Associate professor Jenny Dean of the Department of Mass Communication had her study of the 2021 Tokyo Summer Olympics news coverage published recently in Newspaper Research Journal titled Olympian women’s representation in U.S. newspapers has improved according to an analysis of three local dailies.

The study, co-authored with Francesco Somaini of Central Washington University, looked at the extent of newspaper coverage of male and female athletes in the Olympics in three major daily newspapers (Dallas Morning News, Minneapolis Star Tribune, and The Seattle Times). Dean is a former journalist, as is Somaini. Brief summary: The women received more coverage than the men. 

Poynter, a media think tank, also took note of the article and referenced it. 

Earlier this month, at the annual AEJMC convention in Philadelphia, Dean presented a new paper with Somaini about the Winter Olympics titled Women defeat men with more coverage of 2022 Winter Olympics according to analysis of four dailies. Similar findings were found.

Together, Dean and Somaini continue their studies of the Olympics and the representation of women with the 2024 Olympics.