Power in a frame: a content analysis of media framing on intercollegiate athletes' sexual misconduct

Abstract

Sexual misconduct on college campuses continues to be a major public health issue. Of special interest, campus subcultures cultivate an environment that facilities a rape-culture within intercollegiate athletics. Intercollegiate athletics has a powerful hold on campuses nation-wide, but the underlying reality is that it embodies a hypermasculine culture that reinforces violence against women. Institutions have largely been criticized for the way they handle intercollegiate athletes’ sexual misconduct, with countless instances of institutional malfeasance, coverups, protection of athletes, and harm to victims. Moreover, given the idealization of college athletics, intercollegiate athletes’ sexual misconduct often receives attention in the media, but limited research has examined media framing of intercollegiate athletes’ accused of sexual misconduct. These incidents are explored using a content analysis of national and university-level newspapers that reported on intercollegiate athletes accused of sexual misconduct during a ten-year time period. Using a rape-prone society (Martin, 2016; Sanday, 1981, 1996) and media framing lens (Goffman, 1974; Tuchman, 1978), this thesis examines how the two levels of media discuss athletes’ sexual misconduct. My findings indicate three main themes: from advocacy to invisibility, the power in a frame, and the NCAA to intercollegiate athlete pipeline. These findings extend prior research and highlight how the media exemplify hypermasculinity in college athletics, portray the institutional response to these incidents, and reveal the media framing of specific cases of intercollegiate athletes.