4. The priority news value: sportswomen’s Spanish nationality

We want to verify what news value is more important for a sports newspaper, such as Marca, when covering female athletes’ sports performance in the Olympic Games; whether the athlete’s Spanish nationality or sports success is more important.

The first set of data obtained after a quantitative analysis of the information units is that Spanish sportswomen accounted for 75% (183) of the 244 information units devoted to female athletes in the London 2012 Olympics, three times more than international female athletes, in the 218 information units for Rio 2016 greater coverage was also given to national sportswomen than to non-Spanish ones: 147 information units (67.4%) compared to 71 (32.6%)1

Furthermore, suppose there is a chance for a Spanish female athlete to win a medal in a competition. In that case, she appears in the newspaper earlier. There is more information about her performance, even if she does not finally win a medal, than about the gold medal won by international sportswomen in that discipline.

This was seen in Marca’s 400m final swim coverage, both in London 2012 and Rio 2016. In 2012, the Chinese swimmer Ye Shinwen’s, who was only 16 years old, spectacular triumph by beating the world record, occupies a double column and an image on page 5 of the booklet (“Shiwen Ye launches swimming into the future,” 29 July). The swimmer Mireia Belmonte’s performance, who finished in eighth place, however, is on the front page of the supplement with the headline: “Disappointment, Mireia and cycling, poor Spanish start”; in a full-page chronicle with two photographs inside the newspaper, one of them in six columns: “Mireia shrinks in the Olympic final” (29 July, p. 4).

In Rio 2016, the female Spanish swimmer wins the bronze medal in this event. It has news importance in Marca once again. It monopolises the front page and the cover of the booklet, with a six-column photo and the headline “Mireia Shines,” page 2 and three columns on page 3 with a text describing the Spanish swimmer’s qualities and achievements (“She is unique,” p. 2 and 3, 8 August) and a chronicle of the comeback she made in the last 50 meters of the race.

The winner of this 400m freestyle final, the Hungarian Katinka Hosszu, beat the incredible record that Shiwen Ye had set in 2012. But, Mireia Belmonte received more importance in Marca than she did, having to make do with a photo and a three-column text on page 3 (“Beyond Reason,” p. 3, 8 August).

Marca highlights our sportswomen more, and it is evident in the news that occupies the newspaper and their absence or presence in the visual elements (photographs, graphs). Furthermore, this importance is highlighted in the texts, which influence whether or not the news is the Visual Centre of Impact (VCI) of the page, i.e., on the part of the page