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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 6 Hansard (18 June) . . Page.. 1995 ..

MR STANHOPE

was there, in minutes, of this national championship? How many column inches were there in the Canberra Times or other ACT newsprint of this national championship? How many photographs of members of this team in action were there in our newspapers? How much coverage was there of this particular sporting team, its members and of its achievements on local radio?

Having said that, I acknowledge that there was some coverage. I understand, for instance, that Chris Uhlmann on the ABC breakfast show did interview members of the team, and I think that is a really significant advancement on times past. It may be that there was some coverage of this particular competition in the Canberra Times.

If you were to look at and undertake the measurements on radio, on television and within our newspapers of the amount of space and time in newsprint, photographs and of course air time on radio and TV that's devoted to women's sport, I think you'll find, in relation to the Canberra Times, it's about 20 per cent. I have previously congratulated the Canberra Times and will continue to do so. In terms of national surveys that are conducted from time to time on the level of coverage of women's sport in national newspapers, the Canberra Times, as far as I'm aware, has always been the national newspaper that has covered women's sport most significantly.

Quite significantly in terms of the Canberra Times' attitude to women's sport, one of the particularly pleasing aspects of the Canberra Times' coverage of women's sport is the number of action photographs of women in sport that the Canberra Times publishes. It was discovered, through much of the research that's been done on this issue of media and women's sports coverage, that newspapers have a tendency or proclivity in covering women's sport or in covering women athletes to publish posed photographs of women athletes; whereas as they're more inclined to publish action photographs of male athletes. They don't ask the male athletes to pose; they take action shots; and they publish the action shots.

These things are, of course, very significant. These are presentations of significant points. Newspapers will go out and ask a woman athlete to pose; they'll go out to the game and take action photographs of the men and publish the action photographs of men and posed photographs of women. I think it's particularly pleasing that the Canberra Times is aware of that and has moved to publish action photographs of women athletes.

Of course, that's important in terms of the signal it sends. It creates role models of women in sport, and that's particularly valid when one has regard to the drop-out rate of young girls, and teenage girls in particular, from sport. The statistics on the drop-out rate are really quite staggering. Girls are inclined to play sport until perhaps early puberty and then drop out; whereas boys are far more inclined to play sport through their teenage years. The drop-out rate in relation to male participation in sport occurs much later at boys than it does for girls.

One of the issues in relation to that of course is positive role models and media coverage of sport and of women's sport. The publication of action photographs, the coverage of women playing sport, are very positive role models, and I do commend the Canberra Times for the attitude that it's adopted in relation to both its coverage of women's sport and photographs.

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