The sexist media coverage of women’s sports at the 2016 Rio Olympics has sparked outrage on social media. One of the worst offenders is NBC. NBC commentators and executives have repeatedly dismissed the success of female athletes, and insulted their female viewers.
NBC swim commentator, Dan Hicks, half-apologized after attributing Hungarian swimmer Katinka Hosszú’s gold medal win to her coach and husband. After Hosszú’s broke the world record for the 400-meter individual medley, NBC cameras focused on her husband/coach and Hicks said, “There’s the man responsible.”
After the women’s gymnastics team’s remarkable performance, an unnamed NBC commentator said the female athletes who were gathered together "might as well be standing in the middle of a mall." The sexist remark would never have been made about a group of male Olympic athletes.
Recently, John Miller, NBC's chief marketing officer, implied that NBC could delay the Olympic broadcast because women don’t care about the competition’s results. "The people who watch the Olympics are not particularly sports fans.” Miller said. “More women watch the games than men, and for the women, they're less interested in the result and more interested in the journey.” Miller's patronizing comment insinuated that all women would rather be watching reality TV than a sporting event.
In order to tone down the sexism at NBC, the network should comply with the following guidelines:
1. Hire more female commentators and analysts. Not counting the more general hosts, and staff, NBC hired 128 play-by-play commentators, analysts, and reporters to cover the Rio Olympics. On the list released by NBC, only 28/128 were female.
2. Focus less on the “Mommy” narrative. Although NBC did feature a story about Michael Phelps as a father, the domestic life narrative is generally reserved for female athletes.
3. Refrain from patronizing comments and sexist generalizations. Not all women enjoy reality TV, and shopping sprees at the mall. Women are not trying to “run like a man”, or “throw like a man,” and the comparison is not a compliment. Female athletes are not just mothers and wives, and their success does not belong to their husbands.
Sign this petition to voice your outrage, and to tell NBC to follow the guidelines above!
