassios, CHIOS 

38) Our little newspaper-The working little bees, 113rd Primary school of ATHENS 

39) Window to the world, 2nd Primary school of Tavros, ATHENS 

 

 


