Media and representation of others. Can of Iran in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Ali Ziaee*, Jay Lee, Jacco van Sterkenburg, Ivo van Hilvoorde

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Nowadays, the media plays a key part in representing nations in mega-sporting events. In this study, we aimed to examine how Western English-language news sources represented Iran, as an Eastern and Islamic country, in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. To accomplish this, data were collected using LexisNexis Academic, Google Search, and Google News tools. We utilised topic modelling, a text summarisation technique for data analysis. The analysis generated seven main topics: ‘Kimia Alizadeh & Refugee Athlete’; ‘Saeid Mollaei & Israel’; ‘Iranian Athletes & Home-Abroad’; ‘Javad Foroughi & Win, Nurse’; ‘Navid Afkari & IOC’; ‘Russia, China, Iran & Media Representation’; ‘Iran, Men & Medal-Winning’. Our analysis indicated the occurrence of Othering around Iran in the narratives of Western (in particular American-based) news articles in the 2020 Olympics. This means that these articles predominantly focused on Iranian refugee athletes and often discussed Iran and Iranian athletes in the 2020 Olympics using political language and negative associations.
Original languageEnglish
JournalEuropean Journal for Sport and Society
DOIs
Publication statusE-pub ahead of print - 29 Apr 2024

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Research programs

  • ESHCC M&C

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